I can't call you...

I manage another blog site for amateur radio and weather information at www.k5jaw.com.  Earlier today, I posted an article that looks at ways to plan for situations similar to those experienced in Boston following the bombings this week, when many were unable to communicate with loved ones.  I wanted to share it here, in case you don't read or subscribe to the other blog site.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

I can't call you...

Earlier today, fellow amateur radio operator and blogger Steve, K9ZW, posted this entry on his blog site: Sudden Radio Silence in High Risk Situations.  Click the link, give it a read, then come back for the rest of my entry here.

Reading Steve's article brought to mind the notion that we all need multiple pathways or means of communication.  We may never know whether or not the Boston-area cellular service was intentionally shut down for safety, or if it was simply overloaded.  Based on personal experience, I'm subscribing to the idea of a system overload.  Telephone systems can handle a certain number of simultaneous service requests.  Your local phone system is designed using a mathematical formula that estimates a percentage of all subscribers using the system at the same time.  In other words, there may be 100,000 phones in a system, but it may be designed to only carry 10,000 conversations at once.  Consider how many hours a day your phone goes unused, and you'll understand why systems aren't designed for 100% loads.  Cellular systems are designed in the same way, based on an estimated number of subscriber requests.  It has been postulated that even if you can't get a voice channel on  your cellular phone, you can get a text message out.  This is true, but you may suffer a delay.  Depending on your phone, your text may attempt a number of transmissions, then time out with a fail-to-send message.  If you're not checking your phone, the message will be waiting for you to re-send it.

The military utilizes the mnemonic of P.A.C.E or Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency when formulating communications plans.

Your PRIMARY means of communicating with your family may be via cell phone.  For example, "I'll call you when I get to the hotel."  We all use some system, each and every day, and it works under normal conditions.  This is our Primary.  But what if your battery is dead, or cell service is out?

That's when we need to have an ALTERNATE plan.  Our alternate would accomplish the same goal, but with little impact to our routine.  If the cell phone won't work when you get to the hotel as in our example, the Alternate would be to place a call from the land-line in your room.  At most, we may be inconvenienced by having to find a pay phone, or ask to borrow a phone, but we can make the call without much trouble.  In a perfect world, your Primary and Alternate could be interchanged at any time.

But what if both of those aren't available?  Now we've got to think ahead.  Your CONTINGENCY method would accomplish the task within an acceptable time frame.  It may not be important that we call home as soon as we get to the hotel.  But our family would like to know we made it there safely, say within an hour or two's time of expected arrival.  For most of us, this is where it gets complicated, because all we have is our cell and the hotel's land-line.  Sometimes, it's easier to get a call into an area than it is to place an out-bound call.  Perhaps your Contingency plan involved leaving the hotel phone number with your family for them to call, if they haven't heard from you by a certain time.  Whatever the case, the Contingency plan involves laying the groundwork well before its needed.

Beyond all those, what would be your EMERGENCY plan?  Amateur radio if its available? (yes, that was a shameless plug!  If you're not licensed, you can still dictate a short message to an amateur radio operator, who will send it out.)  Hand-written note via messenger?  Messenger may sound extreme, but it may not be out of the question.  At this point, anything may be fair game.  Most of us don't like to give it much thought, but it is certainly worth your consideration, especially when traveling.

The thousands in Boston this week experienced a communications system failure.  Not because the system was damaged, but because it was overloaded.  Cellular systems can be, and have been, overloaded by high-attendance parades and sporting events.  If you've been to a major parade, major college game, or race, you may have experienced delays in getting calls and messages on your cellular phone, solely due to the increased system demand.  If you add a layer of  crisis, whether from a bombing as we saw this week, or from a sudden thunderstorm or tornado causing damage and injuries, the system demand grows exponentially.

How do you call home and let your loved ones know you're OK?  Have you thought about alternatives?  How much of a time delay is acceptable to you and  your family?

42 Years...

Well, I wanted to write an introspective post for my birthday.  I started writing a few days ago.  After a few paragraphs introspect turned into a borderline depressive missive.  My mind goes into dark places sometimes.  The draft got deleted tonight.  In its place, I'm starting up my own Bucket List.  Here are two that have been on my list for a LONG time.
....................
I want to see the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra in Boston on the Fourth of July.  I want to feel the concussion from the fireworks over the Charles River for the finale. I want to hear Beethoven's 9th Symphony at The Proms in London....all the while having no idea where my tastes for classical music comes from...


Götterfunken!

Loving Springtime...

Here was the view I had today on the way home from a workshop with a great group of communications leaders from around the state.  We get together on occasion to discuss new technologies, brainstorm ideas on how to better utilize what we currently have, and to exercise various communication emergency scenarios.

80-degree days under blue skies just scream "open sunroof" for the drive home!

More to Come...

The other night I wrote "Considering a Change", and a few of you have asked what that means.  Well, it simply means that I intend to interact more through the medium of this blog than through the short-and-sweet snippets afforded by more popular forms of social media.

I'm not a writer by any means, but many of you who have read my past entries here have encouraged me along the way to continue writing.  So, I shall do just that.

I have no idea what I'll write, but I plan to start it again.  Sometimes I just vent the day's woes into words.  Other days will be more contemplative.  Either way, this offers me more flexibility than a quick status update.

So to my current readers, welcome back.  To my future readers, welcome.  There are several entries-in-draft to be finished and posted.  I've devised a way to digitally capture random thoughts that occur during the day, so they can be digested into future posts.  Join me on the journey.

Tonight's entry is brought to you as I listen to "Simple Gifts" as arranged by Aaron Copeland for Appalachian Spring. (scroll below video for the lyrics)

'Tis the gift to be loved and that love to return,

'Tis the gift to be taught and a richer gift to learn,

And when we expect of others what we try to live each day,

Then we'll all live together and we'll all learn to say,

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right

'Tis the gift to have friends and a true friend to be,

'Tis the gift to think of others not to only think of "me",

And when we hear what others really think and really feel,

Then we'll all live together with a love that is real.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right

Tis the gift to be loving, tis the best gift of all

Like a quiet rain it blesses where it falls

And with it we will truly believe

Tis better to give than it is to receive

EMT Extrication Night

Tonight we took our EMT students out for their hands-on automobile rescue class.  This is always a highlight of the semester for them, and for us as instructors.  By this time, they've been through almost three months of classroom lecture, and they're itching for some outdoor experience.  Like every other class, it's always enjoyable to watch them learn over the months.  For the most part, we don't hear much from them after graduation.  But a few keep in touch, or work locally.  While watching them grow in class is nice, the real reward comes from watching them grow in the field.  I've always said that we can teach them what an EMT needs to know, but they learn "how" to be an EMT in the field.

