Happy Involuntary Servitude Day

Also known as national Buy A Gun (BAG) day.

This year things are a bit tight between taxes and legal expenses so far this year, but I still wanted to buy a gun for BAG day.

So, this weekend we grabbed one of these:


A SIG P6 (aka P225) from J&G sales, for $270 with a spare magazine and holster.

I haven't had a chance to shoot it off yet, but I've shot a p225 before, and it's an excellent pistol. On this particular example, the single action trigger is amazingly good for a SIG. It's about 5lbs, very crisp, with no creep, no grit, and minimal overtravel. Of course being a former German police gun, the DA pull is ridiculous. My trigger pull scale only goes to 12lbs, I'd estimate this breaks at 14lbs; but other than the weight, it's also sooth and consistent.

The pistol is in absolutely excellent mechanical condition; looks like it was shot very little, but has a lot of holster wear.

So, over the course of this year, I'm going to do something interesting.

I'm going to refinish this gun with durakote or gunkote (or possibly some other spray on baked epoxy finish); and change the sights out for whatever my readers think would be the best choice. I'm also going to try and find a set of the nice wood grips, or at least the pachmayer rubber grips, that you can sometimes find for these guns; and see what I can do about that DA trigger pull (I suspect not much actually).

Then I'm going to do something interesting with it.

Last year, I held a charity auction by proxy; awarding a Hungarian PA-63 to the reader who gave the largest donation to Soldiers Angels - Project Valour-IT during their annual fundraising drive.

This year, the gun I'm auctioning of will be the to-be-restored P6.

So, what sights should I grab?

Ayup, that about says it

Solvents are not friendly

Derek Lowe is a blogger, and a pharmacological chemist, who spends a lot of his time doing chemical synthesis and analysis (as you would expect). Of course, in so doing, he spends a lot of time working with various solvents, and he's talking about them a bit today.

One of the solvents he calls out specifically, is methylene chloride (which is also called dimethyl chloride). As chlorinated solvents go, it's one of the most benign...

...which is kind of like saying "as gun shot wounds go, a .22 through the thigh is one of the most benign".

At least it doesn't kill you just from breathing it, or melt the skin off your bones; and yes, there are chlorinated solvents that will do just that. Some chemical warfare agents (like phosgene for example - in fact most chemical agents that are not organophosphates), and many pesticides, are just the gasseous or aerosolized forms of a chlorinated solvent (don't even get me started on flourinated compounds).

All the drama aside, it is a very useful chemical, and as I said, relatively benign.

Relatively.

Unfortunately, I have a lot of experience with methylene chloride.

My first real job as a teenager was as a furniture restorer and re-finisher in my uncles shop; and methylene chloride is (or at least was) one of the most common paint and varnish strippers for professional industrial use.

At any rate, it was what we used; because it is remarkably effective, and of the very effective strippers, it both works the fastest and is the least toxic.

I would spend several hours (sometimes as much as 16 hours a day) at a time standing in a large stainless steel tank, wearing a basic charcoal filter mask, standard cotton overalls (methylene chloride melts many synthetic fabrics; and you don't want to wear anything under the overalls that would soak up fluids and hold them against the skin) and chemical resistant gloves, apron, and boots; stripping furniture with a flow over system (essentially a hose pumping the solvent out through a scrub brush).

In order to strip these pieces, you have to get into every tiny little nook and cranny; and flow, brush, and scrape the crud off.

Now, most modern furniture is relatively clean, simple and square... but for the most part people don't pay professional restorers $75 an hour to strip and refinish those pieces. Mostly, the pieces they want done are 200 year old French provincial writing desks, and colonial post office desks, and 16 drawer armoires etc... etc...

Not simple shapes. Not square. Lots of fiddly bits and pieces, and hard to reach spaces. To get these things stripped, I would have to get most of my body fully into pieces of furniture that had this solvent all over it, splashing all over, etc...

We kept large amounts of mineral spirits and distilled water on hand, because methylene chloride burns like a sunofabitch on your skin, and it doesn't rinse off with water. You have to rinse it off and neutralize some of the burn with the mineral spirits first, then rinse that off with the water.

Several times a day I'd get large portions of my body covered by this stuff. On occasion, I would be completely doused from armpit to ankle; and in the course of these exceedingly painful soakings I discovered one of its secondary effects...

...It's a remarkably effective depilatory...

...and that's all I have to say about that.

Pretty much the way it is...

This is why I love Clarkson...

