Damn... just damn
First seating I get NOTHING until the blinds are all the way up to 400-800. I took down a couple hands but never more than a couple hundred. At this point I'm down to 5 blinds, and I've got a-6 suited. The bet comes around at 1500, and I call it. We see 2-5-6 on the flop, so I go all in. I get one caller, he's got Q-5, and the turn comes out Ace. I'm feeling good with my two pair, and he trips up on the river.
I'm out like 40th out of 61
Damn...
I had the first losers table with a huge lead, and ended up dumping most of it to this girl on a hard luck flush (I had two pair). She caught it on the river, and I never recovered.
Second seating I'm fighting up pretty good, I manage to get up by 20, knock a bunch of folks out, and I'm sitting down at the final two tables with about 30k.
We end up knocking four out total, but were going around, and I'm just getting rags. Nothing but 6-8 off suite etc... and one guy manages to take down... well basically everybody else. He gets this MASSIVE stack Finally the blinds are up to 2 and 4k, about to go up to 4 and 8; I'm down to 16k, and we're down to 6 players, with 4 at the other table. I'm in the big blind next hand, and I get pocket threes, so I raise the 4 to 8k pre-flop with me having 8k left. I get two callers, all in, including the big stack who has me thoroughly dominated.
So fuck it, I'm all in next blind anyway right? I call the all in, and we flip'em. He's got the pocket rockets...
Damn....
The flop comes out, 3-8-A... DAMN... JUST DAMN....
6 on the turn
7 on the river, and that's all she wrote. The other all in caller went in with Q-J suites, so I've got the better hand, but it's still 8 players left and I'm out of the points in 9th place out of 58.
Damn... just damn...
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Rockstar INXS - Surprising me
I was almost certain that Suzies performance would have put her into the safe zone, with J.D., Jessica, and Deanna taking up the rear; but Suzie took that spot I thought J.D. would be in.
Mig, Jordis, and Marty were top three, and Mig got the encore. Oh and man I wish they showed the encore video on the web site. Mig called the other top to up with him, and I'd have loved to see the top three up there at once.
Suzie - "By My Side": Honestly, I was impressed. She did a good job with it. She really go the emotion into it, but still not that sense of... longing I guess it is, that Hutchens always had.
Deanna - "Never Tear Us Apart": Once again she's channeling Melissa Ethridge. Man she got the nuts into it, but I didn't think it was a great performance. Oh and she went a little spastic on stage too. I certainly felt her desperation, but...
Jessica - "Mystify": I don't care for the song, but honestly I thought her performance was better than Deannas. Her vocalization was better, and she got the tone better... but it still just didnt sound right. This is a song with a hollow sound to it, and she made it round and full.. plus her energy and emotion wasn't really there. Deanna at least made an impression, and you could tell how much she wanted it; I never really felt that from Jessica. I think she knew she was going out this week, and this was it.
And so, Jessica is going home. Really I think she's better than Suzie, but Suzie just did the better job of it. And as the band says, it's no longer about who's good, it's about who's the best with INXS, and I agree that person isnt Jessica (Or any of the women actually; if it doesnt come down to Mig, Ty, and Marty I'd be amazed).
That said, I guarantee you she gets a contract by the end of the week. She's got the nuts man.
UPDATE: Spoons thought the same as I did about Deanna and Jessica, and was surprised by the result as I was. I didnt hate jessica though, I still thought she was generally better than suzie.
Mig, Jordis, and Marty were top three, and Mig got the encore. Oh and man I wish they showed the encore video on the web site. Mig called the other top to up with him, and I'd have loved to see the top three up there at once.
Suzie - "By My Side": Honestly, I was impressed. She did a good job with it. She really go the emotion into it, but still not that sense of... longing I guess it is, that Hutchens always had.
Deanna - "Never Tear Us Apart": Once again she's channeling Melissa Ethridge. Man she got the nuts into it, but I didn't think it was a great performance. Oh and she went a little spastic on stage too. I certainly felt her desperation, but...
Jessica - "Mystify": I don't care for the song, but honestly I thought her performance was better than Deannas. Her vocalization was better, and she got the tone better... but it still just didnt sound right. This is a song with a hollow sound to it, and she made it round and full.. plus her energy and emotion wasn't really there. Deanna at least made an impression, and you could tell how much she wanted it; I never really felt that from Jessica. I think she knew she was going out this week, and this was it.
And so, Jessica is going home. Really I think she's better than Suzie, but Suzie just did the better job of it. And as the band says, it's no longer about who's good, it's about who's the best with INXS, and I agree that person isnt Jessica (Or any of the women actually; if it doesnt come down to Mig, Ty, and Marty I'd be amazed).
That said, I guarantee you she gets a contract by the end of the week. She's got the nuts man.
UPDATE: Spoons thought the same as I did about Deanna and Jessica, and was surprised by the result as I was. I didnt hate jessica though, I still thought she was generally better than suzie.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
VH1 Rock School?
What
The
Fuck???
Seeing Gene Simmons say to a bunch of 10 year olds "You're gonna open for Motorhead, and if something goes wrong I'm not gonna step in"
Holy shit dude, isn't that illegal in 36 states?
"Mr Simmons is a very... intimidating man"
Fuckin A, it's KISS man.
The
Fuck???
Seeing Gene Simmons say to a bunch of 10 year olds "You're gonna open for Motorhead, and if something goes wrong I'm not gonna step in"
Holy shit dude, isn't that illegal in 36 states?
"Mr Simmons is a very... intimidating man"
Fuckin A, it's KISS man.
Pop Star - INXS
What the fuck was that???
I was playing poker again so caught it on video (I wonder if I missed anything good there, I'll be playing again tomorrw during the show as well). but damn that just kind of sucked. I mean if I wanted to watch American Idol...
On to the reviews:
Ty - Rod Stewart, "Maggie May": Ok a bit too mcuh vibrato, but other than that pretty good. Kind of incongruous hearing that song coming out of somebody who looks like he should be singing "Firestarter" but hey.
Ty really does have a great voice, and he's got stage presence and energy. It's funny but just listening to it, it was kind of like Jackie Wilson doing Maggie May...
Suzie - Sam Cooke, "Bring it on Home to Me": Pretty good actually, she didn't QUITE get the soul into it that it needs, but actually it's better than McCartney did it. I think she knew how close to the edge she'd be on this one and she put jsut about everything she had into it. But not quite... Where is that last little bit Suzie, and what is it going to take to get it from you? Really this girl should be singing country.
Jordis - Bob Dylan, "Knockin on Heavens Door": Mariah Carey sings Dylan... What the hell was that? I mean yeah he voice is great, but I just HATED what she did with that song. I didn't think it was possible to entirely suck the soul out of that song, but she did it.
That said, I bet the voters love it.
Jessica - Natalie Imbruglia, "Torn": Honestly, I think the only reason to make her do this song is if they wanted to get rid of her. She did a great job with it (oh and DAMN THAT ASS... wow), but it's just a weak song. I actually LIKE the song, but it has no place in this lineup.
Marty - Britney Spears, "Baby One More Time": Uhhh DAMN! Channeling David Bowie there for a minute. Shit if I was a gay man I'd fuck him. And that screaming second verse... yeah that was actually damn good.
J.D. - Marianne Faithful "As Tears Go By": When I saw the song selection for this I kind of felt sorry for J.D. It's not the strongest song, kind of light weight really though the lyrics are actually quite personal and emotional. He did a great job with it, really it couldnt have been done better, it's just not a great song.I want to see somethign with more balls in it from him.
Deanna - Bonnie Raitt, "I Can't Make You Love Me": She did a great job with it, and damn the puppies were on full display wot. Kind of emblematic of her future on the show though. She really had the voice for it, and she did it great. You should be almsot crying by the end of the song, and she was just about there...
But I just don't think the voters are going to go for it.
Ok Marty gets my vote here. Mig and Ty turned in good performances, Suzie and Jordis did good enough to get by, and J.D. , Deanna, Jessica are on the block.
Personally I think Deanna did a better job than Jordis OR Suzie, but I'm guessing the voters will think differently.
I was playing poker again so caught it on video (I wonder if I missed anything good there, I'll be playing again tomorrw during the show as well). but damn that just kind of sucked. I mean if I wanted to watch American Idol...
On to the reviews:
Ty - Rod Stewart, "Maggie May": Ok a bit too mcuh vibrato, but other than that pretty good. Kind of incongruous hearing that song coming out of somebody who looks like he should be singing "Firestarter" but hey.
Ty really does have a great voice, and he's got stage presence and energy. It's funny but just listening to it, it was kind of like Jackie Wilson doing Maggie May...
Suzie - Sam Cooke, "Bring it on Home to Me": Pretty good actually, she didn't QUITE get the soul into it that it needs, but actually it's better than McCartney did it. I think she knew how close to the edge she'd be on this one and she put jsut about everything she had into it. But not quite... Where is that last little bit Suzie, and what is it going to take to get it from you? Really this girl should be singing country.
Jordis - Bob Dylan, "Knockin on Heavens Door": Mariah Carey sings Dylan... What the hell was that? I mean yeah he voice is great, but I just HATED what she did with that song. I didn't think it was possible to entirely suck the soul out of that song, but she did it.
That said, I bet the voters love it.
Jessica - Natalie Imbruglia, "Torn": Honestly, I think the only reason to make her do this song is if they wanted to get rid of her. She did a great job with it (oh and DAMN THAT ASS... wow), but it's just a weak song. I actually LIKE the song, but it has no place in this lineup.
Marty - Britney Spears, "Baby One More Time": Uhhh DAMN! Channeling David Bowie there for a minute. Shit if I was a gay man I'd fuck him. And that screaming second verse... yeah that was actually damn good.
J.D. - Marianne Faithful "As Tears Go By": When I saw the song selection for this I kind of felt sorry for J.D. It's not the strongest song, kind of light weight really though the lyrics are actually quite personal and emotional. He did a great job with it, really it couldnt have been done better, it's just not a great song.I want to see somethign with more balls in it from him.
Deanna - Bonnie Raitt, "I Can't Make You Love Me": She did a great job with it, and damn the puppies were on full display wot. Kind of emblematic of her future on the show though. She really had the voice for it, and she did it great. You should be almsot crying by the end of the song, and she was just about there...
But I just don't think the voters are going to go for it.
