Funny.
At this moment I’m working on the site plan for a custom home I designed on Pink Ibis Drive.
A not too distant “cousin” to the Flamingo.
ghostsniperMay 22, 2024, 9:05 AM
“The unforgivable sin of Hitler’s Germany was to develop a new economic system by which the international bankers were deprived of their profits.”
Winston Churchill
AnneMay 22, 2024, 9:28 AM
oh boy–love that guy!!
A second item for this morning: I am stunned by how few people have responded or interacted to this site since Gerard is gone. It was almost a clean shut down. So, my question is this: is this an indication of how few people in your neighborhood, or mine, would step up and put themselves in the open for a protest of any sort? Say for example– this November when the elections are totally corrupted–how many of Gerard’s former readers will step up with a protest sign in their hand and march with their neighbors to their local city government offices?
This is 10 minutes long – if you were “there”, you will thoroughly appreciate the effort that went into putting this video together.
ghostsniperMay 22, 2024, 11:59 AM
Wonderful
John A. FlemingMay 23, 2024, 1:16 AM
Wow. A compilation of the totally dominant popular culture of the time. I kept hoping that there would be a segment on the up-and-coming alt-cultures: the beats, rock and rollers, jazz. What did the people who didn’t look like those people watch and listen to? I saw a few bits of Marlon and James and Montgomery, the 50’s brooding men, stand-in’s for the up-and-coming changes. Change was coming, but it had to be looked for.
Somehow I noticed the dominance right away. In an earlier time, now decades ago, I probably wouldn’t have noticed, those were the scenes and sounds of the way the world just was.
I was born too late for the 50’s. I don’t know how things were in those days. I know that many of the popular rock-and-rollers were “colored” groups and artists, as they said in those days. They had plenty of crossover hits. Sometimes the hits didn’t hit until they were covered by a white artist. The 50’s started out as the adults were the culture target, and ended with the youth.
Very interesting. Now I have to start looking for the alt-cultures of today that will become dominant in the future.
AnneMay 23, 2024, 10:12 AM
Don’t bother looking for the “pop cultures” of today. You can’t understand the words to their musicals! I am not even sure those sounds coming out of their mouths are words ! 🙂
AnneMay 23, 2024, 10:11 AM
OH BOY! I was there! I was 10 years old when Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley, 1954) came out! I have been hooked on that “good ol fashioned rock and roll” ever since! When you see this wonderful video–thanks for the treat–you will understand why in 1964 the Beattles were just some kind of goof balls!
In the video you linked you can see what a few short years it was between “everything is sweet and wonderful” (1951 Gene Kelley, American in Paris) until the next era in which the young people were challenging their elders (1953 Brando, The Wild Ones)–just a minute in time, but perhaps the film’s emotional intensity was much more important than we have ever given it credit for being.
I think I have mentioned before that I grew up in a basic middle class, clean neighborhood right behind Warner Bros Studios. My family was not affiliated with the movies in any way except that every once in a while some young wannabe would get her hair done at my mother’s beauty shop. I used to take a Greyhound bus around Griffith Park so I could get into Hollywood downtown and see the latest and best musicals–that would be about 1957.
Because of our proximity to Hollywood “Love Me Tender” was previewed at our local movie theatre in 1956. The first showing was 1:00PM on a Wednesday. We did not have school buses, but the city bus stopped right in front of our school. Therefore, the 12:30 city bus into town was packed with kids who were “cutting class”. We watched that movie and the one playing next to it (sorry, I forgot) from 1:00 until 11:30PM I think we watched “Love Me Tender” about five times!
We were blessed at that little high school. It was well known to be the best: filled with the kids whose dads were engineers working for Lockheed and Douglas, and some very old California money too. For example one of the bonuses was the day that we got called into the assembly hall right after lunch. It was an unexpected announcement and nobody seemed to know what was going on–we all thought it was some kind of new “atomic bomb” practice. Boy were we wrong. Onto that stage leaped a young African/American dancer and his mixed-race troop. He had just been over the hill in Hollywood auditioning for something and someone at our school had enough chops to get him to come and do a performance for our school. He took our breath away–from the beginning Alvin Ailey was a dance genius.
