Man.. was it really that long ago that Ice-T and Body Count stirred up all that controversy?
I feel old now. 🙂
I will say… listening to this edited version of “There Goes The Neighborhood” just doesn’t sound right.
Author: hsoi
SB 1070
Many people are up in arms about Arizona’s passage of SB 1070.
What side of the fence do you come down on? Easy to tell. Do you refer to those folks as “illegal” or “undocumented”. It’s like calling it a “pre-owned” car instead of a “used” car. Call it whatever you want, the bottom line fact remains the same: they are illegal, they are in the country illegally. They are breaking the law.
The law sends “a clear message that Arizona is unfriendly to undocumented aliens,” said Peter Spiro, a Temple University law professor and author of the book “Beyond Citizenship: American Identity After Globalization.”
[…]
Espinosa said Mexico regrets that Arizona did not take into account the “valuable contributions that migrants make to the economy, society and culture of Arizona and the United States of America.”
Hrm. Since when were we supposed to be friendly to law breakers and other assorted criminals? Extending that logic, we should invite the burglar into our home and give him some tea and help him carrying our belongings out to his getaway car. And we’re supposed to take into account the value contributions made by criminals? I’m sorry, I just don’t buy that logic.
That all said, SB 1070 bothers me. Pretty much anyone can be stopped at any time to have their citizenship questioned and verified.
“Papers, please.”
*shiver*
Will this lead to racial profiling? To be honest, the only way it won’t be able to do that is if everyone is questioned and everyone is checked; that’s not going to happen. Now I see nothing wrong with using race as an identifier because well, the color of someone’s skin or other ethnic characteristic can be a valid identifier (saying I’m the Asian guy is a valid way to pick me out of a crowd here in the US; in Korea, saying I’m the tall guy will probably work better). But really, are they going to be asking the Asian guy for his ID or the Mexican guy?
And ultimately, will anything be achieved? Or will this just bolster the counterfeit ID market?
SB 1070 is yet another thing that has good intentions, but is ultimately more pavement for the road to hell.
Updated: Some people have read this and spoken with me about what I wrote. So I want to (attempt to) clarify my feelings on this.
I have a problem with breaking the law. Call me crazy. I do like seeing the law enforced. I do think we have some stupid laws on the books, but in general I don’t feel immigration laws are (conceptually) stupid.
That said, I do think it’s good to allow people to move about. My mother is an immigrant. She went through proper channels tho.
Now if someone wants to come here, make a better life, work, work hard, pay taxes, contribute, and be a part of the society? I don’t have a problem with that. I do have a problem with people coming, taking, then leaving and contributing nothing back… especially when that taking ends up taking from me (e.g my medical costs are high because people who cannot pay go to the ER, get service, then bail… and I wind up paying for it).
But note, my problem isn’t exclusively an immigrant problem! A lot of the parasites in this country are citizens of this country. I have a problem with parasitic behavior (and criminal behavior).
As for how SB 1070 is implemented, I don’t like that. “Papers please” does not make for a free country.
I can understand wanting to deal with illegal immigration, but this isn’t the right way to do it.
New Critical Defense loads
I just saw in my latest issue of American Rifleman magazine that Hornady has expanded their line of Critical Defense ammo. The new offerings are .357 Magnum, .40 S&W, .45 ACP and…. 12 gauge 00 buckshot.
I’ve written about Critical Defense before. I think the concept is interesting and shows promise, but there’s just not enough data out there. What data there is is Hornady’s marketing. Granted, they wouldn’t irresponsibly bring something to market (I hope not!) nor would they bring something to market without a lot of research and study. Plus Hornady has a reputation for good products and performance ammunition. But I’m just not sure I’m ready to bet my life on Critical Defense… not until there’s more third-party data and study of the round. Hopefully with the ammo now being offered in the remaining popular self-defense calibers, we may see more testing.
So don’t get me wrong, I’m not down on Critical Defense, I just want to see more data.
I’d be happy to produce that data myself, but I don’t have the money nor means.
The buckshot is interesting. The big deal about Critical Defense is the use of the FTX bullet, and of course buckshot isn’t going to have that. But they did use a special wad that helps keep tight patterns. That’s good, and really that’s what you want. I know a lot of people think it’s better to blow a big cloud of shot in a self-defense shotgun, but it’s not. You do want a little spread, sure, but you really want a tight pattern because you want to ensure all of that shot hits the target and nothing else.
I would be curious to know if the buckshot loads are normal or reduced recoil. IMHO, reduced recoil would be the way to go. The intended purpose for this load is self-defense, home-defense. Given that, most folks aren’t going to need more than maybe 25 yards or so of range. With reduced recoil you can still get that range, get that necessary energy, but not beat up the person using the shotgun and allow faster follow-up shots since recoil will not be so pronounced.
George Carlin on Earth Day
Peter reminded me about this clip of George Carlin talking about Earth Day.
