Movies watched and recommendations are as follows:
2 Guns--Starring Denziel Washington and 'Marky' Mark Wahlberg. Per IMDB.com, "A DEA agent and a naval intelligence officer find themselves on the run after a botched attempt to infiltrate a drug cartel. While fleeing, they learn the secret of their shaky alliance: Neither knew that the other was an undercover agent." A great guy movie! Recommendation is 3 out of 5 Pumpkin Pies. Lots of action and shoot-em ups! 
Mama--Starring a bunch of unknowns (to me at least). Spooky film with supernatural plot points. Per IMDB.com, "The senior partner of an investment brokerage Jeffrey has a breakdown and kills his two associates and his wife. Then he takes his three-year old daughter Victoria and the one-year old daughter Lilly and drives his car through a winding snowing road. He has a car accident and fall off a cliff, but he brings his daughters to an abandoned and isolated cabin to kill them, but the children are saved by a creepy ghostly creature. Five years later, Jeffrey's brother Lucas finds the children that were raised without social relationship and claim that they have been raised by Mama. Lucas disputes the custody with the children's grandmother but Dr. Dreyfuss, who is studying the girls, selects Lucas to take care of the children. Lucas lives with his girlfriend Annabel, who plays in a rock'n'roll band, and Victoria and Lilly moves to their house. Soon Lucas and Annabel find that the girls were not delusional and they are not alone in the house." Creepy but really ended on a sour note. I would not waste ticket or pay-per-view money on this one. Recommendation is 1 out 5 Pumpkin Pies.
We're The Millers--Starring Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Ed Helms, and Emma Roberts (Julia's niece). Per IMDB.com, "After being robbed of a week's take, small-time pot dealer David is forced by his boss to go to Mexico to pick up a load of marijuana. In order to improve his odds of making it past the border, David asks the broke stripper Rose and two local teenagers to join him and pretend they're on a family holiday." Hilarious movie! We ended up watching it twice and even my wife thought it was funny. Recommendation is 5 out of 5 Pumpkin Pies. 2nd Inning.
Baseball stadium bucket list...Safeco Field, Seattle Mariners.
In May 2008, I travelled with my wife
on another one of her business trip conferences to Seattle.
Like trips before with her, tickets were purchased for those attending the conference that
wanted to take in a ballgame at Safeco Field to watch the Mariners. It was a great opportunity to scratch another ballpark off my list. We were staying downtown, and within walking distance so we headed out for an old ballgame. Walking through the neighborhood we passed Qwest Field (the previous name of the stadium where the Seahawks play). Lot's of little sports bars surround the stadiums like most ballparks in a downtown environment. I recall hitting the fan store first to get my standard mascot bobblehead then heading to our seats. We had decent seats on the 3rd base side and sat down for a game between the Mariners and the Red Sox.
Brief history on the ballpark per Wikipedia,
"During the 1990s, the suitability of the Mariners' previous stadium—the Kingdome—as an MLB facility came under doubt, and the team's ownership group threatened to relocate the team. In September 1995, King County voters defeated a ballot measure to secure public funding for a new baseball stadium. Shortly thereafter, the Mariners' first appearance in the MLB postseason and their victory in the 1995 American League Division Series (ALDS) renewed a public desire to keep the team in town. As a result, the Washington State Legislature approved an alternate means of funding for the stadium with public money. The site for the stadium—just south of the Kingdome—was selected in September 1996, and construction began in March 1997. Construction lasted until July 1999, and the stadium hosted its first game on July 15, 1999. Naming rights to the stadium are owned by Seattle-based Safeco Insurance. Safeco reportedly paid US$40 million to have its name on the stadium for 20 years. "
That evening in May we enjoyed a nice ballgame, even though the home team lost. This ballpark has a retro look to it with the exposed steel and the roof is an engineering highlight. The retractable roof that acts as an "umbrella" for the seats and ball field rather than sealing up the stadium, like other retractable roofs in Major League Baseball. The relatively mild climate means the stadium rarely needs to be heated or cooled, but frequent rain required a roof. The roof is sometimes closed in dry weather when the temperature gets low to help prevent radiation heat loss. Being able to scratch another one off of my
bucket list definitely calls for a 'W' in my scorecard.