Those few years will forever be the most important time in film.
Thank you again.
Anne
A stranger in a strange land.May 24, 2024, 2:47 PM
What is old and wrinkled and smells like Ginger?
Fred Astaire’s face!
I just can’t help myself.
ghostsniperMay 22, 2024, 11:47 AM
I’d like to know how many people visit this site each day. And how many were visiting at it’s peak when Gerard was running it. I’ve heard that in the blogosphere less than 1 in 100 visitors comment.
John A. FlemingMay 23, 2024, 1:23 AM
The difference is obvious if you go back and look at article’s of Gerard’s from the 2010’s. He was varied and interesting, and brought a lot more commenters into the mix. I know I can’t do that. I’ve got a job and activities that keep me occupied, I don’t have a lot of time to write about how everything is, was and will be. I can barely average a comment/week. With more people commenting, I felt the need to comment less because there was plenty being said to keep me thinking.
SKMay 22, 2024, 2:01 PM
I visit almost everyday and will til it’s no longer possible. It was a ritual for so long and although it’s not as it used to be I keep it up.
Since Gerard has gone I also go daily to Neo’s site.
I wonder today where Mr Casey K has gone and hope that he is ok.
I’ll be sad at the end of this year when the site expires and thank Neo, Mr Ghost and others for their efforts.
I too was a friend of Gerard and still come to this site several times a week. It is still bittersweet though. Neo has done a fabulous job of keeping the site and memory going. And she is a devoted friend and talented writer and reporter. Thanks to all of you for the good comments since G’s death. Missing him doesn’t end, does it?
@ghostsniper This is the first site I visit every day for at least 17 years.. I don’t comment often because so often the discussion is about something I have little in depth knowledge of and as it is said, “better to remain silent and to be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
ghostsniperMay 22, 2024, 7:48 PM
Make your topic Mary Ann.
It can be about anything at all.
Snakepit KansasMay 23, 2024, 4:46 AM
Ghost is correct. I mention possible irrelevant things and often there are witty or insightful replies. I am no genius nor prolific writer, just some dude working his way through life.
Where Casey iz?
ghostsniperMay 23, 2024, 6:39 AM
Hey Casey, you got a social responsibility over here Hoon.
Don’t make me and snake come up there and do that welfare check.
We’ll get you down on the floor and pour Hamm’s down your gullet til you pop.
Daniel K DayMay 24, 2024, 10:25 AM
I’m the same way. Ghost’s and Snakepit’s advice below is (are?) to the point.
ghostsniperMay 23, 2024, 6:37 AM
“Nobody knows everything, but everybody knows something.”
–some smart dood
I drop by, and check the comments, but not every day, anymore. No one could compete with Gerard for serving up a great menu of artcles, opinion, and just plain cool stuff. I drop by Neo’s every day, but rarely comment. I see Casey’s work on instagram. I’ve been hanging out at P’Bird’s blog, and trading notes with the gang over there. To a great extent, I’ve disengaged from the madness of politcs, news, and current events. I used to make an effort to stay well-informed but, not anymore. I’ve noticed that the shit rolls along just fine without my participation. It isn’t worth the toll on my mental and spiritual health to keep feeding on that stuff. I’m tired of shouting into the wind. So I turn away. I’m putting my efforts into my stone work, and now promoting my short film. It’s rewarding to work toward something worthwhile.
JWM
Daniel K DayMay 24, 2024, 10:13 AM
JWM, who is P’Bird?
Speaking of other bloggers, I’m sorry to see Francis Porretto taking a vacation from writing at L’Torch.
ghostsniperMay 24, 2024, 11:19 AM
He’s been at it for a long time. A break is warranted.
It’s getting easier and easier to grocery shop these days, what with all the stuff out there that you can’t buy no more. Like Oreo’s. Anything Nabisco, and on and on. Getting to the point the only thing worth eating is a tomato and that’s only if you grow it yourself, from a 10th generation heirloom seed.