I’ve felt the same way. We’re not saving the Earth, the Earth is fine. It’s been here for billions of years and it will keep on kicking for billions more. But we little arrogant pimples on the face of the Earth? We’re the problem, and we’re what’s at risk of going away. We’re not saving the Earth, we’re saving our own irresponsible butts.
Here’s a useful bit of information folks: eventually, we all go away. May not be what you want, but life isn’t fair, it won’t ever be fair no matter how much you whine and try, and you won’t always get what you want. Eventually you come to terms with the cold hard fact that Mother Nature prefers balance; she will always self-correct things (even if it takes a million years, because she’s got the time and patience); and while you might win some insignificant battle here and there, she will always win the war.
Does this mean to give up and not try? I think it means one should consider their actions. When I first became a homeowner I channeled my inner Hank Hill and wanted the best looking lawn on the block. Then Mother Nature had the final say, because the Central Texas summer sun just doesn’t like grass, not at least without a lot of water, which 1. gets costly, 2. takes water away from more important things, like me drinking it. Over time I found balance between keeping a fair lawn and knowing how Mother Nature liked to be.
You can spend your whole life paddling upstream, fighting the current. What do you get for it? How much progress do you make? Instead, go with the flow. It makes for a more enjoyable journey. Sure, sometimes you’ll have to paddle to avoid some rocks or maybe get over to where the stream branches because that way looks more interesting. But in the end you can fight it or roll with it, and most times learning to go with the flow really yields more satisfying results.
A little more about buffalo meat
Yesterday I did a quick little sampling of the water buffalo meat.
It paid off.
For dinner, Wife sliced the loin meat into maybe 1/4″ or at most 1/3″ slices against the grain. That is key — going against the grain. She then also pounded the meat with one of those tenderizing hammers, and sprinkled some meat tenderizer (the salty stuff) on it. Let it sit for a couple hours.
That made a difference for sure. Eating that meat for dinner and the meat was far “softer”. It’s still got a little bit of chew to it, that’s just gotta be the characteristic of the meat. But it made for a positive difference.
So that seems key in preparation: do things to help tenderness.
Again don’t get me wrong, it’s not a tough meat, but there is more “chew” than beef. Once I get the rest of the meat back from the butcher, we’ll see how that goes. That meat is aging at least a week. And then we’ll see how other preparation techniques work out on other cuts.
Water Buffalo is TASTY
So a couple days ago I harvested a water buffalo.
I took the bulk of the meat to the butcher to be processed, but I kept a couple smaller pieces for myself to try out. I assume these are the tenderloins. You know the backstraps? They’re on the back of the spine. These cuts came from the front of the spine, down by the hips. Not very big.
I left them sitting in a pan in the fridge for about a day. The meat is red, very akin to beef. But there’s almost NO fat, no marbling. Maybe saw a dot of white here and there, but it’s mostly all just red meat.
I took the loins (I’m going to assume that’s what they are), cleaned them up, then cut off a couple small pieces (maybe 1/3″ thick?) and threw them into the frying pan. Totally plain. All I wanted to do was taste the pure meat with nothing to season it: no salt, no pepper, no smoke, no nothing. I want to know what this meat tastes like pure and simple, then we have a baseline and can figure from there what to do with it.
Oh Lord. It’s delicious. 🙂
It’s almost beef. I can’t put my finger on just what it is, because it isn’t cow beef. But it’s amazingly close in flavor. I figure if someone didn’t know what they were eating, they’d figure by the flavor they were eating cow beef. I want to say it’s a little richer tasting, a little stronger, but like strong in a good flavorful way… not like strong “gamey” or anything like that. Basically if you like beef, you’ll like this. Nothing to be afraid of.
Texture tho is different. I don’t want to say the meat is tougher than beef because I don’t think that conveys the right impression. It’s tender; sure cooking affects this and in my case it was in a medium heat pan for minute or two on one side then flip and another minute or two, just until you started to see the juices sweating through the flesh on the “up side”. But there’s certainly a little more chew to it than beef. Now, when we cut the loin to make these pieces we just cut. Looks like we ended up cutting with the grain. We made a few more slices against the grain and tried those. Made a fair improvement, but Wife pointed out something. Going against the grain helps on the initial chew, but after a little chewing it’s still the same sort of “chew” feeling in your mouth because the slicing only breaks it down so far… the rest of the breaking down that chewing does well, it’s the same in the end. But don’t let this deter you. It’s really not that bad, just different from beef.
Frankly, I’m stoked! 🙂
So, we’re about to commit heresy in the eyes of some. We’re chicken frying it. 🙂 Slicing up the loins against the grain, about 1/4″ to 1/3″ thick. A little flour, salt, and pepper (no heavy crust, just dusting), then into the pan they’ll go. Should be damn fine eating. Yeah it’s not high class, but I really don’t care. I’m about to wind up with a lot of it in the freezer… I’ll be able to be high-class and low-class and everywhere in between.