...even though he hates America, he still writes stuff like this:

Thirty years ago in South Africa, there was white power. Then there was black power. And now there is no power.

No really. There isn't. The electricity-generating company over there has just announced that the power stations are not capable of meeting demand and that there will be outages for two, three or six hours a day for at least the next seven years.

So far as I can see, no one is asking why this has happened. Everyone suspects it's because the power company, since it took over the reins from De Boer Pik Racist, has been operating a policy of only employing black people. So the whites, the ones who know how to run a power station, have left the job of generating electricity to a bunch of guys who don't know how to.

No one's actually saying that of course. It's a political potato so hot that you're going to get your fingers burned if you even whisper such a thing.

I really ought to have one of these

I would be rather useful, wouldn't it...

A Question for My Readers

On top til Friday the 11th, scroll down for new

OK guys, time to interact.

I have a question for you all, and I'd like your direct feedback.

I'm going to be cleaning up my blog categories, and I'd like to add a "readers favorites" category. What I'd like from y'all is for you t tell me your favorites.

Specifically, I'd like you to let me know your favorite post, or up to your ten favorite posts; leaving the post titles and/or links in comments.

Oh and please don't depend on the "best of anarchangel" category, or really the categories in general, because they are a horrible mess.

Thanks for reading, and for commenting.

Ahhhh, I've become one of the pod people

I've been trying to use my smartphone as my MP3 player for a while now; but honestly, every media player I've tried for windows mobile has sucked.

I love the idea of only carrying around one device (I have enough of a batbelt without any more electronics on it); but this phone just isn't working for it.

Sooo.... I decided to grab a standalone mp3 player. I wasn't planning on an iPod, but refurb nanos were on sale for 30% off, and...

If your screen happens to be 14.1" at 1280x1024, that pic is actual size by the way. This thing is tiny; 2" by 2-3/4" in fact.

...Which is kinda the point.

Actually, the whole thing is smaller than the LCD on my phone, and only about 1/4" thick. So, it won't be part of the bat belt. IN fact the thing should fit in the zippo pocket of my jeans (if I grab a ard case for it anyway... not sure I'd trust it in there bare).

Now this is by no means my first mp3 player. In fact, my first was the weird amoeba shaped Rio from like 1998; and I've had an mp3 player of some kind ever since. It is however my first iPod.

So, Apple cultists, what are the "must have" accessories? And since my primary laptop is a linux machine, what's the best sync solution for iPods on linux?

Also, I already listen to (and sometimes watch) a bunch of podcasts; but I'm always looking for more.

Oh, and is it worth messing with any of the hacks for the nano?

They're surprisingly hard to catch

39

Question for those who read me through RSS feeds

As you know, right now my RSS feeds only show a summary; to get the full post you need to link through to the main page from your feed reader.

I've done this, because I often write EXTREMELY long posts, and most RSS feed readers don't really handle that very well.

So the question is, for those of you who read through RSS, would you prefer full, or digest posts in RSS; because blogger wont allow me to publish both simultaneously.

UPDATE: Well the votes are in, and overwhelmingly in favor of full posts. I'll leave it this way for a few days, the ask again to see if y'all change you mind after I post a 5000 word monster.

They surely did try though

Only if you're doing it wrong

Sadly... most are...

Sadly, Dilbert probably COULD do that to some of these idiots

Though he wouldn't even have to; he could jut hurt their feelings and invalidate their self esteem.

On the Street Where You Live

Leaving aside the privacy concerns, I'm fascinated by Google street view.

If you're unfamiliar with it, this is the program that Google has, where they send specially equipped vans and cars around... well, eventually every single road in the country, and maybe the world; to take pictures at street level of every address and intersection. They take several photographs every second as they drive down the street, and then digitally stitch them together.

One thing that has surprised me, as the program has grown over the past two years or so; is just exactly what streets have street views available.

For example, only the major cross streets in the neighborhood I currently live in have been photographed; but in the town where I grew up, it seems all the public streets have been.

Here's the house I grew up in... at least more so than any other house, having lived there twice for three years each time (the longest I have ever lived in any single location):

I loved that house... and that street for that matter. We first moved in there when I was seven, a few months after my grandfather bought it.

It's a two family, built in 1908, into the side of a solid granite hill face. I don't quite remember it this way, but Zillow says it's about 4000 square feet total. It had the standard New England high ceilings, wide board oak floors, oak and lead glass interior doors, oak wainscoting and built in cabinets and fixtures, plaster crown moldings and ceiling rosettes around light fixtures... Really what we would think of today as an architectural and design treasure.

