Busy few days,

so little blogging for a while.

No, I do NOT need to bring the Roger 'toon back out.  Repairs on a carport for one thing, which I will hopefully accomplish without further loss of blood or movement.

By the way, for future reference: those Skele-Toes shoes I like?  On a shingle roof they have approximately the same traction as leather soles on a newly-waxed floor(dammit, I said no new injuries, shut up).

Also, the store-brand chain lube from Cycle Gear works wonderfully on the joints of a folding ladder.

The irony is interesting, is it not?


Ayoob asked for comments on people reporting a friend/relative/someone at school who may be a threat, and this in the comments is dead-on:
...The drug war has driven a wedge between law enforcement and the general public. The war mentality has bleed over from drug enforcement to taint other forms of policing.
There are now law enforcement officers who claim that American cops face the same dangers on patrol as our soldiers do in Afghanistan. [1] 

There was recently a SWAT style raid of an animal clinic. [2] When asked why the raid was conducted in that style, a supervisor explained that they just go ahead and kick in doors in drugs cases, so why should they do anything differently here.*

Given this militarization of police forces, I think that some people are afraid to reach out to law enforcement when a loved one is having mental issues due to a fear that the first response to such an issue will be violent.
Exactly.  There's a big difference between thinking "If I call the police/sheriff, someone'll come talk to him and look into things" and "Well shit, if I call the cops they're likely to kick the doors in and kill somebody." 


Film taken during WWII shows a Spitfire making a forced-landing; the pilot gets to see it in 2005.






*and I don't doubt the idiots in question were all butthurt when the populace announced "We think you're heavy-handed assholes" for doing it.