Ok Marty gets my vote here. Mig and Ty turned in good performances, Suzie and Jordis did good enough to get by, and J.D. , Deanna, Jessica are on the block.
Personally I think Deanna did a better job than Jordis OR Suzie, but I'm guessing the voters will think differently.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Bad Beats
GAAAAAGH!!!!
I was the third or fourth knockout both seatings tonight. It was so bad I didnt even sit the losers table...
Ok so first session goes around, and I'm just getting nothing. I take down one hand to double up early on, and that's it. The blinds are up to 100-200, and I'm sitting on like 5k.
Pocket comes up, and I get A-c and 9-d, so I call the 200, pot goes around, and we've got a family pot; 1400 on the table, and the flop comes out, 8-d 10-d j-d, I go in for 1000, and I get three callers. The A-d comes on the turn, and I check it, there's three others to check.
River comes Q-d, and I put in 500 representing weakness.
Yep, I've got a straight flush to the Queen, with the ace on the board. Only one card can beat me and it's the rarest fucking hand in poker. It goes around and everyone folds but one guy, and the bet comes to me at 3000 (the rest of my stack). There's no other callers, so I say "fuck it, I'm all in I don't think he's got the king".
I mean how can you fold a fucking straight flush? There's one card in the damn deck, hes got five times my stack, and he's probably trying to bet me out right?
He had the fucking king. Straight flush to the queen gets taken out royal flush.
MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!
The next seating I get in with Queen-10 when the flop comes out QJJ. Anyway I bet the pot up till I've got 3k in there (out of 5k stack) because hey, I've got queens and jacks. So a 5 comes out and I go all in on the turn, and I get a caller. We flip'em and hes got K-5 so I'm feeling good but nervous...
Until that fucking king came on the fucking river.
I was so disgusted I just went home after that. I didnt bother to stick around for the losers table.
Oh well, theres always tomorrow.
I was the third or fourth knockout both seatings tonight. It was so bad I didnt even sit the losers table...
Ok so first session goes around, and I'm just getting nothing. I take down one hand to double up early on, and that's it. The blinds are up to 100-200, and I'm sitting on like 5k.
Pocket comes up, and I get A-c and 9-d, so I call the 200, pot goes around, and we've got a family pot; 1400 on the table, and the flop comes out, 8-d 10-d j-d, I go in for 1000, and I get three callers. The A-d comes on the turn, and I check it, there's three others to check.
River comes Q-d, and I put in 500 representing weakness.
Yep, I've got a straight flush to the Queen, with the ace on the board. Only one card can beat me and it's the rarest fucking hand in poker. It goes around and everyone folds but one guy, and the bet comes to me at 3000 (the rest of my stack). There's no other callers, so I say "fuck it, I'm all in I don't think he's got the king".
I mean how can you fold a fucking straight flush? There's one card in the damn deck, hes got five times my stack, and he's probably trying to bet me out right?
He had the fucking king. Straight flush to the queen gets taken out royal flush.
MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!
The next seating I get in with Queen-10 when the flop comes out QJJ. Anyway I bet the pot up till I've got 3k in there (out of 5k stack) because hey, I've got queens and jacks. So a 5 comes out and I go all in on the turn, and I get a caller. We flip'em and hes got K-5 so I'm feeling good but nervous...
Until that fucking king came on the fucking river.
I was so disgusted I just went home after that. I didnt bother to stick around for the losers table.
Oh well, theres always tomorrow.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Gack... shitty day
Ok so first I get two hours sleep this morning, because my home AC guy needed to come and clean my ducts.
$200 too. The landlady is going to be thrilled aobut that I'm sure.
Then I go to the DMV, and it's going to be WEEKS before I can get this shit straightened out, and I'm sans vehicle till then. I have to fill out an investigation packet (7-10 days for them to send it to me), wait 4 weeks or so for their decision, than go before a hearing officer for his decision... all told they said it could be 7-10 weeks.
No car, in Arizona, in August and September, while trying to find a job. Yeah this pretty much sucks.
My stress relief for the day is shot because the NoR and Kimdutoit.com are donw all day for unspecified reasons "Kim is blaming the democrats" ;-)
And now my brother calls up, he's been robbed and I need to come over tomorrow to help fix stuff.
Fun day overall
$200 too. The landlady is going to be thrilled aobut that I'm sure.
Then I go to the DMV, and it's going to be WEEKS before I can get this shit straightened out, and I'm sans vehicle till then. I have to fill out an investigation packet (7-10 days for them to send it to me), wait 4 weeks or so for their decision, than go before a hearing officer for his decision... all told they said it could be 7-10 weeks.
No car, in Arizona, in August and September, while trying to find a job. Yeah this pretty much sucks.
My stress relief for the day is shot because the NoR and Kimdutoit.com are donw all day for unspecified reasons "Kim is blaming the democrats" ;-)
And now my brother calls up, he's been robbed and I need to come over tomorrow to help fix stuff.
Fun day overall
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Go. Read. NOW!
Hat tip to Jed over at freedomsight for this one:
http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-5820618.html
Oh yeah, that's some good shit. Supreme court nominee anyone?
http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-5820618.html
I have signed our Opinion because we have correctly applied existing legal theory and constitutional jurisprudence to resolve this case on its facts.
I feel the pain of conflict, however. I fear that, eventually, we are all going to become collateral damage in the war on drugs, or terrorism, or whatever war is in vogue at the moment. I retain an abiding concern that our Declaration of Rights not be killed by friendly fire. And, in this day and age, the courts are the last, if not only, bulwark to prevent that from happening.
In truth, though, we area throw-away society. My garbage can contains the remains of what I eat and drink. It may contain discarded credit card receipts along with yesterday's newspaper and junk mail. It might hold some personal letters, bills, receipts, vouchers, medical records, photographs and stuff that is imprinted with the multitude of assigned numbers that allow me access to the global economy and vice versa.
My garbage can contains my DNA...
Oh yeah, that's some good shit. Supreme court nominee anyone?
Rockstar INXS - J.D. Doesnt Suck
Ok so the assignment was to write a song together, and everyone else went and wrote a cheezzee consensus piece of fluff.
Well, J.D. hated it and wrote his own song that kind of kicked ass. He TRIED to get the rest of his team to go along with him, but because of his past hisory the team wasnt really going with him. Actually pretty much Jordis wasnt willing to even think about doing his thing, and Marty just kind of talked around the conflict, while as far as I can tell Jessica didn't say a word.
He made his team lose, but honestly I think it was his teams fault for not listening to him when he obviously had the better song.
He wrote by far the best song... In fact he wrote a song I could see INXS recording.
Not only that but his voice sounded great with it. I take back what I said last week about J.D. not having the voice for it. His problem isnt his voice, it's that he's overdoing it on stage. I'd love to hear him do something out of Elvises acoustic catalogue (he was an Elvis Impersonator at one point).
Kind of hard to make an argument against J.D.s choice really. Yes, teamwork is important, but if your team isnt treating you with respect, sometimes you just have to go with whats right even if it pisses everybody off. Of course how is the band going to take his unwillingness to work with the rest of his team... I dunno. If they review the tapes before they start making decisions I think maybe J.D. is going to GET credit rather than lose it.
Ok so we heard part of the song list for tuesday:
Mig - Peter Frampton, "Baby I love your way": Wow Mig was not happy about that song. I think he'll do a great job with it, but I'm not a big fan of the song, and obviously Mig agrees with me.
Marty - Britney Spears, "Hit me baby one more time": Oooh boy. Ok I guarantee you that was Dave fucking with him. From the little practice clip we saw, I think he'll do something cool with it.
Suzie - Sam Cooke, "Bring it on home to me": Great Song, she's fucked. McCartney couldnt do it, Eric Burdon couldnt do it, there aint no way Suzie is going to be able to do it.
We didnt hear the rest of the songs that they are getting, but so far the message boards (grain of salt etc... Talk about a trip into 5th grade there) are saying the following:
Ty - Rod Stewart, "Maggie May": Hmmmm..... okay it's not a hard song to do, I don't think it's a song thats all that great for Ty, but it may work. I mean they went for cheeze with Marty and Mig, why not for Ty as well.
Jordis - Unidentified Bob Dylan Song: Since we dont know what song it is, I cant really say anything except that when acoustic is the order of the day, it's hard to go wrong with Dylan. The man couldnt sing, but he wrote some of the best songs of all time.
Deanna - ???
J.D. - ???
Jessica - ???
Well, J.D. hated it and wrote his own song that kind of kicked ass. He TRIED to get the rest of his team to go along with him, but because of his past hisory the team wasnt really going with him. Actually pretty much Jordis wasnt willing to even think about doing his thing, and Marty just kind of talked around the conflict, while as far as I can tell Jessica didn't say a word.
He made his team lose, but honestly I think it was his teams fault for not listening to him when he obviously had the better song.
He wrote by far the best song... In fact he wrote a song I could see INXS recording.
Not only that but his voice sounded great with it. I take back what I said last week about J.D. not having the voice for it. His problem isnt his voice, it's that he's overdoing it on stage. I'd love to hear him do something out of Elvises acoustic catalogue (he was an Elvis Impersonator at one point).
Kind of hard to make an argument against J.D.s choice really. Yes, teamwork is important, but if your team isnt treating you with respect, sometimes you just have to go with whats right even if it pisses everybody off. Of course how is the band going to take his unwillingness to work with the rest of his team... I dunno. If they review the tapes before they start making decisions I think maybe J.D. is going to GET credit rather than lose it.
Ok so we heard part of the song list for tuesday:
Mig - Peter Frampton, "Baby I love your way": Wow Mig was not happy about that song. I think he'll do a great job with it, but I'm not a big fan of the song, and obviously Mig agrees with me.
Marty - Britney Spears, "Hit me baby one more time": Oooh boy. Ok I guarantee you that was Dave fucking with him. From the little practice clip we saw, I think he'll do something cool with it.
Suzie - Sam Cooke, "Bring it on home to me": Great Song, she's fucked. McCartney couldnt do it, Eric Burdon couldnt do it, there aint no way Suzie is going to be able to do it.
We didnt hear the rest of the songs that they are getting, but so far the message boards (grain of salt etc... Talk about a trip into 5th grade there) are saying the following:
Ty - Rod Stewart, "Maggie May": Hmmmm..... okay it's not a hard song to do, I don't think it's a song thats all that great for Ty, but it may work. I mean they went for cheeze with Marty and Mig, why not for Ty as well.