It also had this amazing frame work; the most incredibly solidly built house I'd ever seen. The timbers of the house were huge, thick, California redwood. The roof beams and main floor joists were 4"x8" and 4"x10" roughsawn heartwood, and the exterior studs were 2"x6" roughsawn redwood. The foundation was cut into the granite hillside, with granite aggregate solid blocks for the portions not resting on solid rock.

In 1986, hurricane Gloria sent a 4 foot thick several hundred year old oak tree crashing into the side of the house, falling over on to the edge of the roof. The only damage was to the eaves and soffets the tree actually landed on.

The first time we lived there; my mother, brother, and I lived on the bottom floor (technically there was an aboveground basement cut into the hillside so it was really the second floor); and my aunt Helen lived on the top floor with her at the time 3 year old daughter Caitlin (after a nasty divorce).

We moved out when I was in fifth grade, and moved around for a couple years; came back when I was 13, but lived on the top floor this time. Then, my aunt Susan lived downstairs with her husband Carl, who gave me my first long term job at his furniture restoration shop; and my aunt Maureen lived with us.

In theory Maureen lived with use to help my mother take care of us while she ran her business; in reality I did most of the taking care of, because Maureen was an alcoholic and a drug addict (she's been clean for 14 years now, and is a happily married mother of four).

Over the next three years, we remodeled the attic into a full living space with a private entrance on the side of the house you can't see; even my own mini kitchen, and plenty of soundproofing. It had everything but a bathroom.

I moved out when I was 16, to go to college, and then into the Air Force; but my mother and brother lived there 'til I was 19.

I was visiting there on my 19th birthday, when my brother got high, and accidentally burned the top two floors of the house down. I still had most of my stuff up in my apartment, because I hadn't really settled down yet. I lost everything I had left; after having had a car accident the year before, where most of the belongings I had with me (in a 14 foot trailer) were scattered around I-40 in Oklahoma city.

I ended up losing thousands of books, a half dozen guitars, swords, knives, furniture I had built working in my uncles furniture restoration shop... Everything.

Amazingly enough though, those timbers held up. Though the structure was open to the sky, the damage was almost entirely non-structural; and they were able to salvage the house.

My grandfather started rebuilding the place with the insurance money; unfortunately he died later that year. My grandmother finished the rebuilding (and added the circular driveway in front. When I lived there it had been a lawn enclosed by a hedge); and my aunt Maureen, and aunt Allison lived there for a couple years, until she sold the place in I think 2001.

The place hasn't changed much... in fact It hasn't changed much since 1908 when the house was built. The new owners have refreshed the stucco, and changed the paint; but it's still the same house.

Really only the property values have changed. When my grandfather bought it in the early '80s, he paid $170,000 for it. My grandmother sold it in I think 2001 (maybe 2002) for $380,000, and Zillow says it's worth about $600,000 today.

This is in a town where the median home value is $500,000 and the median income is $80,000 a year mind; a $600,000 house is no great shakes in that place. Deval Patrick, the current governor of Massachusetts lives there for example; as does the 5th richest woman in the world. George Bush the elder was born there, a Robert and Teddy Kennedy went to school there (as did John Kerrys kids, James Taylor, T.S. Eliot, and Buckminster Fuller), and John Adams farm was right on the edge of town (the town was founded in 1636).

It was weird growing up poor in such a rich town... but those are other stories for other times.

The houses are the same, the street is still the same really.

You can't see more than a few hundred feet in a straight line in the entire town between the trees and the hills.

A little different from the view down my nearest captured street today (that's about 4 miles to that hill)...


My wife is from here, she doesn't understand why I prefer the former, to the latter. She finds the views, and my descriptions of New England to be stifling.

I just think they'll always feel more like home, than six lane superhighways passing for city streets.

The Monks Fast

When most people think of a fast, they think of something like a hunger strike, but historically this is incorrect. The traditional Christian fast doesn't involve complete deprivation of food; otherwise people would not have been able to fast for 40 days over Lent for example.

Rather, a traditional fast involves eating nothing but bread, broth (usually barley broth, perhaps with some pork), water, and beer (which was considered something like liquid bread) during the day (as in the daylight hours); and after dark, a plain, simple meal of porridge, or rice, or something similar, and if available some protein or fat.

This fast regimen deprived one of the luxury of richer food; but provided enough nutritive value and energy, to allow for a full days work.