Don’t read this article, it’ll piss you off.
ghostsniperMay 23, 2024, 12:54 PM
Ever wonder how far a .22 bullet would travel STRAIGHT UP into the sky?
Me too.
I knew they’d go about a mile, horizontal, eventually hitting the ground due to the downward trajectory. But, what if you stood on, say, Mt Everest and fired a .22 rifle horizontal, how far would it go? Dunno. Nobody has done it, let alone measured it. Can you imagine what that would take?
Anyway.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Julian Hatcher’s experiments in the 1940s found that a standard .30 caliber bullet fired straight up could reach an altitude of 9,000 feet (2,743.2 meters) and return to Earth at a speed of 300 feet (91.4 meters) per second during its descent.
The altitude a bullet can reach when fired vertically varies based on the weapon and ammunition type, with a .22 rifle bullet not reaching as high as a .30-06 rifle bullet, which could ascend to 10,105 feet (3,080 meters).
An 87-year-old Philadelphia woman had a close encounter with a falling bullet New Year’s Eve 2022, when she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as she stood on her front porch ringing in the new year. She was shocked when she removed her blouse and a bullet fell to the floor. Police called it a “suspected celebratory gunfire incident.”
Here’s another example: On New Year’s Eve 2017, Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives Armando Martinez stepped outside a home and suddenly felt as if he’d been struck with a sledgehammer. After he was rushed to the hospital, it turned out that he’d been struck on the top of the head by a falling .223-caliber bullet. A fragment of the round penetrated the top of his skull and lodged itself in the top layer of his brain, requiring surgery to remove it, according to CNN.
Martinez, who recovered from his injury, became another victim of the strange custom of celebratory gunfire, in which revelers fire bullets into the air that eventually fall back to Earth — and occasionally hit other people.
So How High Will a Bullet Go?
Aside from the perplexing question of why such a reckless, potentially lethal practice remains so popular, you may also be wondering, what actually happens to a bullet that’s fired straight up into the sky? How high does it go? What stops it and sends it falling back to Earth? And when it descends, when and where does it land?
Those aren’t necessarily simple questions to answer. Ballistics researchers have spent a lot of time studying the performance of bullets fired horizontally because that’s useful information for improving the accuracy and range of shooters. But when it comes to firing straight up in the air, which isn’t something that soldiers, police officers, hunters or target shooters normally would do, there’s not nearly as much data.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Julian Hatcher, who apparently was curious and had some time on his hands, did experiments in Florida in which he fired various weapons — ranging from rifles to machine guns — up into the air, and tried to measure how long it took for the bullets to come down, as well as where they landed. As he noted in his 1947 volume “Hatcher’s Notebook,” he calculated that a standard .30 caliber bullet fired from a rifle pointed straight up would rise to an altitude of 9,000 feet (2,743.2 meters) in 18 seconds, and then would return to Earth in another 31 seconds, and during the last few thousand feet would attain a “nearly constant” speed of 300 feet (91.4 meters) per second.
But ballistics researcher James Walker, who holds a doctorate in mathematics and is department director of engineering dynamics at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, says that the altitude attained by a bullet fired straight up would depend upon the type of weapon and projectile, just as it does when fired horizontally. A handgun, which has a shorter barrel than a rifle and fires ammunition with a smaller cartridge that doesn’t contain as much powder, isn’t going to send a bullet soaring as high as a rifle will. Different types of rifles and ammunition vary as well.
“With a .22, which isn’t a big-game rifle, the cartridge is the same diameter as the bullet,” Walker explains. “It doesn’t have that much powder, and that bullet doesn’t go fast. Rifles like the .30-06 have a much larger cartridge, which will go faster because there is more powder to burn.”
When fired horizontally, bullets tend to slow down rapidly due to air drag, so that a rifle bullet may be down to half of its initial speed by the time it gets to 500 meters (1,640.42 feet), Walker says. “If you choose to shoot it up, it will slow down faster because of gravity, not a whole lot.”