American History Lesson...On December 5th 1945, five U.S. Navy Avenger planes took off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on a training mission known as Flight 19 but never returned home. This incident kicked off the modern Bermuda Triangle mysteries.
Per History.com, "Two hours after the flight began, the leader of the squadron, who had been flying in the area for more than six months, reported that his compass and back-up compass had failed and that his position was unknown. The other planes experienced similar instrument malfunctions. Radio facilities on land were contacted to find the location of the lost squadron, but none were successful. After two more hours of confused messages from the fliers, a distorted radio transmission from the squadron leader was heard at 6:20 p.m., apparently calling for his men to prepare to ditch their aircraft simultaneously because of lack of fuel. By this time, several land radar stations finally determined that Flight 19 was somewhere north of the Bahamas and east of the Florida coast, and at 7:27 p.m. a search and rescue Mariner aircraft took off with a 13-man crew. Three minutes later, the Mariner aircraft radioed to its home base that its mission was underway. The Mariner was never heard from again. Later, there was a report from a tanker cruising off the coast of Florida of a visible explosion seen at 7:50 p.m. The disappearance of the 14 men of Flight 19 and the 13 men of the Mariner led to one of the largest air and seas searches to that date, and hundreds of ships and aircraft combed thousands of square miles of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and remote locations within the interior of Florida. No trace of the bodies or aircraft was ever found. Although naval officials maintained that the remains of the six aircraft and 27 men were not found because stormy weather destroyed the evidence, the story of the "Lost Squadron" helped cement the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, an area of the Atlantic Ocean where ships and aircraft are said to disappear without a trace. The Bermuda Triangle is said to stretch from the southern U.S. coast across to Bermuda and down to the Atlantic coast of Cuba and Santo Domingo."
Per History.com, "Two hours after the flight began, the leader of the squadron, who had been flying in the area for more than six months, reported that his compass and back-up compass had failed and that his position was unknown. The other planes experienced similar instrument malfunctions. Radio facilities on land were contacted to find the location of the lost squadron, but none were successful. After two more hours of confused messages from the fliers, a distorted radio transmission from the squadron leader was heard at 6:20 p.m., apparently calling for his men to prepare to ditch their aircraft simultaneously because of lack of fuel. By this time, several land radar stations finally determined that Flight 19 was somewhere north of the Bahamas and east of the Florida coast, and at 7:27 p.m. a search and rescue Mariner aircraft took off with a 13-man crew. Three minutes later, the Mariner aircraft radioed to its home base that its mission was underway. The Mariner was never heard from again. Later, there was a report from a tanker cruising off the coast of Florida of a visible explosion seen at 7:50 p.m. The disappearance of the 14 men of Flight 19 and the 13 men of the Mariner led to one of the largest air and seas searches to that date, and hundreds of ships and aircraft combed thousands of square miles of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and remote locations within the interior of Florida. No trace of the bodies or aircraft was ever found. Although naval officials maintained that the remains of the six aircraft and 27 men were not found because stormy weather destroyed the evidence, the story of the "Lost Squadron" helped cement the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, an area of the Atlantic Ocean where ships and aircraft are said to disappear without a trace. The Bermuda Triangle is said to stretch from the southern U.S. coast across to Bermuda and down to the Atlantic coast of Cuba and Santo Domingo."
Flight 19 has made a few appearances in pop culture and one appearance that stuck with me is from the movie, 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind". In the film, they are depicted as being discovered in the desert and later the pilots are returned to Earth by their alien captors. A video about the incident is below. Enjoy!
4th Inning.
Politics...