Jordis - Unidentified Bob Dylan Song: Since we dont know what song it is, I cant really say anything except that when acoustic is the order of the day, it's hard to go wrong with Dylan. The man couldnt sing, but he wrote some of the best songs of all time.
Deanna - ???
J.D. - ???
Jessica - ???
Poker again
I'm in the hunt for a seat at the monthly, so I'm hitting the tables as much as I can; and of course boring y'all with the details.
So two main seatings tonight, and two mini-tournaments AKA losers tables.
In the first seating I made it to like 10th out of 24 (slow night) before I was taken out 2 pair to the straight. I thought he was bluffing on the king and ended up dumping on a 10k+ pot.
Oh well; it happens. I ended up taking a 30k+ lead on the mini-tournament and taking down my third loser table in a row. Knock up another 50 points.
Second seating was a bit bigger, I think we had 30 sit down. I quadded up, and so did another guy, then he knowked out two to double that. Theres six of us on both tables, and he's got me 100% dominated. So the betting goes around, and my stacks worth it in the pot, and everybody else gets pushed out on the flop but me and him.
I flop a set of 7s , and go all in.
He calls me with two pair.
I'm all set to take a commanding chip lead, and the fucker draws the boat on the river. Motherfucker.
So once again back to the "victory challenged" table, and after 2 hours of play and getting down to 500 at one point, I managed to end up 60k and take the table down again.
So thats 4 in a row, and I'm up to 800.
I've got Tuesday and Wednesday to catch up, two seatings and two losers each; so I SHOULD be able to make my 1000 by the time I leave for Jersey, but then I'm going to miss the next three torunaments. The good thing is there are three more after that before the end of the month.
Oh, and why am I so anxious to make the monthly? Well first of all, I like to win; but the prize kicks ass: An all expense paid seat in a three day WSOP sattelite tournament in Vegas.
Sure, I've been to vegas more than I can count, but to be able to sit in a cash tourney with a luxury hotel suite on someone elses dime? Oh hell yah.
So two main seatings tonight, and two mini-tournaments AKA losers tables.
In the first seating I made it to like 10th out of 24 (slow night) before I was taken out 2 pair to the straight. I thought he was bluffing on the king and ended up dumping on a 10k+ pot.
Oh well; it happens. I ended up taking a 30k+ lead on the mini-tournament and taking down my third loser table in a row. Knock up another 50 points.
Second seating was a bit bigger, I think we had 30 sit down. I quadded up, and so did another guy, then he knowked out two to double that. Theres six of us on both tables, and he's got me 100% dominated. So the betting goes around, and my stacks worth it in the pot, and everybody else gets pushed out on the flop but me and him.
I flop a set of 7s , and go all in.
He calls me with two pair.
I'm all set to take a commanding chip lead, and the fucker draws the boat on the river. Motherfucker.
So once again back to the "victory challenged" table, and after 2 hours of play and getting down to 500 at one point, I managed to end up 60k and take the table down again.
So thats 4 in a row, and I'm up to 800.
I've got Tuesday and Wednesday to catch up, two seatings and two losers each; so I SHOULD be able to make my 1000 by the time I leave for Jersey, but then I'm going to miss the next three torunaments. The good thing is there are three more after that before the end of the month.
Oh, and why am I so anxious to make the monthly? Well first of all, I like to win; but the prize kicks ass: An all expense paid seat in a three day WSOP sattelite tournament in Vegas.
Sure, I've been to vegas more than I can count, but to be able to sit in a cash tourney with a luxury hotel suite on someone elses dime? Oh hell yah.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Basic Ammo Questions - Part 1
NoR reader Skittlesman asked the following very important question:
Okay so first, what is FMJ?
FMJ is the common abbreviation for "Full Metal Jacket", the term for a bullet that is jacketed (covered) with a harder metal alloy than lead. Most FMJ bullets are round nosed, semi-conically nosed, or truncated cone (a conical bullet with the tip chopped off to produce a flat point).
FMJ bullets are by convention used by the military, since the 1890s; because they are not "designed to cause undue suffering". Yeah that's stupid, silly etc... but there was a time when war was thought of as little more than the recreational pursuit of gentlemen; and that there were rules of fairplay. The restriction to FMJ grew out of this philosophy, because expanding or fragmenting ammo was thought to be "unsporting" and all that.
Up until the late 70's FMJ was the most common load for just about everyone, but the development of more modern Jacketed Hollowpoint (JHP) designs (which were originally introduced in the early 20th century, but did not function well as introduced, in firearms of the time), superceded FMJ as the common carry ammo.
FMJ has two distinct disadvantages as a modern defensive loading. One, it can overpentrate in high velocity loadings; and two, FMJ will rarely expand (especially in the low velocity non-over-penetrating loadings), limiting the size of the wound channel to the caliber itself (expanding bullets can expand up to double their base diameter).
This lack of expansion is fine for larger caliber bullets (like .45, which is at least reasonably effective in FMJ as many thousands of Germans, Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, and Viet Namese could testify to... if they were not very very dead), but for smaller bullets like 9mm, wounding capability of non expanding ammunition has generally proven to be poor.
The other major type of bullets used prior to the 1970s would be unjacketed, or partially jacketed lead. Mostly used in revolvers, because you dont have to worry about feeding issues; and by reloaders, because you can easily and cheaply make your own.
Lead bullets WILL expand, depending on the bullet shape, alloy, casting process, and the load velocity. This allows you a very fine level of control in your loadings, thus making them popular with handgun hunters. They are also often used by target shooters, because you can load special designs, weights, etc... and because you control your own tolerances etc...
The three common variations of lead bullet are soft cast/soft point, hard cast, and Jacketed Soft Point, or "partially jacketed".
Hard cast lead bullets are just that, very hard cast lead. These bullets will expand less, penetrate more, and generally leave less lead buildup (called fouling) in the barrel than soft lead.
Soft cast bullets are the bullets generally used in factory lead rounds. Soft lead bullets will expand significantly at relatively low velocities, which is a big plus; however they do not stand up well to higher velocities, and can leave a lot of fouling in the bore. Soft cast bullets are not appropriate for use in autoloaders because the bullets can be damaged while feeding.
Jacketed Soft point bullets are a compromise between the two types. They control expansion by using a very soft lead alloy, but encase it half way (or more) in a jacket (as in the FMJ).
Oh and lead bullets may not actually be cast, they may be swaged (as most FMJ bullets are), but that's more detail than is strictly necessary right now.
Okay so FMJ and lead out of the way, what are hollowpoints?
For once, the name of a firearms related item actually has a name that means just what it says: Hollowpoints are bullets that have a hole/cavity in the tip i.e. a hollow point. Yes that's a huge oversimplification, but really that is the essence of the thing.
The point of a hollowpoint (excuse the bad pun), is that it will expand more, at lower velocity than either hardcast, or FMJ ammunition.
There are three basic variants of hollowpoints, unjacketed, soft point/partially jacketed, and jacketed.
Unjacketed lead hollowpoint ammo is relatively rare, because it's difficult to control expansion, without fragmentation (through overhardening).
Partially jacketed hollowpoints are similar to softpoint as described above, but they have a cavity in the nose. This improves expansion at low velocities, while preventing fragmentation (hopefully) at medium velocities. They are still unsuitable for high velocity applications. Partially jacketed bullets are basically only used in revolvers because the soft hollowpoint nose is unsuitable for feeding through auto pistols.
Jacketed hollowpoint bullets are similar to FMJ, in that there is a metal jacket which covers the entire outer surface of the bullet (in most designs), which controls expansion and improves penetration. In a JHP however, the tip has a cavity in it which forces the softer lead to mushroom out splitting or stretching the jacket.
When hollowpoints were first introduced they were all of the soft lead, or partially jacketed variety, and the bullet making technologies at the time were unable to produce consistent, uniform, and reliably expanding designs that did not fragment.
Even with the greater distribution of fully jacketed hollowpoint designs in the 1930s, manufacturers were generally unable to produce designs that met the criteria described above. It wasn't until the mid 1950s that decent JHP bullets became commercially available, and really the 1970s before JHPs were reliable and consistent enough for carrying as defensive ammo.
That development made the 9mm a little more acceptable for American handgunners to carry for self defense, which in turn spurred a 20 year run of development in Jacketed Hollow Point designs to help the 9mm get better at killing bad guys; eventually ending up where we are now... with basically everyone carrying modern premium jacketed hollowpoints, basically all the time.
Okay so I just said "Premium Hollowpoints", what exactly do I mean by that?
A premium hollowpoint is a bullet specifically designed to expand to the maximum degree while retaining the maximum weight OR fragment into the largest possible pieces (for some designs), so as to produce the most effective possible wound. Importantly, it also means that they are EXTREMELY reliable and consistent (not always the case with the non-premium bullets).
There are many premium hollowpoint designs (at least one from every major manufacturer in fact); but the market is fairly solidly dominated by the following brands:
Speer GoldDot
Federal Hydrashok
Remington Golden Saber
Winchester Silvertip
There are a lot of strong secondary and/or specialty players in the market like Triton, Cor-Bon, and Black Hills (the last two both load other peoples premium bullets to a higher velocity and/or quality level than the general run of factory ammo) but they are really going for the niche markets.
Each of the major players has a distinctive characteristic that makes them particularly desirable (or undesirable), for a particular weapon or application.
Gold dot bullets for example have a very thick star shaped jacket, that is strongly bonded to the lead, and have a very large conical hollowpoint cavity. This allows for great expansion without much loss of mass, and almost no chance of shedding the jacket, or pealing a petal off (a common occurance with cheaper JHP designs). An expanded Gold Dot bullet looks very much like a sunflower. Gold Dots are available as reloading components. Unfortunately Gold Dots are also about the most expensive of the premium hollowpoints.
Hydrashoks have a thinner, pre scored jacket, with a medium diameter but very deep cavity, and a central post of lead. This post tends to act as a penetrator so that thick soft materials (like clothing) which frequently clog up other hollowpoint designs and prevent expansion will do so less frequently and less severely. An expanded HydraShok looks something like a flower with a wilted stamen.
