This and that

--And other duties, as assigned. A cop has probably made a hundred undercover busts in his career, but this one makes the national news wire. That's gotta suck. So to speak.

--In another story about Indiana cops, IMPD lost one with some grit, this week. When hearing the screams of a distressed citizen, there are cops who will wait for a cover unit, and there are those who will take the door. Officer Bradway made the tough call, and passed away falling toward the bad guy, shooting back. There are worse ways to go. EDIT: I just now found that Tam's words almost perfectly reflected my own sentiment.

--Phlegmmy's a little concerned about her puppies when large raptors are around. I thought it was a little unrealistic to worry about them, until I saw these pictures from Siberia, of a golden eagle taking down a deer. Awesome.

--I have some kind of extra duty every day for two weeks. (Court, grand jury, vehicle maintenance, mandatory off-duty job by direction, fire shift, cover another shift.) Meh.

--I really like the pewter stocks on the Blackhawk Oleg shows here. Truth be told, I like the whole setup.

--I need to pick up some ammo for a match this weekend.

--We just had three or four days where the temperature in the morning was under 65. One day, it was 52. That's a HUGE deal, here, in September. Nothing's better than a fall day.

My desk.

I don't recall if I had mentioned it, by my friend Rabbit gave me one of my very favorite cups, recently.

I'm betting that it confuses 'em her at the office.

Let them wonder. :)

Summer's end.

--Yesterday was August 31st. Today is Sunday, 1 September, 2013. Yes, the kids have been back in school for a week, but to me, summer goes June through August.

--I hope that you got in a good summer vacation, even if you had to resort to exceptional means, like Freddie Wong's vacation director did, here:

I can't help but notice at 4:56 how expensive Belizian pistol ammunition is. Ah, resort prices.

--Today is the first day of dove season in Texas. I haven't bought my hunting license. I should probably call some local ranchers about getting to hunt on their place after I've bought my license. The dove are thick this year. But it's 105.0 °F out there. I'm not really interested in getting out in the field today.

--My elder daughter turned 15 this weekend. I'm teaching parent-taught driver's education. My wife isn't so sure about this. For a $500 savings, I'm pretty sure.

--According to The Wall Street Journal, our Nobel Peace Prize-winning president is planning to fight with Congress over the right to bomb Syria. Look, I'm all for deploying the "Clearly Needs Killin'" Doctrine, but I'm also a fan of the "Let's Not Go Spending Money That We Don't Have To Piss Off Other Countries In Futile Plans" Doctrine. To quote Jim Wilson: "I'm having trouble following the logic: Syria attacked Syria, so we should attack Syria. Is that about right?"
In our War On Terrorism, don't we have a page on Not Creating New Motives For Future Terrorists?

--And now we've got a little sun shower. Brought the temp down to 100. The dove are flying everywhere. I moved the chickens and unloaded 600 lbs of bagged manure from the back of the Outback, and did some other yard work for a bit.

--My wife has talked for years about putting in an outdoor shower. I'm strongly considering making that my fall project, this year. The hardest part, frankly, will be putting up the screen.

--Great maps: These show the racial segregation in our cities.

--Useful site: Why am I just now learning of this site that crowd-sources the pronunciation of words? 

--The 1972 Blue Marble photo of our planet has been updated. Check out this amazing high resolution photograph featuring North America. Zoom in. It's great.

--The creator of Comic Sans font feels no remorse.

--Sign of the times: Fake NSA pickup lines on Twitter. This followed the LOVEINT story pretty quickly.

--The Onion steps away from satire, and tells some very sobering truth about modern "news" distribution.

--Per Ambulance Driver's suggestion, I wrapped boudin in bacon, and put it on the grill. It is with the same tone of solemnity that I admonish people not to do crack or meth that I tell you: don't do this. Not even once. I myself an ruined. Please remember me as a peacemaker. And while Holmes is best in most ring sausage, we preferred the Zummo's boudin, for its coarser texture in the rice.

--MORE Great maps. (40 of them!)

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