For altitude estimates, Walker pointed to this chart on the website of Close Focus Research, a ballistics testing company, which shows that a .25 caliber ACP handgun bullet might reach a maximum height of 2,287 feet (697 meters), while a .30-06 rifle bullet would rise to 10,105 feet (3,080 meters).
What Goes Up Must Come Down
But no matter how high a bullet goes in the air, however, eventually it will decelerate until its velocity reaches zero, at which point it will begin to fall back to Earth, as detailed in this 2018 article on falling bullet injuries in the Journal of Neuroscience Rural Practice.
“Again, the height up is a non-issue as to the speed down, as the bullet (if no longer spin stabilized) will hit a terminal velocity based on its shape, orientation, and whether or not it is tumbling,” Walker explains in a follow-up email.
And most importantly, a bullet is unlikely to fall straight down, as wind can alter its path, Walker says. That makes it difficult to predict where a bullet will land.
Back in Texas, Representative Martinez sought to keep others from being hit by falling bullets by introducing legislation raising the penalties for discharging a firearm without an intended target. In late 2022, he introduced House Bill 1138 to address celebratory gunfire. Right now, celebratory or reckless gunfire is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $4,000, in Texas cities with a population of 100,000 or more. If House Bill 1138 passes, it would expand the current law to all areas of Texas, no matter the size.
Now That’s Disturbing
This 2007 article in Annals of Thoracic Surgery describes the unusual case of a 47-year-old man who was struck in the chest by a bullet that fell from the sky, and suffered cardiac and abdominal injuries as a result. Doctors eventually found a .45 caliber bullet inside his stomach. Though the damage required nine hours of surgery to fix, the patient eventually recovered.
(I didn’t know a brain had “layers”, maybe only dem’s have layers?)
ghostsniperMay 23, 2024, 1:06 PM
Texas House Bill 1138
===============
88R23966 JCG-D
By: Martinez, Neave Criado, Anchía H.B. No. 1138
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the criminal offense of reckless
discharge of a firearm in certain municipalities and counties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 42.12, Penal Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 42.12. RECKLESS DISCHARGE OF FIREARM IN CERTAIN
MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES.
SECTION 2. Sections 42.12(a) and (d), Penal Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person recklessly
discharges a firearm:
(1) inside the corporate limits of a municipality
having a population of 100,000 or more; or
(2) in a county with a population of 500,000 or more.
(d) Subsection (a) does not affect the authority of a county
or municipality under other law to enact an order or ordinance which
prohibits the discharge of a firearm.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
before that date.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
Fuddruckers is expected to close ALL locations by the end of the year
Old Country Buffet is closing ALL remainder locations
IHOP is closing 100 locations
Buffalo Wild Wings is closing ALL Canada locations as well as 60 locations in the US
Applebee’s is closing 35 locations
Red Lobster is closing 50 locations as they enter bankruptcy
Denny’s is closing 20 locations by the end of the year
Marie Callender’s is shutting down ALL remainder locations
Pizza Hut is planning to close 500 locations
Outback Steakhouse is closing 41 of their 700 locations
Sai Baro is closing a total of 50 locations with majority being mall locations
Mard Pizza is closing a total of 27 locations
Ruby Tuesday is closing 16 more locations in 2024.
BDQ is closing 8 of their 59 locations.
Joe’s Crab Shack is closing 41 of their 60 locations
Bonefish Grill is closing 7 locations
This is what cultural and economic decline looks like. Apparently 60 years of relentless immigration are not, in fact, good for the economy or the traditional culture. I wonder, however, how much of these failures are related to economic contraction, reduced consumer spending, and excessive debt versus the lack of appeal held by these traditional restaurant franchises for the newcomers.
In the vlc app, under the “playback” menu you can slow it down to a crawl.
(the tone will be off but if your fingering is right (by the tab) it won’t matter)
Then in bite size chunks you can get it right.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Funny.
At this moment I’m working on the site plan for a custom home I designed on Pink Ibis Drive.
A not too distant “cousin” to the Flamingo.
“The unforgivable sin of Hitler’s Germany was to develop a new economic system by which the international bankers were deprived of their profits.”
Winston Churchill
oh boy–love that guy!!
