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St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Posted 5 years agoOn February 14, 1929, seven members (and associates) of the the North Side Gang were machine-gunned to death in Chicago. It was called the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The major weapon used was the Thompson Sub-Machine gun. By 1934, Federal gun laws had been passed that made it extremely difficult for civilians to purchase that weapon.
On December 14, 2012, twenty children between the ages of six and seven were shot to death with a Bushmaster XM-15 rifle, an AR-15 clone. Six teachers were also murdered and the shooter committed suicide. Over seven years later, no Federal laws have been passed to limit these weapons.
The obvious conclusion: Gangsters are more important than children.
On December 14, 2012, twenty children between the ages of six and seven were shot to death with a Bushmaster XM-15 rifle, an AR-15 clone. Six teachers were also murdered and the shooter committed suicide. Over seven years later, no Federal laws have been passed to limit these weapons.
The obvious conclusion: Gangsters are more important than children.
Happy Valentine's Day
Posted 7 years ago... And it gets celebrated by killing seventeen students and teachers in Florida.
ARRGH!
Posted 8 years agohttp://my.xfinity.com/articles/ente.....media_lionking
*Note: this is a virtual copy of a reply I made to a journal by Vicky Wyman.
That screech isn't about Beyonce voicing Nala. It's about the utter stupidity of doing a live-action version of a film that has no human presence in it... and the animal "actors" do such completely natural things as lie around in humanly-seductive poses or do the hula in a grass skirt.
Next remake: Bambi.
Hello.
My name is Bambi.
You killed my mother.
Prepare to die.
*Note: this is a virtual copy of a reply I made to a journal by Vicky Wyman.
That screech isn't about Beyonce voicing Nala. It's about the utter stupidity of doing a live-action version of a film that has no human presence in it... and the animal "actors" do such completely natural things as lie around in humanly-seductive poses or do the hula in a grass skirt.
Next remake: Bambi.
Hello.
My name is Bambi.
You killed my mother.
Prepare to die.
Haruo Nakajima dies at 88
Posted 8 years agoThe name may mean nothing to you, but it's virtually certain that you've seen him...
He was the man in the Godzilla (Gojira) suit from the original 1954 movie until 1972.
He was the man in the Godzilla (Gojira) suit from the original 1954 movie until 1972.
Bye-Bye Batman
Posted 8 years agoAdam West, 88
What the Penguin, Riddler or Joker couldn't do, leukemia did.
RIP
What the Penguin, Riddler or Joker couldn't do, leukemia did.
RIP
Anniversary
Posted 8 years agoProbably old news, but...
Posted 8 years agoOld Commissions
Posted 11 years agoJust so everyone knows, I am adding pieces I have commissioned (or appear in) as favorites.
Ebola
Posted 11 years agoSigh.
With so much yelling and screaming about Ebola. I'd like to add my two cents in... and hopefully offer some common sense.
Ebola is dangerous, contagious and it can be deadly. Over 3000 have died in Africa the last I heard. Only one person has died in the US from Ebola and two nurses have been infected with the virus. To put it in some perspective, two children have died from the Entereovirus that is also in the news. In the same time frame, we've probably lost over 100 people each to auto accidents and shooting incidents. In one year (2010) almost 600,000 people died of heart disease, over 125,000 died from accident and over 50,000 died of influenza and pneumonia. That means that 25,000 times as many people died from the flu as have contracted Ebola here in the US. Why don't we do more to stop the flu? It's obviously more dangerous to the general population.
Ebola is roughly as contagious as HIV, and most of the same safety precautions that prevent transmission of that disease (avoiding contact with bodily fluids, specifically) are also effective in helping to prevent the spread of Ebola.
I have worked for over thirty years in a hospital. I am not medical personnel, I work in IT. However, all employees are given instruction on how to avoid being infected, and how to avoid spreading infection. (Hand washing for thirty seconds is most effective, alcohol-based hand sanitizers also work.) There's been a lot of horrified attacks on the CDC stating that their isolation procedures don't work, otherwise the two nurses wouldn't have contracted the disease.