A Friend's Book...

Let me introduce you to a friend of mine who's working on a book due out in September, 2013.  Jeff Billingsley was a Memphis, Tennessee police officer who grew up in a small town in Illinois.  After a stint as an officer in his home town, he moved to the "big time" of Memphis.  Jeff has an amazing story to tell, and instead of spilling the beans here, I'd rather him tell it in his own words.

"My Second Chance" – A Book by Jeff Billingsley

~ A small town police officer pursuing his dream in Memphis, Tennessee. Shot twice during a traffic stop and near death. A prayer with an angel. Healed of PTSD. A life of peaks and valleys. An honest discussion about faith, church, and divorce. An encounter with the true nature of Jesus whose love, forgiveness, and healing never ends. Available September 2013.

Drop by the website, "My Second Chance".  Catch up on the excerpts.  Get the book when it comes out.  You'll be glad you did.

Considering a change...

This will be a ramble, so hang in there...

Over the past few years I embraced various social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.  Each one have their merits, pro's and con's unique to each service.  I share some friends across all three, others are unique to one outlet. 

This blog links out to all three whenever I tap out a new entry.  Within a half-hour of a new posting, the title and link are spread out to many friends and acquaintances.  A blog gives your much more than 140 characters to convey more depth to the reader.  But in today's world, anything much longer than the 140-character limit may gain the writer a TL;DR (too long; didn't read).  So be it.  The brevity of instant messaging must soothe the sensitivities of those who are challenged by a meaningful exchange of ideas.  Again, so be it.

Guilty as charged, I've been a contributor to the short-message communications format.  It's easy to formulate a quick text to my three favorite social media services.  Tap out the characters on the phone, hit send, and the earth-shattering thought of the moment is forever digitally enshrined in the annals of history of modern man.  What I had for supper, what music I was listening to while driving, snarky comments while sitting in random meetings.  It's all out there, somewhere in the digital ether.  I'm sure my great-great grandchildren will be impressed with my collection of works.  I shall, perhaps, upon my passing, leave directions to my progeny to download and have bound all of my status updates.  I'm certain such a volume will gather little dust in the great libraries of the world.

All social media services evolve.  Facebook has, of late, seemed to become not so much of a place to proffer personal updates, but more of an avenue to simple "share" and re-post content created by others.  My newsfeed is littered with a host of shared recipes, satirical political and animal memes.  Perhaps the politics and LOLCats are somehow cyber-related.  I've been considering giving the digital axe to Facebook friends who never post original content.  Twitter, depending on who you follow, can be a good source of news and special-interest information.  I like it.  Google+ still doesn't have its legs yet, but some in my cyber-society are migrating there.  There are unique offerings in Google+ that I haven't fully explored yet, but I plan to.

So, after that diatribe....I'm considering coming back to this blog more often in the future.  The format here may not be as dynamic, but I can offer more.  The Big Three social media will still post links from here, but you'll have to actually visit to read it all.  And that might require a bit more neurological power than is required to process just less than one gross of text characters.

PS:  I don't play Mafia Wars, Lucky Slots, or any other game on Facebook.  No matter how good our friendship may be, repeated game invitations only serve to nudge you closer to the "Defriend" cliff.

Another Shameless Self-Promotion

It's National Public Health Week...

Emergency Response Coordinator Jim Whitfield talks about being a public health emergency professional.

Help Replacing Batteries???

We recently purchased a Roku device for our television.  If you're not familiar with one, they connect your TV with your internet service, allowing you to stream services from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc.  I've enjoyed having the device, because we're able to pick movies and a growing selection of television shows on-demand for free or using existing service subscriptions.  There's very little technical skill needed to set up the Roku; it is no more difficult than adding a laptop computer to your wireless network.

Today, I got the following email from Roku - just a regular customer-service type email.  Now, if one can't change the batteries without screwing up, how, exactly, did one get the thing connected in the first place???

I'm very concerned about the future of our country, and stuff like this confirms my fears.

Hi !

Next time you're ready to change the batteries in your Roku remote, we thought you'd appreciate a few good tips when it comes to battery handling.

Inserting batteries:

When inserting the included batteries, be sure to insert each battery, negative (-) side first, pushing into the coil and then into the compartment. Never insert batteries positive side first.

Replacing batteries:

Always replace dead batteries with two brand-new batteries from the same manufacturer. Never use damaged batteries. If your remote gets warm/hot during use, discontinue use and contact Roku Customer Support immediately at roku.com/support

Disposal of batteries:

Always dispose of batteries following federal guidelines or local ordinances. And while this one may surprise you — never dispose of used batteries in open fire!

Daughter Dating Rules...

Granted, I don't have a daughter who's genetically my own, but I do have two step-daughters.  Therefore, the following rules have been set forth and shall remain in effect until superseded (which is unlikely).  I reserve the right to amend these rules at any time I may determine, with or without prior notification to the parties involved.

Rule One: If you pull into my driveway and honk, you’d better be delivering a package, because you’re sure as hell not picking anything up.

Rule Two: You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter’s body, I will remove them.

Rule Three: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their pants so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don’t take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: you may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four: I’m sure you’ve been told that in today’s world, sex without utilizing a “Barrier method” of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five: It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is: “Early.”

Rule Six: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don’t you do something useful, like the dishes, or changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: 

• Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. 
• Places where there is darkness. 
• Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. 
• Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka – zipped up to her throat. 
• Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which feature chain saws are okay. 
• Hockey games are okay. 
• Old folks’ homes are better.

Rule Nine: Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, dimwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless God of your going out and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have firearms, a shovel, and numerous acres of land to use. Do not mess with me.

On Gun Control...

I've stayed quiet for the past week on the topic of gun control.  For the most part, the people closest to me know where I stand on guns, and I don't see my views changing in the future.  Tonight, I found two well-written articles, and I wanted to share them, because they effectively capture my thoughts.  Both are extensive writings, so be prepared to read and be challenged. 