Remington Golden Sabres are the last in market position behind all the other premiums, but they have a niche carved out with guns that just wont feed other hollowpoints. The golden saber uses a very hard, pre scored (spiral scored actually) jacket, with a very small diameter, deep hollowpoint cavity. This combination closely replicates round nose FMJ, and the golden saber will frequently feed in guns that choke on other JHP designs.
The one major problem generally seen with the golden saber is the deep spiral scores in the very hard jacket (see the problem? That's also the main advantage). These scores can catch on burrs or sharp edges inside the weapon. Also the hard jacket controls expansion well, but can sometimes lead to bullet fragmentation at high velocities, and at low velocities can prevent expansion, This isn't necessarily a bad thing because in both cases a more effective wound could result, but you could be caught on the edge between the two which can sometimes result in over penetration.
Basically if your gun doesn't like any other hollowpoints, try out the golden saber, and the next choice, the Winchester silvertip (which I generally prefer).
Winchester Silvertips are hollowpoint bullets with a relatively shallow and small diameter cone shaped hollow point cavity, and a relatively thick nickeled gilding metal jacket.
How is a glaser safety slug different from a normal round? Also, how is a winchester silvertip different from a normal FMJ Round?
Good question there S-man. One of the most frequent questions we get in the NoR, is "What Ammo should I carry in my gun" followed by "What's the difference between ammo types".
Okay so first, what is FMJ?
FMJ is the common abbreviation for "Full Metal Jacket", the term for a bullet that is jacketed (covered) with a harder metal alloy than lead. Most FMJ bullets are round nosed, semi-conically nosed, or truncated cone (a conical bullet with the tip chopped off to produce a flat point).
FMJ bullets are by convention used by the military, since the 1890s; because they are not "designed to cause undue suffering". Yeah that's stupid, silly etc... but there was a time when war was thought of as little more than the recreational pursuit of gentlemen; and that there were rules of fairplay. The restriction to FMJ grew out of this philosophy, because expanding or fragmenting ammo was thought to be "unsporting" and all that.
Up until the late 70's FMJ was the most common load for just about everyone, but the development of more modern Jacketed Hollowpoint (JHP) designs (which were originally introduced in the early 20th century, but did not function well as introduced, in firearms of the time), superceded FMJ as the common carry ammo.
FMJ has two distinct disadvantages as a modern defensive loading. One, it can overpentrate in high velocity loadings; and two, FMJ will rarely expand (especially in the low velocity non-over-penetrating loadings), limiting the size of the wound channel to the caliber itself (expanding bullets can expand up to double their base diameter).
This lack of expansion is fine for larger caliber bullets (like .45, which is at least reasonably effective in FMJ as many thousands of Germans, Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, and Viet Namese could testify to... if they were not very very dead), but for smaller bullets like 9mm, wounding capability of non expanding ammunition has generally proven to be poor.
The other major type of bullets used prior to the 1970s would be unjacketed, or partially jacketed lead. Mostly used in revolvers, because you dont have to worry about feeding issues; and by reloaders, because you can easily and cheaply make your own.
Lead bullets WILL expand, depending on the bullet shape, alloy, casting process, and the load velocity. This allows you a very fine level of control in your loadings, thus making them popular with handgun hunters. They are also often used by target shooters, because you can load special designs, weights, etc... and because you control your own tolerances etc...
The three common variations of lead bullet are soft cast/soft point, hard cast, and Jacketed Soft Point, or "partially jacketed".
Hard cast lead bullets are just that, very hard cast lead. These bullets will expand less, penetrate more, and generally leave less lead buildup (called fouling) in the barrel than soft lead.
Soft cast bullets are the bullets generally used in factory lead rounds. Soft lead bullets will expand significantly at relatively low velocities, which is a big plus; however they do not stand up well to higher velocities, and can leave a lot of fouling in the bore. Soft cast bullets are not appropriate for use in autoloaders because the bullets can be damaged while feeding.
Jacketed Soft point bullets are a compromise between the two types. They control expansion by using a very soft lead alloy, but encase it half way (or more) in a jacket (as in the FMJ).
Oh and lead bullets may not actually be cast, they may be swaged (as most FMJ bullets are), but that's more detail than is strictly necessary right now.
Okay so FMJ and lead out of the way, what are hollowpoints?
For once, the name of a firearms related item actually has a name that means just what it says: Hollowpoints are bullets that have a hole/cavity in the tip i.e. a hollow point. Yes that's a huge oversimplification, but really that is the essence of the thing.
The point of a hollowpoint (excuse the bad pun), is that it will expand more, at lower velocity than either hardcast, or FMJ ammunition.
There are three basic variants of hollowpoints, unjacketed, soft point/partially jacketed, and jacketed.
Unjacketed lead hollowpoint ammo is relatively rare, because it's difficult to control expansion, without fragmentation (through overhardening).
Partially jacketed hollowpoints are similar to softpoint as described above, but they have a cavity in the nose. This improves expansion at low velocities, while preventing fragmentation (hopefully) at medium velocities. They are still unsuitable for high velocity applications. Partially jacketed bullets are basically only used in revolvers because the soft hollowpoint nose is unsuitable for feeding through auto pistols.
Jacketed hollowpoint bullets are similar to FMJ, in that there is a metal jacket which covers the entire outer surface of the bullet (in most designs), which controls expansion and improves penetration. In a JHP however, the tip has a cavity in it which forces the softer lead to mushroom out splitting or stretching the jacket.
When hollowpoints were first introduced they were all of the soft lead, or partially jacketed variety, and the bullet making technologies at the time were unable to produce consistent, uniform, and reliably expanding designs that did not fragment.
Even with the greater distribution of fully jacketed hollowpoint designs in the 1930s, manufacturers were generally unable to produce designs that met the criteria described above. It wasn't until the mid 1950s that decent JHP bullets became commercially available, and really the 1970s before JHPs were reliable and consistent enough for carrying as defensive ammo.
That development made the 9mm a little more acceptable for American handgunners to carry for self defense, which in turn spurred a 20 year run of development in Jacketed Hollow Point designs to help the 9mm get better at killing bad guys; eventually ending up where we are now... with basically everyone carrying modern premium jacketed hollowpoints, basically all the time.
Okay so I just said "Premium Hollowpoints", what exactly do I mean by that?
A premium hollowpoint is a bullet specifically designed to expand to the maximum degree while retaining the maximum weight OR fragment into the largest possible pieces (for some designs), so as to produce the most effective possible wound. Importantly, it also means that they are EXTREMELY reliable and consistent (not always the case with the non-premium bullets).
There are many premium hollowpoint designs (at least one from every major manufacturer in fact); but the market is fairly solidly dominated by the following brands:
Speer GoldDot
Federal Hydrashok
Remington Golden Saber
Winchester Silvertip
There are a lot of strong secondary and/or specialty players in the market like Triton, Cor-Bon, and Black Hills (the last two both load other peoples premium bullets to a higher velocity and/or quality level than the general run of factory ammo) but they are really going for the niche markets.
Each of the major players has a distinctive characteristic that makes them particularly desirable (or undesirable), for a particular weapon or application.
Gold dot bullets for example have a very thick star shaped jacket, that is strongly bonded to the lead, and have a very large conical hollowpoint cavity. This allows for great expansion without much loss of mass, and almost no chance of shedding the jacket, or pealing a petal off (a common occurance with cheaper JHP designs). An expanded Gold Dot bullet looks very much like a sunflower. Gold Dots are available as reloading components. Unfortunately Gold Dots are also about the most expensive of the premium hollowpoints.
Hydrashoks have a thinner, pre scored jacket, with a medium diameter but very deep cavity, and a central post of lead. This post tends to act as a penetrator so that thick soft materials (like clothing) which frequently clog up other hollowpoint designs and prevent expansion will do so less frequently and less severely. An expanded HydraShok looks something like a flower with a wilted stamen.
Remington Golden Sabres are the last in market position behind all the other premiums, but they have a niche carved out with guns that just wont feed other hollowpoints. The golden saber uses a very hard, pre scored (spiral scored actually) jacket, with a very small diameter, deep hollowpoint cavity. This combination closely replicates round nose FMJ, and the golden saber will frequently feed in guns that choke on other JHP designs.
The one major problem generally seen with the golden saber is the deep spiral scores in the very hard jacket (see the problem? That's also the main advantage). These scores can catch on burrs or sharp edges inside the weapon. Also the hard jacket controls expansion well, but can sometimes lead to bullet fragmentation at high velocities, and at low velocities can prevent expansion, This isn't necessarily a bad thing because in both cases a more effective wound could result, but you could be caught on the edge between the two which can sometimes result in over penetration.
Basically if your gun doesn't like any other hollowpoints, try out the golden saber, and the next choice, the Winchester silvertip (which I generally prefer).
Winchester Silvertips are hollowpoint bullets with a relatively shallow and small diameter cone shaped hollow point cavity, and a relatively thick nickeled gilding metal jacket.
The shape of the silvertip is more like a FMJ round than any other premium JHP, and therefore feeds somewhat better (they have the reputation as the easiest feeding JHP in many guns).
Combined with the jacket material and construction, silvertips have a reputation for better penetration and weight retention than most hollowpoints. They also withstand extremely high velocities (like full power 10mm) without fragmentation better than most other hollowpoints. This comes at the sacrifice of maximum expansion.
This is an interesting tradeoff to make actually. For calibers that may be somewhat defficient in penetration, the silvertip is ideal. I believe all american manufacturers of .32 and .380 pistols recommend winchester silvertip, and at least two specify it exclusively for some pistols.
For calibers that have a reputation for overpentration however (like 9mm) they may NOT be an apropriate choice.
They are EXTEMELY popular among 10mm users for several reasons. First, they are the most powerful commonly available premium commercial load. Second, they are available as reloading components at reasonable (relatively) cost, Finally as mentioned above, they stand up to the full power 10mm loadings. Most other hollowpoints will overexpand and shed mass, which resduces their effectiveness. The Silvertips expand to almsot the perfect degree with full power 10mm loads, balancing penetration and expansion to produce the maximum wound effect.
There is one final major category of defensive ammunition, and thats frangibles. There are several types, but the commonality between them is that they are all designed to break apart on hard surfaces (for whatever reason).
The most common frangible type are compressed sintered metal bullets. These are basically metal powder forced into a mold at high temperature and pressure, with binding agents. They are specifically designed to burst into powder when hitting a hard surface, rather than ricochet, or break into large pieces. They are chiefly used as a training round because they present less danger on a shooting range, and may present less of an environmental hazard than lead bullets.