The purpose of this during lent of course was to show devotion, and to refocus ones self on the spiritual rather than the physical; but the fast wasn't simply for Lent. There are monks who had fasts lasting for decades. Again though, the purpose was to improve focus.

Well, I've noted a distinct lack of focus in my life for the past few months; both literally and figuratively. I have had trouble focusing my attention on either work, or recreation; particularly my writing, but also my hobbies an other projects.

I'm the type of guy who generally starts something, then works all the way through it 'til I'm finished; but I haven't managed to finish a single one of my hobby projects in months; excepting building the new computers for myself, Mel, and the kids.

Particularly bad, I haven't been shooting since January; which is the longest I've gone without shooting since I moved back from Ireland nearly five years ago. Shooting is one of the ways I have always refocused myself. It is almost a kind of meditation for me.

Compounded with this is that my diet and exercise have slipped horribly in that time. I haven't maintained my diet at all; and my exercise level has been just as bad. As a consequence, I've managed to erase all the losses I had made over the previous year. I'm not back up to where I was at my heaviest; but I'm not happy with where I am.

Oh and I've only been to church... maybe three times in the past few months?

My energy levels are erratic; and seem to cycle randomly across time, food consumption, sleep, and activity levels (otherwise I'd be worried about diabetes, which runs in my family). My insomnia has been near the worst it's been in years.

I haven't picked up either of my guitars at all since Christmas; which has always been another for of meditation for me... In fact the only music I've been making, or much listening to, has been in "Rock Band"; which is fun and relaxing, but not really what I need in this context.

Worst of all mentally, excepting a surge over the last few weeks (brought on by worsening insomnia), I've barely been able to finish a book in months. Actually, since January, I've only managed to finish 12 books, and six of them have been in the last three weeks. My "to read" pile has grown to 16 linear feet of thickness (books stacked cover to cover) and is growing instead of shrinking.

That may not seem abnormal to you, but you've got to understand for me, that's like going blind. This is from a man whose primary means of stress relief is reading; and who has typically throughout his life read a full 300-400 page book, or the equivalent thereof, near every day.

So, I think it's clear, I need to refocus myself a bit.

Today, I've instituted my own version of the monks fast.

From today forward, until I reach my overriding goals (both physically, and otherwise); six days a week I am going to fast.

My diet will consist of two cups of chicken or beef broth, and a chunk of bread (2oz) with a pat of butter as a mid day meal; a cup of fruit juice in the morning, and a (16oz) mug of coffee or tea with milk and splenda in the morning and afternoon; and 10oz or less of a lean meat, and 8oz or less of a simple starch, bread, or legume to go with it for dinner.

I will also allow myself a reasonable amount of fresh fruit, and some cucumber, pickled or otherwise (there is very little nutritive value to cucumber -an entire large cucumber may have less than 50 calories - but I like the flavor and texture of it); for vitamins, and for variety.

Oh, and if I feel like it, a glass of Weihenstephaner, Franziskaner, or Agustiner Brau per night. After all, one must respect the tradition of liquid bread.

I will allow myself one day per week of "normal" intake; choosing whatever I might want, within reason; as one does on feast days during an extended fast. This will give me something to look forward to, act as a safety valve, and make sure I get the chance to eat out with my wife at least once a week.

I'll also allow myself a special exemption for my birthday (which is in three weeks), July 4th, Memorial Day, Labor Day, my daughters birthdays, Halloween, my wifes birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, new years, and Easter; which again would replicate the original practice of eating richly on feast days (which we generally no longer celebrate) during an extended fast.

I'm so specific about the requirements, because I've calculated that to be the minimum intake I can maintain, and still remain in good health; at somewhere between an absolute minimum of 1200 and 1600 calories a day depending (perhaps 1800 at most, with heavy exercise).

In addition, I am resuming my exercise regimen, consisting of at least 90 minutes of vigorous exercise per day except Sunday; including 20 minutes of stretching and warmup (light calisthenics mostly), and the remaining time split up as approximately 1/2 aerobic cardio-vascular training (calisthenics and exercise bike) , 1/4 power lifting, and 1/4 circuit training; most likely on alternating days.

In conjunction with that, I intend to resume attending church weekly, and to spend at least one hour every day reading offline, not related to my job.

What I'm hoping for is that my physical and mental energy levels and focus will balance out, and allow me to really get things done again. I may have to make some adjustments, but I think this is the right course, and my will is set on it.

Why do I live with the trouble?