Pork Barrel Spending. With the
discussion of another Federal Government shutdown there has been increased talk
about government waste so I thought I would list a few items every couple of
weeks. When examining these items we need to ask a few questions such
as 'Can we afford this at this time?' and 'Could this money have been
better spent or not spent at all?' and 'Is this a national priority or is
this something benefiting a special interest?' and 'Does this fit the
role of the federal government, as outlined in the U.S. Constitution?'. This week's entries:
5th Inning.
Articles of the Week...
- Blackwater..."The founder of one of the most hated companies on Earth believes defense spending should “go on diet,” worries about drone use, and was targeted by the IRS and Democrats for his troubles. He offered to help “save Darfur” and get warlord Joseph Kony yet was vilified by liberals and turned down by both the Bush and Obama State Departments." I studied Private Military Companies (PMCs) back in graduate school and work for a quasi one now. I think we should look more at these opportunities.
- Harry Potter remix...I will admit, I am a fan of the Harry Potter franchise thanks to my wife forcing me to read the books back in graduate school. If you are a fan then you will enjoy this image-based article!
- Black music and KKK... "Daryl Davis’ travels, of course, have always afforded him the opportunity to meet a huge range of diverse people, but perhaps nothing could have prepared him for the moment that would change his life." A great and intriguing article on race relations.
- How old are we?..."Remains of the world’s oldest known stone-tipped throwing spears, described in a new paper, and so ancient that they actually predate the earliest known fossils for our species by 85,000 years." Evolution or Creationism? I still hold firm in the belief of the 'Galactica' theory and that our ancestors were Ancient Aliens.
- Biker bodyguards... "When Rough Men Approached A Little Girl, I Was Scared. Then I Realized What They Were REALLY Doing." A great pictorial on how we as a society can band together to protect those that need it.
- Bring on the Convention... "Article V of the Constitution provides two ways to propose and ratify amendments. The first is through the commonly known Congressional method where a proposed amendment must be approved by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and ratified by three-fourths (38) of the states. The other, lesser known, process occurs through the states when two-thirds (34 states) ask Congress to “call a Convention for proposing Amendments…” Those amendments then go through the same ratification process." Please! We need more of this! More practice in our Constitutional principles and processes!
- Mr. Obama and the Constitution..."Since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, he has changed it five times. Most notably, he suspended the employer mandate last summer. This is widely known, but almost no one seems to have grasped its significance." Slippery slope, people...slippery slope.
- Dear Santa...A great response by a dad when confronted with his daughter's Christmas list.
- Turn in your guns... "Nobody is coming for your guns, they said. Nobody is taking away your rights, they said. This is all about public safety, they said." And so it begins...
6th Inning.
Cool/Funny Videos...
When Harry Met Sally, real life...How would like to be eating lunch and have the entire female customer base in the deli breakout into moans???
Little girls, little geniuses...As a father of three daughters I want them to break the mold of what a 'girl' should be when it comes to playing with toys or even aspiring for a career someday. I keep telling them (even though they are ages 10,8, & 2) that someday they could be building/flying spaceships to take people back to the moon or Mars or elsewhere in the galaxy.
7th Inning.
Firearms corner...Project Appleseed. Several years ago I had a coworker from Wichita, Kansas bring to my attention a shooting contest (at least that's what I thought it was) that was being held in Wichita and it was called 'Project Appleseed'. At the time I didn't think much about it. I wasn't interested in a shooting competition as a newbie to shooting, hunting, and firearms. But over the years I have been reminded of it through various items I have seen on the Internet and now with my daughters of the age where they are hunting with me I felt it was time to research this organization and find out what it is about and see if we could find a local event.
Per their website, www.appleseedusa.org, "Project Appleseed is an activity of The Revolutionary War Veterans Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to teaching every American our shared heritage and history as well as traditional rifle marksmanship skills. Our volunteer instructors travel across the country teaching those who attend about the difficult choices, the heroic actions, and the sacrifices that the Founders made on behalf of modern Americans, all of whom are their posterity. Our heritage program vividly portrays the Battles of Lexington and Concord with the kind of care and immediacy that is absent from most formal schooling. Modern listeners are confronted with the danger, the fear, and the heartbreaking separations that arose out of the choices made on April 19th, 1775. They are also reminded of the marksmanship skills and masterful organization that ultimately helped set the colonists on the path to success. Those who attend gain a better understanding of the fundamental choices faced by our ancestors as they began to set the stage for the nation we now enjoy."