My thanks to both for taking the time to write.  Neither were done in a few minutes' time.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

The first is a link to another blogger in his entry, An Opinion on Gun Control.

Second is an Open Letter, written by a fellow Mississippi Gun Owner:

This is an open letter to anyone interested in the national conversation concerning gun control and violence. Like everyone else, I am shocked and saddened at the recent violent criminal act that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary. That combined with the ensuing national discussion regarding gun control and violence motivated me to write this open letter.

First, let me tell you a little about myself. I am 37 years old and I am from Mississippi. I am an avid sportsman and competitive shooter. I am an instructor certified enhanced firearms permit holder, and I currently compete as an “A” class Production division shooter in the United States Practical Shooting Association. If you don’t know what any of that means, don’t be impressed. I am nothing special. This time a year ago, I had never owned or fired a handgun in my entire life. Up until January, I had always been intimidated by them based on what I had read or heard in anti-gun propaganda, and somewhat fearful of them because I am part of the first generation that grew up in a culture that has glorified criminal and unsafe gun violence on television, movies, and in video games, but more on that later.

This time last year, I first looked into getting a concealed carry permit and purchasing a handgun for self defense. The prospect of that was so very new and foreign to me. I decided to educate myself about guns, gun laws, and the effects guns have on violence. I also decided to educate myself on defensive techniques and safety procedures. I sought out the proper training, familiarized myself with handguns and became comfortable and proficient with them. I then got into the sport of competitive handgun shooting. I now own 10 guns, have fired 20,000 rounds in the last 12 months, and have competed in 31 different shooting sports events since March, and I carry a handgun on my person everywhere I am legally allowed. In the span of the last 12 months I have went from being intimidated and fearful of handguns and thinking that they were the root cause of violence in our country, to completely comfortable with their use and gaining the understanding that they are a tool that has been proven to be effective in reducing violent crimes. It has been an interesting year, to say the least, and I wanted to share with you some of the things I’ve learned along the way, especially in light of the recent national conversation that has misrepresented guns and their effect on violence.

The research I have done shows that guns are an effective tool in reducing violence. You often hear that an armed society is a polite society, and I have found that to be true both in my research into the subject, as well as in my anecdotal personal experience in the last year.

I highly recommend everyone purchase and read the book “More Guns, Less Crime” by Yale professor John Lott. It is an exhaustive analysis of the effect of gun possession on crime rates. It is the most extensive empirical study of crime deterrence that has been done by anyone to date. He presents the results of his exhaustive statistical analysis of crime data for every county in the United States during 29 years from 1977 to 2005. The book examines city, county and state level data from the entire United States and measures the impact of 11 different types of gun control laws on crime rates. Lott also examines the effects of gun control laws, including the Brady Law. He also spends time discussing gun ownership rates and crime rates in other countries, such as the United Kingdom. His exhaustive research on this issue has been peer reviewed and supported by several noted academics in his field, and it has become the definitive reference in discussing the effects of guns on crime rates.

I also recommend his follow up book, “The Bias against Guns”. In this book Lott details the effects of gun laws on multiple victim shootings in public places. His two main arguments are that gun free zones increase these events, and that shall issue concealed carry laws greatly reduce them.

Lott's first argument is that gun free zones are attractive to criminals because no law abiding citizens will be able to stop them from taking hostages or killing. Lott makes the case that gun free zones are the safest places for criminals, and that it should not be surprising that these kinds of situations occur there, when criminals have so much incentive to do so.

Lott also examines the converse, when ordinary citizens are given the opportunity to carry concealed weapons to protect themselves. He shows that mass murders decrease greatly when law abiding citizens are allowed to carry, explaining that criminals know that in public there is a good chance that someone nearby will be able to stop them.
Combine this with the knowledge that every public mass shooting except for one that has occurred since 1950 in which three or more victims died was in a gun free zone, and that the average number of people killed in mass shootings in gun free zones in which police stop the shooting is 14.29 and when not in gun free zones and civilians stop the shooting that number drops to 2.33.

The second book also discusses the effect of having guns in the household, focusing on two points. He demonstrates with his exhaustive analysis to nationwide statistical data that people are almost never killed accidentally by their own guns and that most deaths involving guns in the home are suicides, and children are much more likely to be killed by household items such as 5 gallon buckets, beds, or pools than by a gun.

It’s eye opening, especially considering what you’ve always heard or been told by the majority of the media and in anti-gun propaganda.

In addition to those two books that I highly recommend, I also have comes across several other interesting pieces of information in my research over the past year that bolsters the truth that more guns equals less crime.

For example:

In 1976, the Washington, D.C. City Council passed a law generally prohibiting residents from possessing handguns and requiring that all firearms in private homes be kept unloaded and rendered temporally inoperable via disassembly or installation of a trigger lock. The law became operative on Sept. 24, 1976. On June 26, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, struck down this law as unconstitutional. During the years in which the D.C. handgun ban and trigger lock law was in effect, the Washington, D.C. murder rate averaged 73% higher than it was at the outset of the law, while the U.S. murder rate averaged 11% lower.

On October 1, 1987, Florida's right-to-carry law became effective. Since the outset of the Florida right-to-carry law, the Florida murder rate has averaged 36% lower than it was before the law took effect, while the U.S. murder rate has averaged 15% lower. The previously mentioned book details similar occurrences across several different states as they have passed right-to-carry laws.

In 2007, there were 27.7 million emergency room visits for non-fatal accidents that year. Only 00.05% or 15,698 were firearm related.

In 1997, the UK instituted a complete ban on handgun ownership by civilians in response to the Dunblane massacre. The Dunblane massacre is an incident that occurred in the UK in 1996 in which a criminal shot dead 16 school children and their teacher, very similar to the recent Sandy Hook tragedy. The complete handgun ban was instituted in an effort to keep such a tragedy from ever occurring again. It was enforced by the confiscation of over 162,000 thousand guns and over 1.5 million pounds of ammunition. Using "records of firearms held on firearms certificates," police accounted for all but fewer than eight of all legally owned handguns in all of England, Scotland, and Wales.

As of 2012, the violent crime rate in the UK is 5 times that of the United States.

As of 2012, despite a complete ban on handgun ownership for the past 15 years, there is an average of 12,000 gun crimes committed a year in the UK.

In 2010, thirteen years after the ban enacted in the UK to prevent mass shootings at the expense of private gun ownership, a criminal in Cumbria shot 23 people, killing 11, before killing himself.