I got an email with a question, about why I took my resume down off my website; and more generally, how my writing online has effected my life.

It's a good question really. It's certainly one that other bloggers and I have discussed, mostly amongst ourselves, but also with our readers.

Well, first, I took my resume down temporarily because I was getting some harassment; and people were using the information on it to screw with me. I'll eventually put it back up; but at the moment I have no need for it to be online. Besides which, it CAN be found, if you want to make any kind of effort, and you know how. Most of the idiots who are stupid enough to harass me, are incapable of such things.

This is also one of the reasons why I don't discuss specifics of employment, past or present.

Hmmm, how has my online writing effected my life....

Well, It's given my thoughts and words a much broader audience, and introduced me to many new friends. I'm hoping that it has influenced many people, to understand many things, much better than they had before reading; and that I've been able to dispel a lot of nasty and stupid myths and answer a lot of interesting questions.

On the other hand...

It has also resulted in death threats, harassment, being fired from two different jobs, and most likely prevented me from getting several more; and it has certainly complicated our legal issues.

Of course I'm not the only one. Joe Huffman, and Kim DuToit, have both seen the same impact that I have; and many others out there have similar experiences.

I wouldn't trade all that though; nor would I choose to go back and blog pseudonymously. I believe a man must be willing to stand behind what he says, and what he writes. Not to say that I respect a person less when they write under a pseudonym; but when I write something, and I put my name on it, people know who and where it is coming from.

A Timely Reminder

I Have A Dream

40 years ago today, James Earl Ray murdered Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Ray died in prison, 10 years ago (almost to the day); still insisting that his brother Johnny "assassinated" King on the orders of a man named "Raoul", who was working for the CIA.

Ray is nearly forgotten, but King is not; and his words will live on forever.

Sadly, most people have never read them, or heard them in their entirety. "I have a dream" makes a great 2 second sound sample to play in commercials and history montages; but it's meaningless without context.

Some are critical of King (myself included) for his willingness to accommodate the leftists and anti-Americans that flocked around his movement. Some criticize him as a hypocrite, preaching one morality in public, practicing another in private. Certainly, he has been elevated to a position in many peoples minds far above that of a mere mortal man; to a degree I suspect King himself would find distasteful, and perhaps even idolatrous.

But...

His words, and his impact, do live on. They are his immortality.

It's just a pity that so called "black leaders" have followed the worst examples of his time, and become little more than race baiters and poverty pimps.

I think their dream is a bit different from Dr. Kings. I don't think the content of a mans character matters much to them.

ABOVE: Martin Luther King, Jr., delivering his 'I Have a Dream' speech from the steps of Lincoln Memorial. (photo: National Park Service)

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

A quick Windows optimization

I got a question on the gunthing forum, and I think some of my readers would find it valuable.

How do you stop all that useless crap that vendors load on your systems from loading at startup?

Well, it's reasonably easy (and don't say "yeah, buy a mac/use linux. I already do. This is for everyone who can't or doesn't want to).

The real problem is figuring out what you actually NEED to be running, vs. what's crap you can stop.

Recognizing them is tricky, because every computer has different requirements. Your virus scan, your sound control panel etc...

Generally speaking, you can google the executable names and figure out what they are; and then decide from there if you need them running or not.

Telling the ones you don't want not to start is easy though. There are several utilities which will do it for you (I recommend winpatrol from BillP, it's free, and better than the built in msconfig), or you can edit the registry and a couple of files and directories.

the procedure for editing the registry is as follows:

1. Run regedit
2. Edit the following keys to remove entries you don't want to run:

Hkey Local Machine>Software>Microsoft>Windows>Current Version>Run>
Hkey current user>Software>Microsoft>Windows>Current Version>Run>
Hkey users>{specific user ID number}> Software>Microsoft>Windows>Current Version>Run>

3. close regedit and reboot

You can then remove entries from the "startup" directory by right clicking on the "start" button, and choosing "explore" the go to programs>startup, and remove entries you don't want to start on login.

Do that one more time, except left click and select "explore all users".

Finally, go into the services manager from the management console, or from start>programs?> administrative tools> services> and either set to manual, or disable any unnecessary or dangerous services (you can find lists online).

Oh... one more thing. Once you've done all that, go into your control panel, and uninstall all the crapware that your system vendor put in there when you bought the thing; then reboot. Then once you're done, let the machine defrag overnight (you all remember defrag dontcha? Well it's still there, and you still need to do it every once in a while).

Trust me, you'll notice and appreciate the difference.