A second item for this morning: I am stunned by how few people have responded or interacted to this site since Gerard is gone. It was almost a clean shut down. So, my question is this: is this an indication of how few people in your neighborhood, or mine, would step up and put themselves in the open for a protest of any sort? Say for example– this November when the elections are totally corrupted–how many of Gerard’s former readers will step up with a protest sign in their hand and march with their neighbors to their local city government offices?
Anne, I have been doing that my whole adult life. Joe Krill
Here is a joyful ride for baby boomers.
The 50’s !!
For the first couple of minutes, you’ll swear you’ve seen
this video before. THEN…WOW, for the next few minutes,
you’re treated to a whole new compilation, including drama scenes .
Turn up the volume and enjoy.
https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=TmsahlXby7c&autoplay=1
This is 10 minutes long – if you were “there”, you will thoroughly appreciate the effort that went into putting this video together.
Wonderful
Wow. A compilation of the totally dominant popular culture of the time. I kept hoping that there would be a segment on the up-and-coming alt-cultures: the beats, rock and rollers, jazz. What did the people who didn’t look like those people watch and listen to? I saw a few bits of Marlon and James and Montgomery, the 50’s brooding men, stand-in’s for the up-and-coming changes. Change was coming, but it had to be looked for.
Somehow I noticed the dominance right away. In an earlier time, now decades ago, I probably wouldn’t have noticed, those were the scenes and sounds of the way the world just was.
I was born too late for the 50’s. I don’t know how things were in those days. I know that many of the popular rock-and-rollers were “colored” groups and artists, as they said in those days. They had plenty of crossover hits. Sometimes the hits didn’t hit until they were covered by a white artist. The 50’s started out as the adults were the culture target, and ended with the youth.
Very interesting. Now I have to start looking for the alt-cultures of today that will become dominant in the future.
Don’t bother looking for the “pop cultures” of today. You can’t understand the words to their musicals! I am not even sure those sounds coming out of their mouths are words ! 🙂
OH BOY! I was there! I was 10 years old when Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley, 1954) came out! I have been hooked on that “good ol fashioned rock and roll” ever since! When you see this wonderful video–thanks for the treat–you will understand why in 1964 the Beattles were just some kind of goof balls!
In the video you linked you can see what a few short years it was between “everything is sweet and wonderful” (1951 Gene Kelley, American in Paris) until the next era in which the young people were challenging their elders (1953 Brando, The Wild Ones)–just a minute in time, but perhaps the film’s emotional intensity was much more important than we have ever given it credit for being.
I think I have mentioned before that I grew up in a basic middle class, clean neighborhood right behind Warner Bros Studios. My family was not affiliated with the movies in any way except that every once in a while some young wannabe would get her hair done at my mother’s beauty shop. I used to take a Greyhound bus around Griffith Park so I could get into Hollywood downtown and see the latest and best musicals–that would be about 1957.
Because of our proximity to Hollywood “Love Me Tender” was previewed at our local movie theatre in 1956. The first showing was 1:00PM on a Wednesday. We did not have school buses, but the city bus stopped right in front of our school. Therefore, the 12:30 city bus into town was packed with kids who were “cutting class”. We watched that movie and the one playing next to it (sorry, I forgot) from 1:00 until 11:30PM I think we watched “Love Me Tender” about five times!
We were blessed at that little high school. It was well known to be the best: filled with the kids whose dads were engineers working for Lockheed and Douglas, and some very old California money too. For example one of the bonuses was the day that we got called into the assembly hall right after lunch. It was an unexpected announcement and nobody seemed to know what was going on–we all thought it was some kind of new “atomic bomb” practice. Boy were we wrong. Onto that stage leaped a young African/American dancer and his mixed-race troop. He had just been over the hill in Hollywood auditioning for something and someone at our school had enough chops to get him to come and do a performance for our school. He took our breath away–from the beginning Alvin Ailey was a dance genius.
Those few years will forever be the most important time in film.
Thank you again.
Anne
What is old and wrinkled and smells like Ginger?
Fred Astaire’s face!
I just can’t help myself.