I'm calling bullshit on that. If the CDC procedures were that bad, everyone who treated the one Ebola fatality here in the US would have been infected. Every nurse, every doctor, every lab technician, every custodial employee who picked up the trash, anyone who destroyed biohazardous material from the patient: they all would have been infected with Ebola. Instead of that, we have two noscomial infections... and only two. (Noscomial is a big hospital word that means, in this case, that you contracted the disease at the hospital.)
So, while I don't like saying it, the two infections that have occurred here in the US were either equipment failure (a glove with an unnoticed hole, for example), some personal failure by the two nurses in following the isolation procedure or a combination of both. Or not establishing the correct isolation procedures quickly enough, which seems most possible considering the hospital in Dallas actually sent the patient home after his original visit to the ER.
With so much yelling and screaming about Ebola. I'd like to add my two cents in... and hopefully offer some common sense.
Ebola is dangerous, contagious and it can be deadly. Over 3000 have died in Africa the last I heard. Only one person has died in the US from Ebola and two nurses have been infected with the virus. To put it in some perspective, two children have died from the Entereovirus that is also in the news. In the same time frame, we've probably lost over 100 people each to auto accidents and shooting incidents. In one year (2010) almost 600,000 people died of heart disease, over 125,000 died from accident and over 50,000 died of influenza and pneumonia. That means that 25,000 times as many people died from the flu as have contracted Ebola here in the US. Why don't we do more to stop the flu? It's obviously more dangerous to the general population.
Ebola is roughly as contagious as HIV, and most of the same safety precautions that prevent transmission of that disease (avoiding contact with bodily fluids, specifically) are also effective in helping to prevent the spread of Ebola.
I have worked for over thirty years in a hospital. I am not medical personnel, I work in IT. However, all employees are given instruction on how to avoid being infected, and how to avoid spreading infection. (Hand washing for thirty seconds is most effective, alcohol-based hand sanitizers also work.) There's been a lot of horrified attacks on the CDC stating that their isolation procedures don't work, otherwise the two nurses wouldn't have contracted the disease.
I'm calling bullshit on that. If the CDC procedures were that bad, everyone who treated the one Ebola fatality here in the US would have been infected. Every nurse, every doctor, every lab technician, every custodial employee who picked up the trash, anyone who destroyed biohazardous material from the patient: they all would have been infected with Ebola. Instead of that, we have two noscomial infections... and only two. (Noscomial is a big hospital word that means, in this case, that you contracted the disease at the hospital.)
So, while I don't like saying it, the two infections that have occurred here in the US were either equipment failure (a glove with an unnoticed hole, for example), some personal failure by the two nurses in following the isolation procedure or a combination of both. Or not establishing the correct isolation procedures quickly enough, which seems most possible considering the hospital in Dallas actually sent the patient home after his original visit to the ER.
The Traditional Vulcan Wedding
Posted 13 years agoVicky and I are old SF/Trek fans. However, many years ago, the Trek fandom was, shall we say, much less mature than today. That is, too many of them took the position that Trek was everything good and that science fiction should more or less step aside and let Trek become the be all and end all of fandom. This didn't sit well with the SF crowd since luminaries like Ted Sturgeon, Norman Spinrad and Harlan Ellison had written Star Trek scripts. (Trek fandom went through much the same thing when Star Wars hit, so they eventually toned it down.)
However, many years ago, even before Star Trek: The New Generation started, a science fiction con named Balticon was invaded by Trekkies. Vulcans, no less. While the SF fans were on edge with them around, they weren't in any way disruptive. They acted aloof as Vulcans would, but were in no way rude.
Baltican has a Masquerade. It was/is MC'ed by a man named Marty Gear, who dresses up like Dracula for the show and tells bad (very bad!) vampire jokes between presentations. The Hunt Valley Inn, where Balticon was held that year, was quite crowded and a decision was made to show the Masquerade on the in-house television system. This would hopefully prevent massive overcrowding that would bring the fire marshals down on their backs.