I love American History and especially the American Revolution so reading that these weekend marksmanship courses are intertwined with history lessons from that era really got me excited and I have been looking for an event that will be close so look forward to my report on that when I get the chance. But you can bet my girls will be going too!
On their site they have a page on why you should come to their events and it says:
"Why should you come?
Well, for one thing, to see what this Appleseed stuff is all about. To find out why one well-known gun writer who was there said, "this is going to be the next big thing that nobody saw coming."
Another reason...
To learn to shoot a rifle — to learn to shoot it just as well as your forefathers.
Another reason...
To hear the story that every American should hear. About how your forebears took up arms, on the first day of the American Revolution, and did things no other people in the world have ever done. To learn things you don't learn in school, about that day. About where the Revolution really started — it did not start in Lexington, nor did it start in Concord. According to John Adams, it was over before it started. Be there to hear The Story, because to hear it is to remember what they did, that day. And to remember, is to honor them for doing it.
Another reason...
To gather new hope for the future. To see Americans — volunteer Americans — not sitting around complaining: no sir, out doing something about it — like saving their country, one person at a time.
Another reason...
To meet other Americans with whom you can enjoy learning to shoot, and learning more about the momentous events of April 19th, 1775. So you'll go home with your hope for America re-kindled and enlarged because you know that there are others just like you.
Another reason...
To qualify to purchase an M1 Garand — still one of the world's finest battle rifles — and a true piece of American history...direct from the Civilian Marksmanship Program for a price several hundred dollars under market."
8th Inning.
FFL Factoid...Rental of Firearms On-Premises (ATF FFL Newsletter, March 2013)
ATF has previously held that the rental of firearms for use on a Federal firearms licensee’s (FFL’s) business premises is not considered to be a sale, disposition, or delivery of the firearms. For this reason, an ATF Form 4473 is not required to be completed and no NICS background check is required. The FFL also does not need to log the firearm out of the acquisition and disposition (A&D) record. A licensee may rent a handgun to a person less than 21 years of age, or a long gun to a person less than 18 years of age for use at an on-premises shooting range. The on-premises rental of National Firearms Act (NFA) firearms is also permitted. However, licensees and non-licensees are prohibited from renting or lending firearms or ammunition to a person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe the person is prohibited from receiving or possessing that firearm. Refer to 18 U.S.C. § 922(d) and 27 C.F.R. § 478.99(c).
An alien admitted to the U.S. under a nonimmigrant visa is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition unless he or she falls within one of the following exemptions:
- Is in possession of a hunting license or permit lawfully issued by the Federal Government, a State, or local government, or an Indian tribe federally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is valid and unexpired. The hunting license does not have to be from the State in which the business premises is located;
- Was admitted to the United States for lawful hunting or sporting purposes;
- Is an official representative of a foreign government who is accredited to the United States Government or the Government’s mission to an international organization having its headquarters in the United States;
- Is an official representative of a foreign government who is en route to or from another country to which that alien is accredited;
- Is an official of a foreign government, or a distinguished foreign visitor who has been so designated by the Department of State;
- Is a foreign law enforcement officer of a friendly 6. foreign government entering the United States on official law enforcement business; or
- Has received a waiver from the Attorney General of the United States.
Permanent resident aliens, and aliens lawfully admitted to the U.S. without a visa (e.g. Visa Waiver Program) do not fall within the prohibition, and therefore do not need to meet one of the above exemptions to rent a firearm.
9th Inning.
The Burgandy/Manning video was hilarious! BTW, I am also a subscriber to the "Galatica Theory" which also jives with my creationist beliefs.
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