Glaser safety slugs, and the similar MagSafe and BeeSafe rounds are technically, prefragmented composite ammunition. The bullet itself consists of a thin metal jacket, filled with small shot suspended in resin, and sealed with plastic or soft lead.
Glasers will break apart on impact and produce many very small wound tracks in soft tissue, while presenting minimal risk of damaging ricochet or over penetration.
They are VERY effective against soft tissues, however they perform poorly against heavy leather clothing, and they have almsot no wounding potential through barriers. They may not break glass depending on the angle at which they impact.
Again, this can be a good tradeoff to make. I personally tend to load Glasers when I’m carrying in crowded environments, and inside drywalled buildings (being most buildings these days). That means I’ve got the Glasers in most of the time I’m carrying concealed.
That said however, I always keep a magazine of premium JHP’s (Gold Dot or hydrashok depending on the gun) handy in case I have to face a tactical situation in which Glasers would be ineffective (lots of soft partial cover, some hard surfaces etc...).
I do not recommend Glasers as general carry ammunition unless you are able to acquire a large quantity of them (at least 100, and preferabely 250 to 500), so you can obtain adequate practice with them in your guns. The Glaser (and mag safe etc...) shoot VERY differently than standard loads. Also, they may not be reliable in all semi-auto pistols, and you should shoot at least 100 rounds through the pistol in question before you can really count on them. This is kind of problematic because Glasers run about $3 a round.
Yes, I said $3 a round. Conventional premium hollowpoints run somewhere under $1 a round for most calibers, and FMJ practice ammo typically runs between $0.10 and $0.50 per round.
I was lucky, and was able to acquire a large quantity of Glasers, MagSafes, and BeeSafes at an auction for a steal, and thus I was able to develop the proper level of confidence in these ammo types through my carry guns.
Now, I DO recommend that all bedside revolvers default load be glasers or something similar, because they are very effective at household ranges, there is minimal risk of damaging over penetration, and you don't have to worry about feeding and function in a revolver.
So thats it for part one, handgun carry ammo. I havent decided what I'm going to do next, any suggestions?
Recipes for REAL men - Basic Cooking Secrets - Volume 1
Okay so I'm watching good eats (Alton Brown is a FREAK, but great fun) and I thought, I should write some posts about some basic secrets to good cooking.
This first one will focus on the dozen "secret ingredients" for great cooking. It's not that these ingredients are so secret, it's that using them is the secret to great quality, and restaurant taste.
1. Butter
Well that's not a lot of info yet, but it's a start. Theres quite a few other "secret ingredients" I can think of, but those are the most important.
This first one will focus on the dozen "secret ingredients" for great cooking. It's not that these ingredients are so secret, it's that using them is the secret to great quality, and restaurant taste.
1. Butter
Butter is the basic ingredient of... well everything really.2. Cream and/or condensed milk
Almost every decent sauce starts with either plain butter, butter and oilive oil, a roue (butter and flour), beurre blanc (shallots, white wine or lemon juice or white vinegar, sometimes cream, and butter), or beurre noir (shallots, red wine or cider vinegar, and browned butter).
Butter is one of the most basic ingredients in almost all baking. Without butter, most baked goods just don't taste right.
Also almsot all frying, sauteeing, and pan roasting NEEDS butter. To sautee properly I almost always use a mixture of butter and olive oil. This gives a better flavor, and browns the food better.
Finally, butter can be flavored and mixed with almost anything to act as a garnish or topping. It draws and enhances flavors wonderfully (which is why it gets funky in the fridge sometimes.
Honestly, margarine is evil horrible stuff. It's vegetable oil with emulsifiers and proteins added, and then bubbled through with hydrogen until it congeals. I mean who wants to eat that? Oh and baking with margarine is punishible by death (or at least it should be).
You can't have a white sauce without cream; it's that simple. The use of cream in American cooking has fallen on hard times, and that's just wrong. Almost anywhere a recipe asks for milk (except in baking), you'd likely be better of using cream.3. Buttermilk
Heres the thing, milk is welll... watery.
Cream and condensed milk both have far more buttersolids (the things that give dairy it's flavor) than milk. Yes theres more fat in cream, and that adds in texture and flavor, but the non-fat buttersolids are at least as important.
Restaurant cheese sauces? Yeah cream there.
Gravy? HELL yes theres cream there, even in brown gravies. Actually msot brown sauces will have at least a little bit of cream unless it's a clear brown sauce (which will have butter and red wine of vinegar usually).
Oh and white soups? Yeah theres cream in that too.
Seriously, almost anywhere you would use milk in a recipe; a restaurant or pro chef would use half and half, or light cream.
Condensed milk can be used when thickening is important, and where you need a little extra sweetness. I most often use it in baking, or making puddings or dessert toppings.
Then only time I'll use milk in preference to cream (other than in baking which requires precise fat and sugar balances) is when I'm dissolving something in the milk that doesnt like to dissolve in a fatty solution. Even then you can usually get it to dissolve properly by adding a little lemon or lime juice (be careful it can cause curdling).
NEVER EVER EVER cook with skim milk. You might as well just use water, because that's all you're getting with skim. If you are worried about fat content (why are you reading me anyway but...) and your recipe calls for skim, then buttermilk is almost always the better option.4. Sour Cream (unsweetened yoghurt with lemon juice can work as well)
Buttermilk is the left over liquid when butter is made, and as with cream and condensed milk, it contains a lot more buttersolid but almost no fat as compared to whole milk. It WILL have a slightly sour taste, because it has a lot of lactic acid in it, so be careful with recipes that are sensitive to acid.
That said, the most acid sensitive cooking is baking, and buttermilk is just MADE for baking.
Also buttermilk is the basis for a lot of sauces and dressings. It can be made sweet, savory, rich, or tart depending on how you complement it.
Try a buttermilk and sour cream dressing with lime juice, light olive oil (be careful about your fat balance), cracked peppercorns, tabasco, and powdered mustard.
Sour cream is often used as a texturizer, and adds a slight to moderate sharpness to sauces. It's also one of the most basic ingredients to a white dressing. You really can't make eastern european food without sour cream, and a lot of middle eastern food is improved by it (though they would traditionally use yoghurt, which is effectively sour goat cream).5. White Pepper
Funny thing is though? I dont like sour cream. I cook with it, but I dont care for it as a topping.
Don't want to speckle your sauces? White pepper is your friend. Just about every savory sauce needs pepper and salt, but sometimes you dont want the pepper to show (although I LIKE the speckled effect personally, plus I like fresh cracked pepper).6. Balsamic vinegar, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce (both vinegar based)
Remember, pepper helps balance out the flavors of fat in your sauces.
Got a brown sauce? A marinade? A Red Sauce? any kind of savory sauce? Use a little balsamic vinegar in it. It adds flavor, and helps emulsify fats. It's especially good in sauces to be used with rare beef.7. Olive Oil
Want the savory flavor but not the sourness of the balsamic vinegar? Toss a little hot sauce or Worcestershire sauce in it (depending on whether you want heat or not) and it WILL be better. Mix it in with your ground beef when making burgers or meatballs. Sprinkle it on your potatos. I put hot sauce in just about everything (I LOVE my alfredo with some hot sauce).
You can't cook italian without olive oil. Hell as far as I'm concerned you can't cook without Olive oil period. Almost every red or brown sauce starts with olive oil.8. Garlic
Olive oil has its own wonderful flavor, AND it absorbs and enhances all the other flavors around it.
Every kitchen should have a strongly flavored extra virgin, and a light salad olive oil
You can't cook without garlic. No really you can't. NOW BE CAREFUL, because most people use WAY too much garlic. Only very rarely should more than one clove of garlic be used in a recipe for four, and most often you should use less. Garlic is such a dominant flavor that you have to be careful about how you use it, and how much of it you use.9. Shallots
WARNING, except as an aid to savory sauces, or on potatos, don't use garlic powder or garlic salt for anything.
If you want restaurant style sauces and sauteed dishes, you will need to use shallots... LOTS of shallots. You clean them, and then mince them so fine they are turned into a paste (pros have a machine that does this for them).10. Cornstarch or Arrowroot (or sometimes potato flakes)
When it's done properly, the shallots will dissolve into any sauce, or into the butter/oil you are sauteeing with.
Personally, I'm not that big a fan of shallots (I'm allergic to onions, and shallots are jsut a mild onion. They dont make me sick, but they give me wicked heartburn), but almost every restaurant sauce uses them.
How do resaurants get their sauces to be so thick and rich and creamy? Well as mentioned above they use butter and cream and buttermilk, BUT that isn't necessarily sufficient for the proper texture, especially in a brown sauce, or any drippings based, or broth/stock based sauce (that's a lot of sauces).11. Parmagian Cheese
Most people try and thicken sauces with all purpose flour. While this CAN work out for you, it isnt necessarily the best way. Flour can very quickly lump up, and glutens can cause problems with the sauce.
So the secret here is to use something else, that will thicken with less material, and that wont clump up. That means corn starch, arrowroot, or potato flakes.
The best gravies start with a drippings and butter flour roue, add some stock, seasonings, and possibly cream, and then the final thickening is done with arrowroot or potato flakes.
Oh and some folks like acorn flour for this purpose, but I've never used it.
Parmagian is the universal cheese. Just about anything you cook that isn't sweet, and needs a little bit of savorieness, or a bit of a crust on it; and parmagian is there for you.12. Cream Cheese
My personal favorite? I mix finely grated parmagian in my breading for chicken picatta.
There is only one thing, too high a heat and the presence of moisture with make parmagian go stringy or grainy unless there is an adequate emulsuffier and acid/fat balance.
Also that stuff in the green tubes? Yeah thats fine for shaking over your spaghettios, but do yourself a favor and go get some REAL parmagiano regiano. You'll thank me.
Cream cheese is another texturizer, and flavoring agent. Plain cream cheese doesnt have a very strong flavor, but it accents other flavors very very well, and it has a wonderful texture and mouth feel. That mouth feel survives melting, which most cheeses can't say.
Cream cheese is also incredibly versatile. It blends equally well with garlic and onions, as it does with strawberrys and honey.
I like to add a little cream cheese into all my cheese sauces, which tends to smoothe them out and richen them up. I also make dessert toppings with cream cheese and sweet flavorings and/or fruit.