People often theorize what would happen if guns were completely outlawed, and I point them to that 1997 UK gun ban, and explain how it had failed its purpose, and resulted in a violent crime rate five times that of the United States.

According to the FBI, in the US from 2006-2010, there were 153 mass killings. A mass killing was defined as one in which 4 or more people died as the result of one incident. 33% of these did not involve a gun. That is close to 50 mass killings in a 5 year span that did not involve guns. I point to this when explaining to people that banning guns will not stop mass killings.

Of the remaining amount that involved guns, each and every one of them occurred in a gun free zone. I explain to people that gun free zones are established by legislation at the urging of the anti-gun crowd with good intentions, but the unintended result is the creation of a target rich environment for criminals that is guaranteed not to present the potential for an armed response from a law abiding citizen. Gun free zones, while intended to prevent gun violence, have ended up becoming veritable killing fields. Sandy Hook Elementary School was a gun free zone.

The deterrence factor of a potential armed response from a victim, while not quantifiable, cannot be ignored. It is not coincidence that every mass shooting since 1950 except for 1 occurred in a gun free zone. Criminals select these target rich environments because they prefer soft targets and choose to avoid the potential armed response. Studies have shown that even if no one is armed, the lack of a location being designated a gun free zone greatly decreases the chance of a mass shooting occurring. Just the possibility that the potential victims may be carrying guns prevents crime, whether or not the potential victims are carrying guns or not!

Look towards Kennesaw, GA as another example of the effect deterrence has on crime. In 1982, in response to the growing nationwide amount of violence and crime, Kennesaw enacted a law that every head of household had to own a gun. Over the next 25 years, not a single gun crime occurred in Kennesaw, GA.

Contrast that with the fact that 26% of gun crime in the US occurs in Chicago, New York City, and Washington DC, despite them having some of the strictest gun control laws in the country and only having 6% of the population.

On the national defense level, look no further than to the infamous quote, “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass”.
The more research I did, the more amazed I became at how every notion I previously held concerning guns was wrong.

The current national dialogue is in regards to a potential forthcoming Assault Weapons Ban. This would place a limit on magazine capacity at 10 rounds, and ban any semi-automatic weapon that had cosmetic features similar to assault rifles.

What most people don’t understand is that assault rifles are automatic weapons, and are strictly controlled. The guns you see talked about in the media are actually not assault rifles; they are semi-automatic rifles that have cosmetic features similar to assault rifles. Basically, they are made the same color as the guns the military uses, but they function differently. The gun used in the Sandy Hook incident was not an assault rifle. It was a semi-automatic rifle with cosmetic features similar to an assault rifle. In functionality, it is just like your grandpa’s hunting rifle, in fact, probably less powerful as it fires one of the smaller caliber cartridges available. It cosmetically resembles a military rifle because it has molded plastic painted black to make it look like one. The more you learn about the equipment, the more ridiculous you realize the efforts have been with gun control.

This exact ban being discussed was already tried before and has been shown not to have any impact whatsoever on crime rates. From 1994-2004, the federal assault weapons ban was in place, and it has been shown by both the CDC and the Violent Policy Center to have had no effect on reducing violence.

Even worse, Connecticut already had this exact same assault weapons ban that had been previously tried on the federal level in effect during the Sandy Hook incident.
Attempting to enact the same legislation now when we know it doesn’t work doesn’t make sense. It seems like a hurried reaction to appease the many uninformed masses of people who do not understand and are fearful of guns with no real goal of accomplishing anything meaningful.

Aside from denying several million Americans the ability to lawfully pursue something they desire, and putting thousands of people out of work who manufacture these items, we already know from the previous attempt that it will have no effect at all on violence.

It amazes me that due to the large number of people ignorant on the effectiveness of guns as a tool against violence, we would enact legislation that we know does not work, at the expense of denying millions of Americans an activity they desire, and costing thousands their jobs.

Rather than enact ineffective legislation to appease a voting bloc that is ignorant to the facts, let’s try addressing the real problems that exist in an effort to effect real change.

President Obama said we would have to take a hard look at ourselves and make some tough choices. Let’s do that.

1. End the drug war. Studies show the drug war is the single biggest cause of violent crime in the United States. There are shelves of books written about this, so I am not going to write another one here.

2. Ban gun violence in video games. A complete ban, not just a rating system or trying to limit it to adults. Ban gun violence in video games. It serves no necessary purpose, and it has been shown that exposure to such violence in young children desensitizes them and predisposes them to acts of violence when they get older. It makes absolutely no sense to me that a 20 year old man cannot walk into a sporting goods store and buy a single-shot shotgun to participate in a wholesome family friendly trap shooting event, but his 9-year old brother can spend 4 hours a day every day participating in a simulation in which he is using a fully automatic assault rifle to kill, maim, and disfigure hundreds of thousands of opponents in a criminal and unsafe manner. On a personal note, I grew up playing sports games, and didn’t start playing violent video games until I was 27 years old. I played a lot. I even competed professionally. I played daily. I honed my craft. I stopped 6 years later when I started to notice mild symptoms of battlefield induced PTSD, despite never having served in combat or experiencing any type of traumatic event whatsoever in my entire life. I found myself having night terrors and flashbacks to years previous to virtual locations and situations I experienced inside video games. I cannot imagine the effects these games will have on young children who grow up playing them at a tender and impressionable age. I have told my wife, if we are ever blessed enough to have children, I am completely comfortable in taking a child as young as 6 years old and upward to the range and teaching them proper gun safety and responsible gun use for recreational and sporting purposes, but from the day they are born to the day they leave my care at 18+ years old they will not be allowed to participate in video games that simulate extreme gun violence, criminal behavior, or battlefield experiences.

3. Along the same lines as above. Ban gun violence on TV and in movies. Yes, it is time to make tough decisions and sacrifices to make a difference. No reruns of old ones, nothing. Complete ban on the glorification of criminal and unsafe gun violence on television or movies. It serves no purpose. It amazes me to hear an anti-gun proponent advocate the complete ban of the safe and responsible use of an effective tool against crime, and at the same time defend his own right to be entertained by the glorification of exaggerated and gory criminal acts of unsafe and unrealistic gun usage in TV and movies. It saddens me that the most popular networks carry virtually non-stop programming that glorifies gun violence in a completely unrealistic criminal and unsafe way, and yet I have to order special packages of little known or heard of sporting channels to find programming that depicts safe and responsible gun handling in a realistic environment. Get a stopwatch and a remote control and see how long it takes you to find a show depicting criminal and unsafe use of guns and extreme gun violence. It won’t take long. Now do the same and try to find a program that is instructional on safe and proper gun handling. I’ve been looking for months.