I was sharing an apartment with a young woman named Cal at the time and asked if she'd like to watch it in my room. Another friend of hers named Lisa and Vicky Wyman also said yes. Well, we're watching and Marty announces the next presentation, The Traditional Vulcan Wedding. The audience groaned because they knew what was coming.
The Vulcan contingent marched on stage. In fairness, their costumes were letter-perfect. They had the thing with the bells and the battle-sticks: they were perfect. They even had a little old lady playing T'Pau and they carried her on-stage in a palanquin... which was also perfect. Finally, they had a Kirk and McCoy come on stage. Kirk asks McCoy what's wrong with Spock, and some music starts playing quietly in the background.
In the hotel room, I hear the music and I fall off the end of the bed , beating my fists on the floor. I'm howling with laughter! Cal asked, "Charlie, what's wrong?" I replied, howling, "Wait for it!" The music finally builds into the chorus of the following song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrCEEDyXYjE
The Vulcans were all dancing madly. The little old lady was rocking back and forth, shaking her hands. The audience died. Marty Gear was laughing so hard he was crying, his face bright red despite the white makeup he wore. When the song cut off, the Vulcans immediately reverted to Vulcan behavior, picked up their props and walked serenely off-stage. It was about five minutes before Marty could even attempt to announce that it had been the Traditional Vulcan Wedding.
Balticon also gives out awards, at most one to each presentation. One of those is for Most Humorous... and the audience booed the judges loudly when the Vulcan Wedding didn't win. However, the threats to the judges lives ended when the Vulcans won the absolute top prize, Best In Show.
However, many years ago, even before Star Trek: The New Generation started, a science fiction con named Balticon was invaded by Trekkies. Vulcans, no less. While the SF fans were on edge with them around, they weren't in any way disruptive. They acted aloof as Vulcans would, but were in no way rude.
Baltican has a Masquerade. It was/is MC'ed by a man named Marty Gear, who dresses up like Dracula for the show and tells bad (very bad!) vampire jokes between presentations. The Hunt Valley Inn, where Balticon was held that year, was quite crowded and a decision was made to show the Masquerade on the in-house television system. This would hopefully prevent massive overcrowding that would bring the fire marshals down on their backs.
I was sharing an apartment with a young woman named Cal at the time and asked if she'd like to watch it in my room. Another friend of hers named Lisa and Vicky Wyman also said yes. Well, we're watching and Marty announces the next presentation, The Traditional Vulcan Wedding. The audience groaned because they knew what was coming.
The Vulcan contingent marched on stage. In fairness, their costumes were letter-perfect. They had the thing with the bells and the battle-sticks: they were perfect. They even had a little old lady playing T'Pau and they carried her on-stage in a palanquin... which was also perfect. Finally, they had a Kirk and McCoy come on stage. Kirk asks McCoy what's wrong with Spock, and some music starts playing quietly in the background.
In the hotel room, I hear the music and I fall off the end of the bed , beating my fists on the floor. I'm howling with laughter! Cal asked, "Charlie, what's wrong?" I replied, howling, "Wait for it!" The music finally builds into the chorus of the following song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrCEEDyXYjE
The Vulcans were all dancing madly. The little old lady was rocking back and forth, shaking her hands. The audience died. Marty Gear was laughing so hard he was crying, his face bright red despite the white makeup he wore. When the song cut off, the Vulcans immediately reverted to Vulcan behavior, picked up their props and walked serenely off-stage. It was about five minutes before Marty could even attempt to announce that it had been the Traditional Vulcan Wedding.
Balticon also gives out awards, at most one to each presentation. One of those is for Most Humorous... and the audience booed the judges loudly when the Vulcan Wedding didn't win. However, the threats to the judges lives ended when the Vulcans won the absolute top prize, Best In Show.