Well that's not a lot of info yet, but it's a start. Theres quite a few other "secret ingredients" I can think of, but those are the most important.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
10 Greatest Metal Bands of All Time
Okay so I'm watching the VH1 "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" for the umpteenth time, and I was thinking... okay what about jsut Metal.
I'm a hard core metal head, classic metal, progressive, speed metal, thrash metal... basically anything that isn't just power chords and screaming (sorry you death metal fans. Some of your stuff is fine but most is horrible shite).
Okay so ground rules.
1. Solo artists not allowed
2. This is my "definition" of metal:
Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Blue Cheer, and Blue Oyster Cult don't count (progressive blues, forerunners of metal, not metal yet). Metal wouldnt exist without them, but they aren't metal by this definition.
I AM counting Sabbath as metal however. There is no metal without sabbath, and althought Sabbath with Ozzy trod the edge of metal and blues, they created the entire genre of doom metal, and post Ozzy they got nothing but harder.
Also progressive metal (like Dream Theater), and altmetal/grunge metal count, but progressive hard rock, hard rock, hardcore punk (although I'm wavering on L7 and the MC5) etc.. don't.
I'm on the fence about industrial, goth metal, death metal etc... some of it is real metal some is more electronica... some it just screaming and power chords. Let's make it an artist by artist thing.
Some hairmetal yes, some no. Hell most of it was really hard rock anyway. Let me repeat this, hard rock is not metal. AC/DC, GnR, Crue etc... are not metal. Twisted Sister and Skid Row are right on the edge of real metal (but don't even TRY and tell me that Dee Snider and Sebastian Bach aren't metal), Whitesnake (though I love them and they kick ass) are NOT real metal.
Nu-metal (though I like some of it) is right out...
Well... except System of a down, and Disturbed maybe, and a couple of other bands that are more real metal than nu-metal. I'm thinking of Linkin Park shit whan I say it's right out.
4. They must have been around for at least 5 years, and really 10 to be serious about it. By that I mean they need to have produced an album before 2000, unless someone can tell me there some amazing metal band that transcends it's newness. Damageplan, Audioslave etc.. need not apply.
I DON'T mean they need to have been together for five or ten years. I'm not going to disqualify a spectacular single album band.
5. The criteria for "best" are as follows
Okay so here's my top five, but I'm having a hard time deciding on the sixth through tenth:
1. Black Sabbath
2. Metallica
3. Iron Maiden
4. Judas Preist
5. Megadeth
Honestly I don't think anyone who loves the whole world of metal would SERIOUSLY disagree with the top five above, except for re-arranging the order...
buuuuuut number six through ten.... honestly I can't decide. Motorhead is definitely up there, Anthrax, Slayer, Pantera... I could go deep into the 70s and pull out some diamondhead....
Okay I'm jsut gonna put up a list of the other metal bands I consider among the greatest, and let all of you decide. Or you can stick up your nominees... plus I want to see your picks in comments.
Hell, maybe you can change my mind about the top five. I doubt it, but you can try.
Heres the list in no particular order
Motorhead
Slayer
Pantera
Diamondhead
Dream Theater
Queensryche
Faith no more (okay thats pushing it, they are on the edge between progressive rock and metal)
Anthrax
Korn (yeah, its pushing it, but I think they're real metal)
Alice in chains (prior to Jar of Flies they were real metal)
Soundgarden (prior to Superunkwnown they were real metal)
Mercyful fate (remember what I said about goth/industrial/deathmetal being on the borderline)
Rainbow
Uriah Heap
Ministry
Scorpions (yeah they were the best of the '80s arena metal, come on you know it)
Testament
Kings X
Candelmass
Danzig (technically a band and not jsut Glen solo but I'm kind of wavering on that one).
Sepultura
Static-X
Soulfly
Suicidal tendencies (oaky I know, more punk but still...)
Type O Negative
Sisters of Mercy
Napalm Death
Fear Factory
Rammstein (again, on the edge of metal, but I love them anyway)
Prong
Helmet
Hatebreed
Shadows Fall
Deftones
Disturbed
System of a Down
Iced Earth
And finally...
Rage Against the Machine... Yeah I hate their politics, love the music, and yeah they are pushing the definition but I've got five words for you: Killing in the name of. If that aint metal what the fuck is?
Whaddya all think? Writing the lsit down got my head a little clearer, and I think I could pick my top ten, but I want to see what you guys think.
I'm a hard core metal head, classic metal, progressive, speed metal, thrash metal... basically anything that isn't just power chords and screaming (sorry you death metal fans. Some of your stuff is fine but most is horrible shite).
Okay so ground rules.
1. Solo artists not allowed
2. This is my "definition" of metal:
Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Blue Cheer, and Blue Oyster Cult don't count (progressive blues, forerunners of metal, not metal yet). Metal wouldnt exist without them, but they aren't metal by this definition.
I AM counting Sabbath as metal however. There is no metal without sabbath, and althought Sabbath with Ozzy trod the edge of metal and blues, they created the entire genre of doom metal, and post Ozzy they got nothing but harder.
Also progressive metal (like Dream Theater), and altmetal/grunge metal count, but progressive hard rock, hard rock, hardcore punk (although I'm wavering on L7 and the MC5) etc.. don't.
I'm on the fence about industrial, goth metal, death metal etc... some of it is real metal some is more electronica... some it just screaming and power chords. Let's make it an artist by artist thing.
Some hairmetal yes, some no. Hell most of it was really hard rock anyway. Let me repeat this, hard rock is not metal. AC/DC, GnR, Crue etc... are not metal. Twisted Sister and Skid Row are right on the edge of real metal (but don't even TRY and tell me that Dee Snider and Sebastian Bach aren't metal), Whitesnake (though I love them and they kick ass) are NOT real metal.
Nu-metal (though I like some of it) is right out...
Well... except System of a down, and Disturbed maybe, and a couple of other bands that are more real metal than nu-metal. I'm thinking of Linkin Park shit whan I say it's right out.
4. They must have been around for at least 5 years, and really 10 to be serious about it. By that I mean they need to have produced an album before 2000, unless someone can tell me there some amazing metal band that transcends it's newness. Damageplan, Audioslave etc.. need not apply.
I DON'T mean they need to have been together for five or ten years. I'm not going to disqualify a spectacular single album band.
5. The criteria for "best" are as follows
- Best Music
- Biggest Impact on metal
- "Most Metal"
Okay so here's my top five, but I'm having a hard time deciding on the sixth through tenth:
1. Black Sabbath
2. Metallica
3. Iron Maiden
4. Judas Preist
5. Megadeth
Honestly I don't think anyone who loves the whole world of metal would SERIOUSLY disagree with the top five above, except for re-arranging the order...
buuuuuut number six through ten.... honestly I can't decide. Motorhead is definitely up there, Anthrax, Slayer, Pantera... I could go deep into the 70s and pull out some diamondhead....
Okay I'm jsut gonna put up a list of the other metal bands I consider among the greatest, and let all of you decide. Or you can stick up your nominees... plus I want to see your picks in comments.
Hell, maybe you can change my mind about the top five. I doubt it, but you can try.
Heres the list in no particular order
Motorhead
Slayer
Pantera
Diamondhead
Dream Theater
Queensryche
Faith no more (okay thats pushing it, they are on the edge between progressive rock and metal)
Anthrax
Korn (yeah, its pushing it, but I think they're real metal)
Alice in chains (prior to Jar of Flies they were real metal)
Soundgarden (prior to Superunkwnown they were real metal)
Mercyful fate (remember what I said about goth/industrial/deathmetal being on the borderline)
Rainbow
Uriah Heap
Ministry
Scorpions (yeah they were the best of the '80s arena metal, come on you know it)
Testament
Kings X
Candelmass
Danzig (technically a band and not jsut Glen solo but I'm kind of wavering on that one).
Sepultura
Static-X
Soulfly
Suicidal tendencies (oaky I know, more punk but still...)
Type O Negative
Sisters of Mercy
Napalm Death
Fear Factory
Rammstein (again, on the edge of metal, but I love them anyway)
Prong
Helmet
Hatebreed
Shadows Fall
Deftones
Disturbed
System of a Down
Iced Earth
And finally...
Rage Against the Machine... Yeah I hate their politics, love the music, and yeah they are pushing the definition but I've got five words for you: Killing in the name of. If that aint metal what the fuck is?
Whaddya all think? Writing the lsit down got my head a little clearer, and I think I could pick my top ten, but I want to see what you guys think.
Governator Overworked?
Ok, I'm kind of irritated by this bullshit...
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050811-1238-ca-schwarzenegger-fitnesscontract.html
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050811-1238-ca-schwarzenegger-fitnesscontract.html
By Steve Lawrence
ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:38 p.m. August 11, 2005
SACRAMENTO – Responding to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's multimillion dollar deal with two muscle magazines, a state senator says she will introduce legislation Monday to bar top state officials from having second jobs.
"The truth of the matter is they are getting paid to do (state) jobs that the public perceives they're committed to 24/7," Sen. Jackie Speier said Thursday. "They accepted the positions knowing what the parameters are."
Speier, D-Hillsborough, said she would introduce a bill and a constitutional amendment to bar the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, insurance commissioner, secretary of state, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction and state controller from taking second jobs...
...Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said the Republican governor would be willing to consider signing a ban on outside jobs as long as it applied to legislators as well as statewide officials...
Yeah pretty much just a bitch (in both senses of the word). I see no reason why a government official should be prevented from having an outside job so long as there is no conflict of interest, or appearance of impropriety.
In fact Schwarzenegger decided the contract could be interpreted by SOME (read liberal scumbags) as a conflict of interest and dropped it.
But this is jsut bad law. It's jsut plain stupid, AND there are some FEDERAL constitutional implications (prior restraint, freedom of association etc...). Of course theres precedent from other states and it’s never been taken to a higher court as far as I know.
Just another piece of “there oughta be a law” bullshit.
Holy shit I actually won
Mr. Completely postal match that is.
http://mrcompletely.blogspot.com/2005/08/e-postal-handgun-match-1-flyswatter_11.html
I was thinking 9 would get me the upper middle... turns out there were a few 8s and a bunch of 7's but no 9's.
This is out of 20 possible there folks. DAMN those bugs were a bitch to see at 10 yards. Honestly half those hits were just plain luck anyway.