4. Address the mental health issue. Earnestly.

5. Teach gun safety in schools. We have sex education to prevent teen pregnancy. Let’s teach gun safety to prevent firearm accidents and educate our children properly. As it is, your kids are learning about guns, but they are learning about them from television, the movies, and video games. Don’t let that happen. Guns are useful tools. Let’s educate people on how to use them properly, and let’s start at an early age so we reduce the number of firearms related accidents that happen when kids aren’t aware of the basic safety and gun handling. Let’s familiarize them with effective tools and prevent them from growing up with irrational fears.

6. Make guns more accessible for law-abiding, responsible adults. Let’s untangle the spider web of varying gun laws from different states that make interstate travel a nightmare for responsible law abiding gun owners, but have no impact on criminals. Let’s standardize those state laws, ease the restrictions that only effect law abiding citizens. Make CCW reciprocity nationwide, but make obtaining one require stringent background checks, and ensure proper training requirements are met. This would allow us to use a nationwide CCW license as a easy way to vet anyone who has it as a responsible and law-abiding gun owner with access to expanded privileges regarding right to carry. I would use Mississippi’s enhanced permit model as the benchmark.

7. Eliminate gun-free zones completely. Statistics show they are gun violence hot spots and mass shooting killing fields. Only law abiding citizens observe gun-free zones. Criminals seek them out for soft targets with no possibility of armed response.

Ultimately, however, we have to do something, and as a nation and to a person, we have to define the problem we really want to solve.

People say guns are the problem, but that isn’t true. The real problem everyone wants to eliminate is crime and violence.

What we all want to accomplish is to reduce the amount of crime and violence nationwide, and try and prevent incidents like the one at Sandy Hook from ever happening again. Let’s take cues from the UK and their failed attempt at a complete gun ban and resulting mass shooting and violent crime rates 5 times that of the US as an indication that gun bans don’t work.

Let’s take a cue from the failed attempt to establish gun free zones here at home as a safe harbor for gun violence when in reality the opposite effect has occurred in them being actively sought out by criminals in order to carry out massacres.

Aside from this, I additionally want to specifically reduce gun crime and firearms accidents amongst children and young teens. Banning the glorification of gun violence in video games, television, and movies can move to accomplish this goal, combined with responsible instruction in schools on safe gun handling and responsible usage.

Let’s change the culture by raising our children to be knowledgeable and responsible with the capabilities of these effective tools rather than having them grow up with unrealistic depictions and the glorification of wanton criminal acts barraging them daily on video games, television, and movies.

Let’s do this. Let’s do this now, and let’s do it right.

Winter, Antonio Vivaldi

Tis the day for Winter Solstice - the beginning of Winter.  Enjoy Vivaldi's "Winter" from The Four Seasons.

Ode to Joy

Beethoven is always loaded in the CD of my work truck...and it gets played very loudly whenever I turn it on.  I'd be content hearing this every day.  Oh, and my bride's middle name is "Joy" too.  Funny how that works out....

Job Hazard

There's a hazard associated with being in a medical profession.  That hazard is your always assessing people.  Therapist is constantly watching how people walk, assessing their gait and movement, whispering to me what she thinks may be wrong with them, and what physical therapy they might need.  Being an EMT, I also catch myself inadvertently assessing people's coughs, or their appearance if they seem ill.  But you know it's bad when you catch yourself assessing a "patient" based on the lyrics of a song.

To wit: the singer here complains of, or presents with, the following signs and symptoms:

1. Rising fever
2. Burning sensations
3. Encaphalitis
4. Disorientation
5. Delusions
6. Auditory hallucinations
7. Visual hallucinations
8. More fever
9. More burning sensations
10. Unquenchable thirst
11. Denial of some conditions
12. More auditory & visual hallucinations
13. Fear of flames
14. Imminent fear of death
15. Respiratory distress and chest pain
16. More fever with additional disorientation, delusions, and auditory & visual hallucinations

I present to you the patient, in their own voice, describing these symptoms:

2012 National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service

Below you'll find a live video stream of the 2012 National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service from the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland. 

Four firefighters from Mississippi will be honored this year:

• Jacob Anthony Carter - Becker-Athens Volunteer Fire Department
• Charles E. Foster - Barton Fire Department
• Larry C. Gressett, Sr. - Toomsuba-Alamucha Fire & Rescue
• Joshua Jay Wilkes - Unity Fire Department

Broadcast times for Saturday's Candlelight Service and Sunday's Memorial Service are:

• Candlelight Service Broadcast: Saturday, October 6, 2012 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. Central Time (Streaming Begins at 5:00 p.m.; Service Begins at 5:30 p.m. Central Time)
• Memorial Service Broadcast: Sunday, October 7, 2012 8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Central Time (Streaming Begins at 8:30 a.m.; Service Begins at 9 a.m. Central Time)

Medical Afflictions

Bearing the Pall...

For so many years I never really knew what the origin of the term pall-bearer was.  What exactly was a pall?  I'd heard the phrase "cast a pall over....", usually associated with a sense of foreboding.  But to my knowledge, pall-bearers carried caskets out of the church and into the cemetery.  The "pall" is typically, though seldom used, a flag or other ceremonial fabric covering placed over the casket.  Therefore, those carrying the casket are bearing the pall...pall-bearers.

Since my youth, there have been several occasions where I've been asked to be a pall-bearer, typically for relative.  It may be seen as a duty, but to me it is a high honor for a family to ask that you gently escort their beloved to their place of rest.

This week, though, the honor of the title took on new meaning to me.  The pall was cast on Wednesday afternoon, just before four in the afternoon when my phone rang.  One of Therapist's aunts was calling - unusual, but not unheard of.  This was not to be a social call.  Therapist's dad had been found unresponsive in his garden, and in the aunt's words, "was gone".  She said she'd called me because I'd know what to do to notify Therapist.  The truth is, I had no idea what to do.  Years of comforting the sick and injured, hundreds of hours of training, none of those things had taught me how to do this.  I walked across the house to find my wife.  As I drew my hand to knock on the door where she would be found, I had no idea what words I would say.  A thin door stood between her and the worst news...