I’d like to know how many people visit this site each day. And how many were visiting at it’s peak when Gerard was running it. I’ve heard that in the blogosphere less than 1 in 100 visitors comment.
The difference is obvious if you go back and look at article’s of Gerard’s from the 2010’s. He was varied and interesting, and brought a lot more commenters into the mix. I know I can’t do that. I’ve got a job and activities that keep me occupied, I don’t have a lot of time to write about how everything is, was and will be. I can barely average a comment/week. With more people commenting, I felt the need to comment less because there was plenty being said to keep me thinking.
I visit almost everyday and will til it’s no longer possible. It was a ritual for so long and although it’s not as it used to be I keep it up.
Since Gerard has gone I also go daily to Neo’s site.
I wonder today where Mr Casey K has gone and hope that he is ok.
I’ll be sad at the end of this year when the site expires and thank Neo, Mr Ghost and others for their efforts.
I too was a friend of Gerard and still come to this site several times a week. It is still bittersweet though. Neo has done a fabulous job of keeping the site and memory going. And she is a devoted friend and talented writer and reporter. Thanks to all of you for the good comments since G’s death. Missing him doesn’t end, does it?
Nope
@ghostsniper This is the first site I visit every day for at least 17 years.. I don’t comment often because so often the discussion is about something I have little in depth knowledge of and as it is said, “better to remain silent and to be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
Make your topic Mary Ann.
It can be about anything at all.
Ghost is correct. I mention possible irrelevant things and often there are witty or insightful replies. I am no genius nor prolific writer, just some dude working his way through life.
Where Casey iz?
Hey Casey, you got a social responsibility over here Hoon.
Don’t make me and snake come up there and do that welfare check.
We’ll get you down on the floor and pour Hamm’s down your gullet til you pop.
I’m the same way. Ghost’s and Snakepit’s advice below is (are?) to the point.
“Nobody knows everything, but everybody knows something.”
–some smart dood
I drop by, and check the comments, but not every day, anymore. No one could compete with Gerard for serving up a great menu of artcles, opinion, and just plain cool stuff. I drop by Neo’s every day, but rarely comment. I see Casey’s work on instagram. I’ve been hanging out at P’Bird’s blog, and trading notes with the gang over there. To a great extent, I’ve disengaged from the madness of politcs, news, and current events. I used to make an effort to stay well-informed but, not anymore. I’ve noticed that the shit rolls along just fine without my participation. It isn’t worth the toll on my mental and spiritual health to keep feeding on that stuff. I’m tired of shouting into the wind. So I turn away. I’m putting my efforts into my stone work, and now promoting my short film. It’s rewarding to work toward something worthwhile.
JWM
JWM, who is P’Bird?
Speaking of other bloggers, I’m sorry to see Francis Porretto taking a vacation from writing at L’Torch.
He’s been at it for a long time. A break is warranted.
Is Oreo About to Be the Next Bud Light?
============================
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2024/05/22/oreo-shareholder-meeting-n2639163
It’s getting easier and easier to grocery shop these days, what with all the stuff out there that you can’t buy no more. Like Oreo’s. Anything Nabisco, and on and on. Getting to the point the only thing worth eating is a tomato and that’s only if you grow it yourself, from a 10th generation heirloom seed.
Don’t read this article, it’ll piss you off.
Ever wonder how far a .22 bullet would travel STRAIGHT UP into the sky?
Me too.
I knew they’d go about a mile, horizontal, eventually hitting the ground due to the downward trajectory. But, what if you stood on, say, Mt Everest and fired a .22 rifle horizontal, how far would it go? Dunno. Nobody has done it, let alone measured it. Can you imagine what that would take?
Anyway.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Julian Hatcher’s experiments in the 1940s found that a standard .30 caliber bullet fired straight up could reach an altitude of 9,000 feet (2,743.2 meters) and return to Earth at a speed of 300 feet (91.4 meters) per second during its descent.
The altitude a bullet can reach when fired vertically varies based on the weapon and ammunition type, with a .22 rifle bullet not reaching as high as a .30-06 rifle bullet, which could ascend to 10,105 feet (3,080 meters).