That's doubly true since I did it with one of these for gits and shiggles:
http://mrcompletely.blogspot.com/2005/08/e-postal-handgun-match-1-flyswatter_11.html
I was thinking 9 would get me the upper middle... turns out there were a few 8s and a bunch of 7's but no 9's.
This is out of 20 possible there folks. DAMN those bugs were a bitch to see at 10 yards. Honestly half those hits were just plain luck anyway.
That's doubly true since I did it with one of these for gits and shiggles:
Rockstar Update
Well it turned out to be Brandon, Suzie, and Jessica...
Not a big surprise, they were my alternate pics. I was playing poker so I didnt see the show, but the performance videos...
Jessica - "Disappear" Honestly I thought Jessica was too upbeat, too thick, and too country with "Disappear". I love the song, and it's not supposed to sound like that. She rocked it without a doubt, it just didn't sound right to me. Ok but she definitely had the guts for it, she was singing as if her life dependind on it, and I can see keeping her.
Suzie - "Bitter Tears": Actually I really liked her doing this song; and I hadn't liked any of her performances so far all that much. She really got the guts into it after that first verse and just nailed it perfect the rest of the way. Definitely the best of the three.
Brandon - "Don't Lose Your Head": Sorry man... not bad, but not bad aint gonna do it when you're on the block, especially against the other two performances. That's too bad because Brandon was starting to grow on me. He was sharp in spots, flat in spots.. I think he muffed a couple of lines... Not only that, but Jessica was singing for her life, and Brandon just wasn't balls out like she was.
Let's see how they do on the acoustic only bit for next week. That's going to be very tough for Jessica, Suzie, Deanna, and J.D.
Lord I wish I could see their song options list...
The only way I can see Deanna not hitting the block is if she gets something very bluesy and emotional. Hmmm, actually I'd LOVE to hear Deanna try Allannah Myles "Black Velvet". She's great, I think she second only to Jordis among the women, but the acoustic week is jsut going to be killer without the right song.
J.D..... I don't think there's a thing he can do to avoid the block; he just doesn't have a voice for acoustic.
Jessica and Suzie... tossup there. If they find the right song then they're solid, if not...
This is going to be the week for Jordis I think. If she gets anything near a decent song she's jsut going to clean up.
Marty is probably going to hit something alt rock... I'd love to hear some Nick Cave, or Pogues thrown in there but I dont think they'd throw him a bone that big.
Mig didn't look happy when they said acoustic only next week, but the guy just has too much talent not to be safe in this group. I think what he'd REALLY like to be doing is something from the Queen catalog where he can showcase his vocal range, which is pretty damned impressive (anyone who can cover Freddie Mercury has to have a 4+ octave range).
I'm guessing Ty is going to look for something like "Tears in Heaven", something very emotional, and a ballsy choice. Tears in heaven in particular isnt a vocally difficult song, but it's so powerful and emotional that it really takes guts to sing it. The only way I can see him not being safe is if he gets TOO ambitious and can't pull it off.
Any way you slice it I'm guessing that Marty, Jordis, Ty, and Mig are safe next week, J.D. is on the block no matter what he does, and Deanna, Suzie and Jessica are down to song selection.
Not a big surprise, they were my alternate pics. I was playing poker so I didnt see the show, but the performance videos...
Jessica - "Disappear" Honestly I thought Jessica was too upbeat, too thick, and too country with "Disappear". I love the song, and it's not supposed to sound like that. She rocked it without a doubt, it just didn't sound right to me. Ok but she definitely had the guts for it, she was singing as if her life dependind on it, and I can see keeping her.
Suzie - "Bitter Tears": Actually I really liked her doing this song; and I hadn't liked any of her performances so far all that much. She really got the guts into it after that first verse and just nailed it perfect the rest of the way. Definitely the best of the three.
Brandon - "Don't Lose Your Head": Sorry man... not bad, but not bad aint gonna do it when you're on the block, especially against the other two performances. That's too bad because Brandon was starting to grow on me. He was sharp in spots, flat in spots.. I think he muffed a couple of lines... Not only that, but Jessica was singing for her life, and Brandon just wasn't balls out like she was.
Let's see how they do on the acoustic only bit for next week. That's going to be very tough for Jessica, Suzie, Deanna, and J.D.
Lord I wish I could see their song options list...
The only way I can see Deanna not hitting the block is if she gets something very bluesy and emotional. Hmmm, actually I'd LOVE to hear Deanna try Allannah Myles "Black Velvet". She's great, I think she second only to Jordis among the women, but the acoustic week is jsut going to be killer without the right song.
J.D..... I don't think there's a thing he can do to avoid the block; he just doesn't have a voice for acoustic.
Jessica and Suzie... tossup there. If they find the right song then they're solid, if not...
This is going to be the week for Jordis I think. If she gets anything near a decent song she's jsut going to clean up.
Marty is probably going to hit something alt rock... I'd love to hear some Nick Cave, or Pogues thrown in there but I dont think they'd throw him a bone that big.
Mig didn't look happy when they said acoustic only next week, but the guy just has too much talent not to be safe in this group. I think what he'd REALLY like to be doing is something from the Queen catalog where he can showcase his vocal range, which is pretty damned impressive (anyone who can cover Freddie Mercury has to have a 4+ octave range).
I'm guessing Ty is going to look for something like "Tears in Heaven", something very emotional, and a ballsy choice. Tears in heaven in particular isnt a vocally difficult song, but it's so powerful and emotional that it really takes guts to sing it. The only way I can see him not being safe is if he gets TOO ambitious and can't pull it off.
Any way you slice it I'm guessing that Marty, Jordis, Ty, and Mig are safe next week, J.D. is on the block no matter what he does, and Deanna, Suzie and Jessica are down to song selection.
Shuffle up and deal
Did pretty well at poker night tonight.
In the first seating I was CRUSHED. After about 30 minutes I dropped a 12k pot small pair to big pair. Next hand I'm all in with 650 on pocket queens, 1500 in the pot chip leader calls it with an A-2, and he draws the ace on the river.
Ah well shit happens.
Second seating I was just dominant. I knocked 8 people out on my first table, and another 4 on the second. I end up starting the final table with 40k, two others on the table with a little less than me, and a the rest are small stacks.
I dont get a hand for like 15 hands, and the blinds go up to 2k-4k; theres some serious money in the pots, and I'm down to like 27k just from the blinds and a couple of calls. I take two more out, and now we're three way tied with three small stacks on the outs.
Two of them dump to Renee, my eventual heads up; and the blinds are 4 and 8 with 4 of us left on the table, one about to blind out. I bump him out on two pair; Renee takes 2/3 of the other womans stack, I get the rest, and we go heads up with her dominating me like 80k 40k.
Not a great situation.
Anyway I managed to beat her back till I was only down 10k, and she takes down a monster from me with pocket aces. By then the blinds are 10 and 20k. I'm big blind, and I go all in pre flop on A-10 suited, she calls it, I flop one short of the flush plus I pair the ace, and motherfucker but she ends up with two pair on the river.
So to make a short story even longer, I ended up in second, giving me a grand total of 700 points for the month so far. 1000 points gets me an alternate seat at the monthly tourney, and 2500 gives me a guaranteed seat.
I'll be able to hit maybe six more qualifiers for this month so I may make alternate, I may not; we shall see.
In the first seating I was CRUSHED. After about 30 minutes I dropped a 12k pot small pair to big pair. Next hand I'm all in with 650 on pocket queens, 1500 in the pot chip leader calls it with an A-2, and he draws the ace on the river.
Ah well shit happens.
Second seating I was just dominant. I knocked 8 people out on my first table, and another 4 on the second. I end up starting the final table with 40k, two others on the table with a little less than me, and a the rest are small stacks.
I dont get a hand for like 15 hands, and the blinds go up to 2k-4k; theres some serious money in the pots, and I'm down to like 27k just from the blinds and a couple of calls. I take two more out, and now we're three way tied with three small stacks on the outs.
Two of them dump to Renee, my eventual heads up; and the blinds are 4 and 8 with 4 of us left on the table, one about to blind out. I bump him out on two pair; Renee takes 2/3 of the other womans stack, I get the rest, and we go heads up with her dominating me like 80k 40k.
Not a great situation.
Anyway I managed to beat her back till I was only down 10k, and she takes down a monster from me with pocket aces. By then the blinds are 10 and 20k. I'm big blind, and I go all in pre flop on A-10 suited, she calls it, I flop one short of the flush plus I pair the ace, and motherfucker but she ends up with two pair on the river.
So to make a short story even longer, I ended up in second, giving me a grand total of 700 points for the month so far. 1000 points gets me an alternate seat at the monthly tourney, and 2500 gives me a guaranteed seat.
I'll be able to hit maybe six more qualifiers for this month so I may make alternate, I may not; we shall see.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
If there's a god in heaven...
..."He drives a silver thunderbird"
Marc Cohn was shot in the head sunday, during an unsuccessful car jacking attempt. He is conscious, talking, and stable.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/09/cohn.shot/index.html
Silver Thunderbird
- Marc Cohn
Marc Cohn was shot in the head sunday, during an unsuccessful car jacking attempt. He is conscious, talking, and stable.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/09/cohn.shot/index.html
Silver Thunderbird
- Marc Cohn
Watched it coming up Winslow
Down South Park Boulevard
Yeah it was looking good from tail to hood
Great big fins and painted steel
Man it looked just like the Batmobile
With my old man behind the wheel
Well you could hardly even see him
In all of that chrome
The man with the plan and the pocket comb
But every night it carried him home
And I could hear him sayin'...
Don't gimme no Buick
Son you must take my word
If there's a God in heaven
He's got a Silver Thunderbird
You can keep your Eldorados
And the foreign car's absurd
Me I wanna go down
In a Silver Thunderbird
He got up every morning
While i was still asleep
But I remember the sound of him shuffling around
Then right before the crack of dawn
I heard him turn the motor on
But when I got up they were gone
Down the road in the rain and snow
The man and his machine would go
Oh the secrets that old car would know
Sometimes I hear him sayin'...
Don't gimme no Buick
Son you must take my word
If there's a God in heaven
He's got a Silver Thunderbird
You can keep your Eldorados
And the foreign car's absurd
Me I wanna go down
In a Silver Thunderbird
27 Minutes
27 minutes ago, I heard a woman screaming "Oh my god, help me, someone please help me", and then a crash of breaking glass.
