(This is a totally unserious post, nothing about China or Bush or Iraq or the Lancet article or World War II. So only click to see the rest if that is OK with you.)
Diversions
Late Easter Candy
My sister sent me a little box of candy from that greatest of all candy stores, Gowell’s, in Brockton, Massachusetts.
Brockton is a once-great town that has fallen on hard times. Half the boots worn by the Union Army were made in Brockton. It was once the shoe-making capital of America, maybe the world. It was always a tough town, but now it has gang problems and many other pathologies and seems to be heading downward.
But I find myself almost emotional with relief to see that Gowell’s lives on. Gowell’s home page says: “John Wayne was a customer of ours. He received our chocolates during his stay at a Boston hospital. He ordered candy monthly and his favorite was Dark Almond Bark.” It is probably 25 years since I set foot in the place, but I remember the picture of John Wayne. If business or pleasure should bring you to or through Brockton, stop in and get some candy. Buy whatever you think you want to bring home, and a few loose pieces in a bag to eat in the car.
UPDATE More Brockton trivia. The northwest border of Brockton is astride the boundary line between Plymouth and Norfolk counties. That is the oldest boundary-line in English-speaking America. It was the boundary-line between the Plymouth Bay Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, way back in the 1600s.
Free Will
Last year, Ohio passed a law which allowed people to apply for licenses to carry concealed firearms in public.
It’s not easy, though. The applicant has to pass a minimum level of training, submit their fingerprints, allow the sheriff to conduct a background check, and pay a fee.
Even after all that, the CCW license holder has many restrictions as to where they can go while armed. For example, they can’t enter a school building or loiter on a campus. (And we all know how effective restricting legal firearms is when it comes to reducing school violence.)
One of the provisions in the law is that private citizens can bar CCW license holders from entering their property while armed, even if the property is a business open to the public. This is particularly distressing to me, a fully qualified self defense instructor, since it means that I probably won’t be able to protect anyone from violent attack even if the crime should happen right in front of me. Even so, I can’t say that I object to the owner of a private business barring me from their establishment. It’s their property, after all, and they have the right to make such decisions. I just go somewhere else.
Hunter S. Thompson is Dead
Many people compared the recent elections to the anti-war movement in the 1960’s, and with good reason. The raw emotion that the Left displayed in 2004 pretty much mimicked what they went through in 1968.
America was going through some wild times back then, and the people who were at the forefront of most of the social changes tried to grab on to too much too fast. The so-called “counter culture” threw itself behind anything that would horrify conservatives. Some of these causes such as women’s lib, the environment and equal rights were long overdue for a hearing in US consciousness. Others such as rampant sexuality, avoidance of responsibility and drug use probably shouldn’t have been as fervently embraced.
One of the people who perfectly encapsulated the mind set of the time was Hunter S. Thompson, who committed suicide yesterday.
It’s all fun and games until someone takes out a BB gun. . .
Ballooning Economy: Inflation Ahead?
This looks like a fun activity, though perhaps not the most practical way to travel. I think what’s missing is a tethered flock of birds to provide propulsion. Maybe we could get one of these rigs for the blog. It would be a dandy way to enjoy some of the wine and cheese delivered by our emergency-relief operation.
(via 2Blowhards)