An 87-year-old Philadelphia woman had a close encounter with a falling bullet New Year’s Eve 2022, when she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as she stood on her front porch ringing in the new year. She was shocked when she removed her blouse and a bullet fell to the floor. Police called it a “suspected celebratory gunfire incident.”
Here’s another example: On New Year’s Eve 2017, Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives Armando Martinez stepped outside a home and suddenly felt as if he’d been struck with a sledgehammer. After he was rushed to the hospital, it turned out that he’d been struck on the top of the head by a falling .223-caliber bullet. A fragment of the round penetrated the top of his skull and lodged itself in the top layer of his brain, requiring surgery to remove it, according to CNN.
Martinez, who recovered from his injury, became another victim of the strange custom of celebratory gunfire, in which revelers fire bullets into the air that eventually fall back to Earth — and occasionally hit other people.
So How High Will a Bullet Go?
Aside from the perplexing question of why such a reckless, potentially lethal practice remains so popular, you may also be wondering, what actually happens to a bullet that’s fired straight up into the sky? How high does it go? What stops it and sends it falling back to Earth? And when it descends, when and where does it land?
Those aren’t necessarily simple questions to answer. Ballistics researchers have spent a lot of time studying the performance of bullets fired horizontally because that’s useful information for improving the accuracy and range of shooters. But when it comes to firing straight up in the air, which isn’t something that soldiers, police officers, hunters or target shooters normally would do, there’s not nearly as much data.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Julian Hatcher, who apparently was curious and had some time on his hands, did experiments in Florida in which he fired various weapons — ranging from rifles to machine guns — up into the air, and tried to measure how long it took for the bullets to come down, as well as where they landed. As he noted in his 1947 volume “Hatcher’s Notebook,” he calculated that a standard .30 caliber bullet fired from a rifle pointed straight up would rise to an altitude of 9,000 feet (2,743.2 meters) in 18 seconds, and then would return to Earth in another 31 seconds, and during the last few thousand feet would attain a “nearly constant” speed of 300 feet (91.4 meters) per second.
But ballistics researcher James Walker, who holds a doctorate in mathematics and is department director of engineering dynamics at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, says that the altitude attained by a bullet fired straight up would depend upon the type of weapon and projectile, just as it does when fired horizontally. A handgun, which has a shorter barrel than a rifle and fires ammunition with a smaller cartridge that doesn’t contain as much powder, isn’t going to send a bullet soaring as high as a rifle will. Different types of rifles and ammunition vary as well.
“With a .22, which isn’t a big-game rifle, the cartridge is the same diameter as the bullet,” Walker explains. “It doesn’t have that much powder, and that bullet doesn’t go fast. Rifles like the .30-06 have a much larger cartridge, which will go faster because there is more powder to burn.”
When fired horizontally, bullets tend to slow down rapidly due to air drag, so that a rifle bullet may be down to half of its initial speed by the time it gets to 500 meters (1,640.42 feet), Walker says. “If you choose to shoot it up, it will slow down faster because of gravity, not a whole lot.”
For altitude estimates, Walker pointed to this chart on the website of Close Focus Research, a ballistics testing company, which shows that a .25 caliber ACP handgun bullet might reach a maximum height of 2,287 feet (697 meters), while a .30-06 rifle bullet would rise to 10,105 feet (3,080 meters).
What Goes Up Must Come Down
But no matter how high a bullet goes in the air, however, eventually it will decelerate until its velocity reaches zero, at which point it will begin to fall back to Earth, as detailed in this 2018 article on falling bullet injuries in the Journal of Neuroscience Rural Practice.
“Again, the height up is a non-issue as to the speed down, as the bullet (if no longer spin stabilized) will hit a terminal velocity based on its shape, orientation, and whether or not it is tumbling,” Walker explains in a follow-up email.
And most importantly, a bullet is unlikely to fall straight down, as wind can alter its path, Walker says. That makes it difficult to predict where a bullet will land.