I immediately went to the window and couldnt see anything, so I went outside with three things:
1. My USP
2. My flashlight
3. My cell phone with a headset in
I dialed 911 as I was moving and I reported exactly what happened, and that I couldn't identify exactly which apartment it came from (it was one of six, and I have some strong suspicions).
I haven't heard anything since, and the police have not yet arrived. I HAVE verified that 4 out of the six apartments are ok; but from two of them, including the one I suspect the scream came from, I got no response. I can't hear anything, and lord knows I can't do anything. Unless I can positively identify where the scream came from, and that someone is in actual danger, I can't and shouldn't do anything more.
27 minutes, and still no police. Actually about 32 minutes now.
I live in a good neighborhood, and this is a Wednesday; not exactly a busy night. Not only that but I know where at least 4 blue and whites are; including the watch commander, right now (a convenience store down the street. They're there every night around this time).
Don't ever try and tell me that the police can or will protect you. The only thing you can count on is the ability to defend yourself. If you live in Massachusetts, New York, California, or New Jersey that fundamental right is already severely limited, and yet those are among the most violent and crime ridden places in our country.
Hell if you live in Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Boston, or Washington D.C. effectively your right to self defense has been abrogated by the state. Almost no-one there legally owns a gun, but yet they have the highest incidence of murders commited with firearms (admitedly mostly criminal on criminal).
Do not let them tell you they can protect you. Do not believe it. Do not let them tell you that you don't need that right. Do not let them tell you you can't protect yourself. Do not let them tell you that isn't a right.
Defend yourself, and don't let anyone try and stop you.
43 minutes, still waiting...
UPDATE: About an hour later he came back, and my suspicions were confirmed; the abusive boyfriend of the woman across the way. He was kicking and pounding on her door, and I called the police again.
Now it's two and a half hours, he's come and gone twice, and the cops... well they just aren't bothering. It's been a few months since the last one, but these two have a history.
My girlfriend said to me "Honey, what gives you the right to get involved. That's not your job leave it to the police".
I will never understand that attitude.
My response? "Honey she was begging and screaming for help. I'm certainly going to respond. It's everyones moral duty to stop abuse and crime from happening if they can".
There was a time when everyone felt that way; now people just don't want to get involved.
I immediately went to the window and couldnt see anything, so I went outside with three things:
1. My USP
2. My flashlight
3. My cell phone with a headset in
I dialed 911 as I was moving and I reported exactly what happened, and that I couldn't identify exactly which apartment it came from (it was one of six, and I have some strong suspicions).
I haven't heard anything since, and the police have not yet arrived. I HAVE verified that 4 out of the six apartments are ok; but from two of them, including the one I suspect the scream came from, I got no response. I can't hear anything, and lord knows I can't do anything. Unless I can positively identify where the scream came from, and that someone is in actual danger, I can't and shouldn't do anything more.
27 minutes, and still no police. Actually about 32 minutes now.
I live in a good neighborhood, and this is a Wednesday; not exactly a busy night. Not only that but I know where at least 4 blue and whites are; including the watch commander, right now (a convenience store down the street. They're there every night around this time).
Don't ever try and tell me that the police can or will protect you. The only thing you can count on is the ability to defend yourself. If you live in Massachusetts, New York, California, or New Jersey that fundamental right is already severely limited, and yet those are among the most violent and crime ridden places in our country.
Hell if you live in Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Boston, or Washington D.C. effectively your right to self defense has been abrogated by the state. Almost no-one there legally owns a gun, but yet they have the highest incidence of murders commited with firearms (admitedly mostly criminal on criminal).
Do not let them tell you they can protect you. Do not believe it. Do not let them tell you that you don't need that right. Do not let them tell you you can't protect yourself. Do not let them tell you that isn't a right.
Defend yourself, and don't let anyone try and stop you.
43 minutes, still waiting...
UPDATE: About an hour later he came back, and my suspicions were confirmed; the abusive boyfriend of the woman across the way. He was kicking and pounding on her door, and I called the police again.
Now it's two and a half hours, he's come and gone twice, and the cops... well they just aren't bothering. It's been a few months since the last one, but these two have a history.
My girlfriend said to me "Honey, what gives you the right to get involved. That's not your job leave it to the police".
I will never understand that attitude.
My response? "Honey she was begging and screaming for help. I'm certainly going to respond. It's everyones moral duty to stop abuse and crime from happening if they can".
There was a time when everyone felt that way; now people just don't want to get involved.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Live Bloggin - Rockstar
Sorry theres been nothing politicial or gun related lately, the inspiritation is on low at the moment. Time for some mindless entertainment...
So on to the live blogging:
Umm Brooke Burke, metal micromini and stiletto kneeboots? Oh yeah, Chris Want.
Suzy - R.E.M. "Losing My Religion" : That took some balls to choose, and Ok, it was kind of a cool arrangement. It very definitely highlighted her voice, but I wasn't that impressed.
Mig - Free, "All Right Now": Mig nailed it, again. This is getting monotonous. Considering this guy makes his living by covering Freddie fucking Mercury.. only one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time, none of this is surprisng. But I want to hear a song from him that I can actually FEEL HIM in, instead of just doing a well vocalized cover.
J.D. - Seal, "Crazy": Lots of emotion, also a very ballsy choice, and he got the guts into it; he just doesn't have the timbre for the song.
Jessica - Nirvana "Come as You Are": What the HELL was she thinking? She doesn't have the voice for this song at all, and she sounds like Cher on ludes singing it. Yeah she's gone this week.
Jordis - Eric Clapton, "Layla": Hmmm... you know, it sounded good, but she doesn't seem to be into it tonight. Just a little off her game, a little less energy than she's had before, and no snap on the backbeats... Oh but I love the corset dress; VERY tasty.
Brandon - Rolling Stones, "It's All Over Now": I dug it, he was kinda channeling Chris Robinson again, and maybe he was a bit too tight... I think maybe he was trying to be a little more controlled in his performance, and I would have rather seen a little more balls out. He got better towards the end though... I like it, but I dunno, we'll see.
Marty - The Killers, "Mr. Brightside": Yaknow, Martys voice just sucks, but it wasn't that bad for this song. The balls he threw into that were jsut great. I'd love to see this guy do something a little quirky.. maybe some madness, or blur, or somthing 90's angst rockish. I liked it, but I think he's gonna be on the block this week for sure.
Deanna - The Doobie Brothers, "Long Train Running": Okay, I'm a bit biased because I really like this song as done by the doobies, but I thought she did it cool. She really does have an amazing voice for blues, and blues inspired rock. She sounded a little rough and hoarse today, and the doobies were always smoothe, so I dont know how well it will go over. The dress great, but it would have been better without the pants underneath.
Ty - Bob Marley, "No Woman, No Cry": Okay he started slow on it; but as he sang he jsut fell right into the groove. He was somewhere else for a while and I LOVE that. He broke it down well into the bridge, but the closing wasn't as strong as I wanted to see. I think he's safe from the block this week.
Okay my guess is that this week will see Marty, J.D. and Jessica on the block, but it's just a guess; Suzy could be there instead, and maybe Brandon.
Oh and I'm still thinking that Ty is going to take this one all the way. Just looking at howthe band reacts to him, and how he works the crowd. I know Ty doesn't want to pigeonhole himself, but I REALLY want to see him do "Cult of Personality".
UPDATE: Looks like spoons shares the same diversions as I do
So on to the live blogging:
Umm Brooke Burke, metal micromini and stiletto kneeboots? Oh yeah, Chris Want.
Suzy - R.E.M. "Losing My Religion" : That took some balls to choose, and Ok, it was kind of a cool arrangement. It very definitely highlighted her voice, but I wasn't that impressed.
Mig - Free, "All Right Now": Mig nailed it, again. This is getting monotonous. Considering this guy makes his living by covering Freddie fucking Mercury.. only one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time, none of this is surprisng. But I want to hear a song from him that I can actually FEEL HIM in, instead of just doing a well vocalized cover.
J.D. - Seal, "Crazy": Lots of emotion, also a very ballsy choice, and he got the guts into it; he just doesn't have the timbre for the song.
Jessica - Nirvana "Come as You Are": What the HELL was she thinking? She doesn't have the voice for this song at all, and she sounds like Cher on ludes singing it. Yeah she's gone this week.
Jordis - Eric Clapton, "Layla": Hmmm... you know, it sounded good, but she doesn't seem to be into it tonight. Just a little off her game, a little less energy than she's had before, and no snap on the backbeats... Oh but I love the corset dress; VERY tasty.
Brandon - Rolling Stones, "It's All Over Now": I dug it, he was kinda channeling Chris Robinson again, and maybe he was a bit too tight... I think maybe he was trying to be a little more controlled in his performance, and I would have rather seen a little more balls out. He got better towards the end though... I like it, but I dunno, we'll see.
Marty - The Killers, "Mr. Brightside": Yaknow, Martys voice just sucks, but it wasn't that bad for this song. The balls he threw into that were jsut great. I'd love to see this guy do something a little quirky.. maybe some madness, or blur, or somthing 90's angst rockish. I liked it, but I think he's gonna be on the block this week for sure.
Deanna - The Doobie Brothers, "Long Train Running": Okay, I'm a bit biased because I really like this song as done by the doobies, but I thought she did it cool. She really does have an amazing voice for blues, and blues inspired rock. She sounded a little rough and hoarse today, and the doobies were always smoothe, so I dont know how well it will go over. The dress great, but it would have been better without the pants underneath.
Ty - Bob Marley, "No Woman, No Cry": Okay he started slow on it; but as he sang he jsut fell right into the groove. He was somewhere else for a while and I LOVE that. He broke it down well into the bridge, but the closing wasn't as strong as I wanted to see. I think he's safe from the block this week.
Okay my guess is that this week will see Marty, J.D. and Jessica on the block, but it's just a guess; Suzy could be there instead, and maybe Brandon.
Oh and I'm still thinking that Ty is going to take this one all the way. Just looking at howthe band reacts to him, and how he works the crowd. I know Ty doesn't want to pigeonhole himself, but I REALLY want to see him do "Cult of Personality".
UPDATE: Looks like spoons shares the same diversions as I do
Monday, August 08, 2005
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