I’m certainly curious to see how the rest will turn out. For instance, how will steaks be? How will low and slow cooked roasts be? A beef roast in a crock pot could take 6 hours… would this need 8 or 10? A lot to figure out, but it’ll be fun.
Happy Earth Day
Go hug a tree or something.
Me? I shall probably celebrate by dining on an animal I harvested myself… deer, hog, or more likely, sampling that water buffalo. Talk about your free-range organic meat.
Look what I did…
Look what I did.
I harvested a water buffalo. It wasn’t in the plans, but here we are. Read on.
I need your help identifying an animal
Frequent readers know we have a lot of muscovy ducks around our house and neighborhood.
A few weeks ago one of the hens that really likes our house set up another nest. She’s nested here before. This nest has maybe 12-15 eggs in it now. She was a very dedicated mother. And of course, the kids grew very attached to her (named her “Nessie”).
This morning we checked on the nest. Nessie wasn’t there, which is unusual. I saw a lot of feathers around the nest, not just down, full feathers. I looked around a bit more and saw more feathers in a line going back to my neighbor’s backyard gate. Then you could see how the dirt was moved, indicating something was dragged/pulled under the gate. I opened the gate, saw an egg shell, but no more “line” of feathers. But as I got towards the neighbor’s back fence, I saw a mess of feathers in an area. At this point in the back fence there’s an obvious area under the fence that something can squeeze under, and sure enough there were more feathers on the other side of the fence… off into the greenbelt.
So as far as I can tell, Nessie was attacked, dragged off, and eaten last night. 😦
Of course, this is life, this is nature. Kids understand that, but it’s still a sad day as Nessie has been around for quite a while and been a dedicated mother. Plus now the kids wonder about the nest of eggs… will another duck adopt them? We actually have a second nest from another hen also at the house and we’re thinking about moving the eggs to her nest. We’ll see. Still to be determined.
The bigger question is…. what could have taken her?
This is where I’m requesting your help.
Raccoon? Maybe. Fox? Maybe. While my reading says they could take a duck, it’s unlikely they would. Muscovy’s are larger ducks. They have claws in their feet (they are perching ducks). They can make noise and put up a fight. These are not the sort of targets for a raccoon or a fox, especially when there’s a ton of eggs for easy pickings.
Possum? No.
So… what? Could it be a coyote? Possible. We do hear them howling every so often, but haven’t in some time.
Bobcat? That’s my father-in-law’s guess.
If that’s the case, I’m not happy about that. I don’t need a bobcat around.
I have a game camera. I’m going to set it up. Maybe too late for that, but my hope is whatever it was will know this is a spot with food and will come back within the week to try again. Hopefully I’ll catch something on film.
Updated: Game camera set. We’ll see if it turns up anything.
The area under the fence gate measures about 4″. Not a problem for some things to wiggle through.
Went looking in the greenbelt for more traces. Oldest found something that looks like scat and could be bobcat scat, but we aren’t 100% sure.
Present signs are pointing to a bobcat. Just what I need….
Verbose booting
While the Mac prides itself on being so user friendly, it’s a computer like any other… written by humans… worked on by humans… and so, there’s always a chance for problems and things to go wrong.
One handy thing to do is to set your Mac to boot into verbose mode. This way when your Mac boots, instead of just seeing the spinning daisy and other pretty non-informative information, you can see all this stream of geeky stuff going by. You probably won’t know nor care what most of it means, and that’s fine. But there will come that day when something odd will happen. Maybe you installed something new, maybe something on the computer decided to go south, and now the machine acts strange at boot time. This is when you’ll be happy to have booted up in verbose mode. Even if you don’t understand what’s going on, being able to relay that information to your local geek helper can be useful towards remedying your problem.
There are two ways to do it.
The simple way is to hold down a key combo at boot time: command-v. That is, hold down the command key and the “v” key as soon as you hear the restart chime. The command key is the key immediately adjacent to the spacebar, with the Apple and little “cloverleaf” symbol on it (I tried to display the symbol here, but WordPress is acting strange). The verbose mode should start immediately and most obviously, and then you can release the key combo. The benefit of this approach is it’s on-demand, but the downside of this approach is it’s on-demand; once the boot sequence starts, you cannot press cmd-v to see what’s going on so if something ugly happens during the boot process you won’t see it.
A more permanent solution is to launch the Terminal.app and enter this command at the prompt:
sudo nvram boot-args="-v"
Which will pass the “verbose” option to the boot arguments stored in the nvram of the machine. This way every time you boot your machine it will boot in verbose mode. This is how I set every Mac I own. 99% of the time I don’t care what’s scrolling by on screen, but there are days when I’m glad to see the information going by.
One thing to note. If you zap your PRAM (command-option-p-r at the boot chime) it will clear the nvram and your verbose argument will be lost. So when zapping your PRAM, zap it, and as soon as the machine chimes again immediately press cmd-v to go into verbose mode. Then once the machine is properly started up and you have logged in, launch the Terminal.app and enter the nvram command.