Back in Texas, Representative Martinez sought to keep others from being hit by falling bullets by introducing legislation raising the penalties for discharging a firearm without an intended target. In late 2022, he introduced House Bill 1138 to address celebratory gunfire. Right now, celebratory or reckless gunfire is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $4,000, in Texas cities with a population of 100,000 or more. If House Bill 1138 passes, it would expand the current law to all areas of Texas, no matter the size.
Now That’s Disturbing
This 2007 article in Annals of Thoracic Surgery describes the unusual case of a 47-year-old man who was struck in the chest by a bullet that fell from the sky, and suffered cardiac and abdominal injuries as a result. Doctors eventually found a .45 caliber bullet inside his stomach. Though the damage required nine hours of surgery to fix, the patient eventually recovered.
(I didn’t know a brain had “layers”, maybe only dem’s have layers?)
Texas House Bill 1138
===============
88R23966 JCG-D
By: Martinez, Neave Criado, Anchía H.B. No. 1138
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the criminal offense of reckless
discharge of a firearm in certain municipalities and counties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 42.12, Penal Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 42.12. RECKLESS DISCHARGE OF FIREARM IN CERTAIN
MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES.
SECTION 2. Sections 42.12(a) and (d), Penal Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person recklessly
discharges a firearm:
(1) inside the corporate limits of a municipality
having a population of 100,000 or more; or
(2) in a county with a population of 500,000 or more.
(d) Subsection (a) does not affect the authority of a county
or municipality under other law to enact an order or ordinance which
prohibits the discharge of a firearm.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
before that date.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
https://legiscan.com/TX/text/HB1138/id/2807958#:~:text=Texas%20House%20Bill%201138&text=Bill%20Title%3A%20Relating%20to%20the,in%20certain%20municipalities%20and%20counties.
The End of an Era
Restaurants closing in 2024:
Fuddruckers is expected to close ALL locations by the end of the year
Old Country Buffet is closing ALL remainder locations
IHOP is closing 100 locations
Buffalo Wild Wings is closing ALL Canada locations as well as 60 locations in the US
Applebee’s is closing 35 locations
Red Lobster is closing 50 locations as they enter bankruptcy
Denny’s is closing 20 locations by the end of the year
Marie Callender’s is shutting down ALL remainder locations
Pizza Hut is planning to close 500 locations
Outback Steakhouse is closing 41 of their 700 locations
Sai Baro is closing a total of 50 locations with majority being mall locations
Mard Pizza is closing a total of 27 locations
Ruby Tuesday is closing 16 more locations in 2024.
BDQ is closing 8 of their 59 locations.
Joe’s Crab Shack is closing 41 of their 60 locations
Bonefish Grill is closing 7 locations
This is what cultural and economic decline looks like. Apparently 60 years of relentless immigration are not, in fact, good for the economy or the traditional culture. I wonder, however, how much of these failures are related to economic contraction, reduced consumer spending, and excessive debt versus the lack of appeal held by these traditional restaurant franchises for the newcomers.
https://voxday.net/2024/05/23/the-end-of-an-era-2/
The flip side——-Everywhere you turn there is another Chinese restaurant or Mexican taco shop opening. It would be nice if the workers spoke English.
Still Got The Blues – For You
====================
This is a staple, brought to you by Gary Moore.
The dood in this vid lays it all out to where even a cave man can do it.
First, download the U-vid with 4k video downloader (free)
https://www.4kdownload.com/-54
Use that to down the Utube below.
Second, download vlc media player (free)
https://www.videolan.org/
In the vlc app, under the “playback” menu you can slow it down to a crawl.
(the tone will be off but if your fingering is right (by the tab) it won’t matter)
Then in bite size chunks you can get it right.
I’m talking about this vid right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZp6chNS0MI
Yes, your fingers act like a cave man, but they get better each time you do it.
Then one fine day muscle memory takes over.
The long range goal is this, by the master himself, Gary Moore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ2nHgZcf3I
You’re welcome.
This site was unavailable from at least 6am to 10:30am today.
Don’t know why.
This has happened before.
I tried for a minute or two to get on this site around 12:30 AM today and got nothing.