We would quickly gather the family at Therapist's parents as the pall settled around them.  Two of our boys were out of state, we had to make plans to get them home soon.  So many things must happen: arrangements, plans, flowers, visitations, food, finding room for people to sleep...chaos with no hint of order.

Therapist's parents had taken me and Mini-Me into their family with open arms, full of grace.  We weren't strangers, we were given family status without reservation.  Mini-Me quickly gained Mr. Armstrong's admiration and respect.  Mr. Armstrong had taught and preached for many years, gaining the respect and admiration of thousands of students and parishioners through the years.  Yet he gave us his respect and admiration.  His gentle manner and unassuming demeanor was reminiscent of some of my relatives, and we connected quickly.

I wanted to support my wife this week.  I just wanted to be there for her, to know that she had someone to fall onto when she needed to.  I wanted to be just at arm's-length away, to give her room to grieve but at the same time be close enough to catch her if she fell. 

It was Therapist's mother that surprised me though, asking if I would be a pall-bearer.  Me?  I'm the new guy in the family!  I'd be walking alongside men that had known Mr. Armstrong for decades; I'd only known him for a couple of years.  Surely there must be someone else.

Bearing the pall is more than a few steps in a cemetery.  You're asked to give a final aid to one who can no longer carry himself; to serve one who can no longer serve.  Bearing the pall is a silent ministry to the closest of family, attempting to lift for a time some of their burden.  Mr. Armstrong would have likely shunned physical support in life, preferring to not be a burden to those closest to him.  It was indeed a solemn honor to bear the pall for him and his family.  I only hope that I can continue to serve his daughter in an honorable way.

Our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor...

Take about ten minutes to read the entire text of our Declaration of Independence.  It is curious that the grievances detailed two hundred thirty-six years ago ring similarly true today. 

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Though Like a Wanderer...

Sunset in the Mississippi Delta on the first day of Summer 2012

The Disclaimer...

Astronomical Philosophy...

Today, June 5, 2012, the planet Venus transited the face of the Sun, an event that happens in a 243-year cycle, with pairs of transits in 8 years apart, separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years.  The last transit was in 2004, meaning the next will occur in the year 2117 and again in 2125.

To view the event, I used a highly sophisticated set-up of a pair of binoculars, focusing a projection of the sun onto white paper taped to a card table.  The picture below is one of the clearest we captured before rain clouds obscured the view.  Venus is the black dot in the lower right area of the solar disk.

That black dot is our "sister planet".  Venus is almost the same size as Earth, just 650km smaller in diameter.  If we were looking at our own planet, consider that black dot holds 7 billion people, everything we know and love.  Considering we all would fit on that tiny dot, our problems are reduced to insignificance.

Job 26:7 - He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.

Psalms 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

As I watched Venus this evening, I remembered a writing by Carl Sagan in his book Pale Blue Dot, regarding a photograph taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1990, which captured Earth as a tiny blue speck in the blackness of space.  Sagan wrote:

But for us, it's different. Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

Makers Mark mint julep, in a Mason jar...

Objects In Mirror...

"Objects in mirror are closer than they appear." 

If he only knew how close I feel to him on days like we had today....

Going Home...

As I sat in a staff meeting Friday, friends in the Jackson, Mississippi, area forwarded pictures of the "Final Patrol" of Pearl police officer Mike Walter, who was killed in a gun battle while serving a warrant.

The collection of patrol vehicles from across the state was impressive as they escorted Walter's funeral car and his family from Jackson through the streets of Pearl on to Pinelake Church.

We have the duty to honor our dead, especially to those who daily put themselves between civilized society and those people and situations that seek to cause harm.

We see them on our streets in patrol cars, ambulances and fire engines.  We teach our children to respect them, to feel safe around them.  We use the term hero because they have chosen a profession that gives us the opportunity to live in safety.

They are the people who intervene in our living nightmare as our possessions burn before our eyes, or as a loved one slips away.  They have trained to silence their fears for a time so that we may be comforted by their actions.

Yet through it all they are daughters, sons, husbands, wives, mothers and fathers.  They go home each day thankful for their safety.  They pray for that safety in one breath; with the next they pray for grace and peace for those they love should misfortune befall their watch.  That is one fear that cannot be muted.

This weekend hundreds of men and women who are sworn to serve and protect will commit their fallen brother to rest, as a young girl and her mother look on.  Stoic faces of officers, firefighters, and medics will hide the anguish raging inside, for they see their own loved one's faces in those of that daughter and wife.

In time, flags will be raised to full staff and badges will be uncovered.  Family and friends will return to their lives.  A daughter and a mother will shoulder the reality of an empty chair in their home.  A quick smile, hugs, or laughter from a father will never return.  A wife will sleep next to an empty pillow as her community heals.

Future memorial services will see this man's name cast in bronze and cut into stone.  He will be remembered for his sacrifice, yet no adulation, no honor, no memorial can replace what these two have lost.

As responders, the greatest memorial we can give our family is not having our name among those plaques of bronze and marble.  Though future generations may see those names, the greater blessing is knowing the souls those names represent.

Look upon the faces of the survivors, and commit yourselves to going home....

Last Night...

I went camping with Mini-Me last night, as he wanted to be in the words early to turkey hunt this morning.  We'd been wanting to get a camping trip in before it gets too hot, and turkey season is ending, so what better time than now?

As we sat by our campfire staring up at the moon, planets, stars, we were reminded that living in a city deprives you of little pleasures in life.  One among them is failing to see how beautiful the night sky truly is.  City lights blind us to the vast majority of the sky's beauty.

I couldn't help but recall my favorite piece by Beethoven, in the finale of his 9th Symphony.  While I don't pretend to know Beethoven's motivation behind the words, the lines "We enter, drunk with fire, Heavenly one, your sanctuary!"  Admiring the beauty of the heavens from around a campfire....

Scroll down, push play and turn it up LOUD.  Remember, Beethoven was deaf and couldn't hear his own work.  Then enjoy the words....

Translated from the original German: 

Oh friends, not these tones!

Rather, let us raise our voices in more pleasing

And more joyful sounds!

Joy! (Joy!)

Joy! (Joy!)

Joy, beautiful spark of the gods*

Daughter of Elysium,

We enter, drunk with fire,

Heavenly one, your sanctuary!

Your magic reunites

What custom strictly divided.

All men become brothers,

Where your gentle wing rests.

Whoever has had the great fortune

To be a friend's friend,

Whoever has won a devoted wife,

Join in our jubilation!

Indeed, whoever can call even one soul

His own on this earth!

And whoever was never able to, must creep

Tearfully away from this band!

In My Seat...

Watch all of this video....the message doesn't come until the end.  "...somebody died in my place....somebody died in my place not once, but twice."

A look back...

The American Civil War, War Between the States, War of Northern Aggression - whatever you prefer to call it, began today, one-hundred fifty-one years ago.

"We think that we are a wholly superior people.  If we'd been anything like as superior as we think we are, we would not have fought that war." ~ Shelby Foote

My daddy once said, during the midst of a political race for county sheriff, "you can't sling mud without getting some on yourself."  War must be like that - you can't clearly win without inflicting wounds upon yourself, your friends, and your country.

You'll see that decades after the war ended, those that fought the battles may have realized that same concept.

MY KING is Alive!

...on that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise, and the glory of His resurrection share...

Yes, there IS an EMPTY grave!

It's Friday....

The essence of the gospels and the whole of the Bible's story can be summed up in five words.  "Its Friday, but Sunday's coming!"

With best wishes for a peaceful and blessed Easter....

Places that "Make" the MS Delta: Po Monkey's Lounge

The Mississippi Delta is a quilt of hundreds of patches representing towns, varying cultures and histories from Native Americans through the Civil War and slavery, through both World Wars, civil rights struggles, and floods.  The quilt wouldn't be complete without each patch and each story - good or bad.  They all make the Delta what it is.

One of the living patches is Po Monkey's Lounge, outside Merigold, MS, just north of Cleveland.

Here's two short videos from Po Monkey's.  Enjoy.  And if you're ever in the Delta on a Thursday night, drop by.

Trey Erwin

A hat-tip to HybridMedic for the post about Trey Erwin, the 15 year old son of a Memphis firefighter/paramedic.  The young athlete is batting cancer, and his story is beyond inspirational.

You can keep up with Trey on Twitter @TreyErwin13, or @PrayForTrey, and on the CaringBridge website his family has established at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/treyerwin

Disaster Preps: Information

Have you seen Doomsday Preppers on the National Geographic Channel?  Unfortunately Thankfully, we don't get the NatGeo channel on our satellite, so I haven't seen it.  But from what I've heard and read around the web, it's...um...interesting.  Something tells me the producers found the most radical people out there and put them on TV.  That's good for ratings I guess, but doing so casts a bad light on the notion of disaster preparedness for your family.  There are plenty of simple, relatively inexpensive steps you can take to soften the blow of a sudden emergency or disaster.

In a previous entry about Community Emergency Response Teams, I mentioned that we would offer simple ideas on a regular basis, to help you with planning for your family's protection.

Family disaster planning can be as small, or as big of a project as you want it to be.  In this series of articles, we'll give you an outline of themes - security, sustenance, supplies, safety, etc., and try not to get "down in the weeds" of details.

This week, I'm going to re-post an article we featured in October of 2011.  Recent major disasters have taught us that personal information is as important as food and water.  Yes, a notebook won't keep you alive, but the information contained within will give you an advantage when calamity visits.  Brief medical records, banking records, vital records, all are important to rebuild your post-disaster life.  The data about your life isn't the first thing you pack up to evacuate.  A week or two later though, you'll wish you had it.

Here's a re-run of that post entry:

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Preparedness: The Big Book

Disaster preparedness and planning can be a complex, lengthy, and sometimes expensive endeavor.  Communities, states, and federal authorities constantly refine their plans for response and recovery.  Mitigation projects like flood control systems and building codes help reduce the potential effects of disasters.  Preparedness requires that we acquire and maintain supplies, equipment, and trained personnel in a state of readiness.  While our governing authorities do what they can, there remains one area of preparedness that no governmental entity can address:  you and your family's own personal state of readiness.  By undertaking a family disaster planning project, you can reduce your household's potential demands on your community's response.  By extension, the more well-prepared families there are, the more prepared the overall community is.

There are dozens of resources online to guide you through various aspects of personal disaster preparedness.  www.ready.gov is a great place to find basic information on disaster kits, food and water supply ideas, and other simple steps you can take.

While food, water, clothing, and shelter are absolutely essential to survival, I want to use this blog entry to remind you that following the immediate threats of an emergency, information is as essential to your recovery as the items previously mentioned.

A highly useful tool that I'm adding to my family's growing emergency plan is The Big Book of Everything, compiled by Erik A. Dewey.  Clicking that link will take you to a page where you can download either an Adobe PDF, or Microsoft Excel version of The Big Book.

The Big Book may seem daunting at first, but by compiling the information in incremental steps over the period of a few weeks, you'll develop a comprehensive document that details emergency information such as family contacts, as well as capturing important financial and other critical data.

What do you do with all this valuable - and sensitive - information?  I wouldn't recommend having a printed copy laying around the house for burglars to find your banking information.  Instead, print out only those essential pages that contain emergency points of contact, and keep it safely stored in a location known by all family members.

An option that we're exploring is storing a non-editable PDF version of The Big Book on key-shaped flash drives.  These won't occupy valuable space in your pocket, but will allow you to keep vital information easily accessible.  Yes, it is sensitive data.  But you can easily encrypt it using a very lightweight program called TrueCrypt, for which the price is right: it's absolutely free.  We'll also store scanned copies of important documents in that encrypted file as well.  If you wish, it may be helpful to have a non-encrypted version of The Big Book on your jump drive.  Just redact any information that could be used should the drive become lost. (Think CIA black pen marks - just black out the sensitive information on Excel then save it as a PDF).

We'll most likely have multiple copies of these flash drives, distributed out to family members both locally and non-local.  Twice a year (or more often if needed) they'll be collected and updated as information changes.

Why go through this exercise?  We have the capacity to digitize a huge portion of our lives, for relatively little cost.  I have several years worth of bank records, payroll records, and other documents stored digitally in multiple locations.  In the unlikely event that a disaster requires our evacuation, consider how much time we would save by not having to identify, find, collect, and store the paper documents.  Digital copies will never replace certified originals. Having volumes of information compressed into something the size of my house key, easily portable and securely encrypted will give my family the chance of a less-stressful recovery should we need it.

The Big Book isn't - and shouldn't be - your family's entire disaster plan.  It is just one part of a multifaceted plan that includes out-of-town/state contacts, pre-determined family evacuation locations (in town, out of town), basic food & water supplies, and emergency action steps for specific hazards like fires and thunderstorms.  The Big Book does, however, give you a one-stop-shop for a host of critical information that you'll wish you had.

What's your plan?

Community Emergency Response Teams

I've got an upcoming lecture to give on the 2011 Mississippi River Flood event.  Specifically, the lecture will be about how the flood impacted healthcare entities and response agencies.  In more a more broad sense, I'm planning for the presentation to feature the need for a renewal of individual and family preparedness efforts.  Disaster management is not a top-down process, driven by governmental entities.  Emergency management and disaster response begin with the lowest common denominator - you and your family.  As individuals and families become more ready to react to disaster, their neighborhoods and communities naturally become more resilient.

My preparation of this lecture reminded me of a topic that a few of us in Mississippi began looking at about 15 years ago...CERT - Community Emergency Response Teams.  Born of necessity after earthquakes in southern California, the CERT concept allowed emergency responders an opportunity to offer basic, life-saving training to people just like you: people who are willing to help, but don't know what to do.  Every disaster produces "spontaneous volunteers" willing to help, but in need of training.  The CERT model provides that training up front.

What basic things have you done for your family?  In the coming weeks, I'll post more information about CERT, and about preparedness steps you can take with your family.  They'll be simple, inexpensive things you can do.  Hopefully, it will spark some interest.  I'll be happy to answer any questions, so ask away in the comments section to this post.

U.S. Fire Administration Firefighter Fatality Notification - Centreville, MS

U.S. Fire Administration Firefighter Fatality Notification - Centreville, MS

U.S. Fire Administration Firefighter Fatality Notification - Centreville, MS

U.S. Fire Administration sent this bulletin at 03/06/2012 11:37 AM EST
You are subscribed to the U.S. Fire Administration's (USFA) Firefighter Fatality Notices e-mail list. A notice(s) has recently been added and is now available.

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) has received notice of the following firefighter fatality:

Name: Nolan “Goat” Pittman
Rank: Fire Chief
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Status: Volunteer
Years of Service: 25
Date of Incident: 03/05/2012
Time of Incident: 0317hrs
Date of Death: 03/05/2012

Fire Department: Centreville Volunteer Fire Department
Address: PO Box 578, 1 Municipal DR, Centreville, MS 39631
Fire Department Chief: Pending
Incident Description: Chief Pittman fell ill while at the scene of a residential structure fire. Pittman went to the hospital and was ambulatory as he walked into the emergency room, but his condition worsened and he passed away a short time later from a cause still to be determined.
Incident Location: 144 N Cosby ST, Centreville, MS
Funeral Arrangements: 03/10/2012 @ 1000hrs, Newman Funeral Home, 155 S Cosby ST, Centreville, MS.
Tribute is being paid to Fire Chief Nolan “Goat” Pittman at http://www.usfa.fema.gov/fireservice/fatalities/
To date, 18 firefighter fatalities have been reported to USFA in 2012. Year-to-date monthly and annual USFA firefighter fatality reports are posted online @ http://www.usfa.fema.gov/fireservice/fatalities/statistics/ff_stats.shtm

Ode to Billy Joe...

Three variations on a classic Southern Gothic song by Bobbie Gentry, with allusions to my hometown...

First, the original, irreplaceable version


Second, a souled-up version by Ray Charles


Finally, a modern singer, Sinead O'Conner does a great job

Second Amendment Saturday...

Great way to spend a Saturday...

A Decalogue of Canons

A Decalogue of Canons for observation in practical life.

1. Never put off till tomorrow what you can do to-day.
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3. Never spend your money before you have it.
4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.
5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold.
6. We never repent of having eaten too little.
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.
9. Take things always by their smooth handle.
10. When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.

Thomas Jefferson

A Geographical Oddity...

Mississippi Constitution, Article II - Boundaries of the State

Section 3: REPEALED (Note: The former Section 3 stated the limits and boundaries of the state of Mississippi.  The repeal of Section 3 was proposed by the Laws of 1990, Ch 692, Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 520, and upon ratification by the electorate on November 6, 1990, was deleted from the constitution by proclamation of the Secretary of State on December 19, 1990.

Mississippi Code, Title 3, Chapter 3, Section 1, State Boundaries - The limits and boundaries of the State of Mississippi are as fixed in Section 3 of the Constitution of said state.

So my question is, if Section 3 of the Constitution was repealed, there are no boundaries defined, therefore MS Code 3-3-1 refers to something that doesn't exist, what then are the true limits and boundaries of the state?

Or do we know no limits?

Play it long, loud and often....because it is OUR ANNIVERSARY!

Garden Watch 2012, Part 2

Some of the herb seeds planted last week have sprouted in their pods like fine frog hair.  Mostly thyme and basil.  I figure the rest will start poking through within a week.



Mini-Me and I tried our hand at carpentry and built two, four-foot by eight-foot raised planter beds.  I'm no carpenter, and an even worse gardener.  But I'll have to say these went from raw materials to finished product rather well.

Before:


During:


After:


The finished beds are shown upside-down. I'll dig four small holes for the "feet" to sit into, hopefully to prevent the beds from shifting around.  Next step: prep some ground and get soil to fill the beds.

Not bad for a Saturday afternoon!

Garden Watch 2012, Part 1

Apparently I needed to remind myself, as I seem to do every couple of years, that I'm no good at raising green leafy things from scratch.  So begins Garden, Version 2012.

Seventy-two starter pods planted with basil, lavender, oregano, parsley, rosemary, and thyme, on January 8.  Twelve pods of each were planted, hoping there's safety in numbers.  If they germinate successfully, I'll be able to weed out the runts of the crop.  Hopefully.

I'd considered building two raised beds for vegetables.  A good trip to Lowes reminded me that I'm neither a carpenter nor a gardener, so that idea was scrapped.  At least for now...it's still on the back burner of the "maybe one day" list.

So behold, Garden 2012 in all of its current immaturity!