Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Writing, writing, writing...

Same old idiocy at work--I think I get less tolerant every day. I thought I was supposed to mellow with age. It ain't happenin'. I'm getting closer and closer to quitting and heading for the woods.

Anyway, I'v started on another attempt at fiction--I've thrown out all the old stuff and started again. I've got about 3 different story ideas right now. 2 are ones I might serialize online, the other may be suitable for a short story. Don't expect to finish them any time soon--I really need to do plot and character outlines for them. I'm writing a few particular scenes that I have in my head, but I reckon I'll outline around them before I try to write the whole story.

I really don't think I have the talent for fiction, but I may be able to fake the skill for short stories, as long as I don't run too long or do too many. I'd really prefer to hand the stuff over to a real writer, but until one offers to take 'em over, I'll see what I can do.

All three stories are libertarian/anarcho-capitalist in theme. I can't say they're particularly original themes, but we'll see how it works out.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Words that set off my fits...

There are some words that kick off my rants against government. I've promised to provide a list of these words, in order that those who are tired of my rants may, with careful avoidance, prevent these rants as much as possible. Basically, I am sensitized to these words, and the mere mention (even when not directed at me) causes me to twitch and foam at the mouth. These words are:

Government

Taxes

Police

Law Enforcement

"War on Drugs"

"War on Terror"

Lawyer

Attorney

Court

Judge

Public School

[Any of the legion of alphabet soup govgoon agencies, such as DEA, FBI, BATFE, etc.]

Gun Control

Democrat

Republican

Green Party

Socialist

Communist

Liberal

Conservative

Constitution

Bill of Rights

[Any politician at the Federal level, with the one and only exception of Ron Paul--and I ain't too sure about him}

President

Senator

Congressman (I call 'em Congress Critters)

[Any Cabinet Department or Secretary'

Iraq

Afghanistan

Columbia

Venezuela

Iran-Contra

Axis of Evil

Coalition of the Willing

Draft

Conscription

[Any state or local level politician, with the possible exception of a few of the Libertarian ones--and not all of them]

Permit

Privilege

License


Well, now that I think of it, perhaps I just need to link to an English Dictionary site, and highlight the few words that ARE safe. I'll see what I can do.

Saturday, April 02, 2005

The Wild and Free Pigs of the Okefenokee Swamp

"The allegory of the WILD pigs has a serious moral lesson. This story is about federal money being used to bait, trap and enslave a once free and independent people. A body of people who fought a 7-year war, The American Revolution, to establish their independence from a tyrannical king"


The Wild and Free Pigs of the Okefenokee Swamp
based on a telling by George Gordon

Some years ago, about 1900, an old trapper from North Dakota hitched up some horses to his Studebaker wagon, packed a few possessions -- especially his traps -- and drove south. Several weeks later he stopped in a small town just north of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia.

It was a Saturday morning -- a lazy day -- when he walked into the general store. Sitting around the pot-bellied stove were seven or eight of the town's local citizens.

The traveler spoke. "Gentlemen, could you direct me to the Okefenokee Swamp?"

Some of the oldtimers looked at him like he was crazy.

"You must be a stranger in these parts," they said.

"I am. I'm from North Dakota," said the stranger.

"In the Okefenokee Swamp are thousands of wild hogs." one old man explained.

"A man who goes into the swamp by himself asks to die!"

He lifted up his leg. "I lost half my leg here, to the pigs of the swamp."

Another old fellow said, "Look at the cuts on me; look at my arm bit off!"

"Those pigs have been free since the Revolution, eating snakes and rooting out roots and fending for themselves for over a hundred years. They're wild and they're dangerous. You can't trap them. No man dare go into the swamp by himself."

Every man nodded his head in agreement.

The old trapper said, "Thank you so much for the warning. Now could you direct me to the swamp?"

They said, "Well, yeah, it's due south -- straight down the road."

But they begged the stranger not to go, because they knew he'd meet a terrible fate.

He said, "Sell me ten sacks of corn, and help me load it in the wagon." And they did.

Then the old trapper bid them farewell and drove on down the road. The townsfolk thought they'd never see him again.

Two weeks later the man came back. He pulled up to the general store, got down off the wagon, walked in and bought ten more sacks of corn.

After loading it up he went back down the road toward the swamp.

Two weeks later he returned and again bought ten sacks of corn.

This went on for a month. And then two months, and three.

Every week or two the old trapper would come into town on a Saturday morning, load up ten sacks of corn, and drive off south into the swamp.

The stranger soon became a legend in the little village and the subject of much speculation. People wondered what kind of devil had possessed this man, that he could go into the Okefenokee by himself and not be consumed by the wild and free hogs.

One morning the man came into town as usual. Everyone thought he wanted more corn.

He got off the wagon and went into the store where the usual group of men were gathered around the stove. He took off his gloves.

"Gentlemen," he said, "I need to hire about ten or fifteen wagons. I need twenty or thirty men."

"I have six thousand hogs out in the swamp, penned up, and they're all hungry. I've got to get them to market right away."

"You've WHAT in the swamp?" asked the storekeeper, incredulously.

"I have six thousand hogs penned up. They haven't eaten for two or three days, and they'll starve if I don't get back there to feed and take care of them."

One of the oldtimers said, "You mean you've captured the wild hogs of the Okefenokee?"

"That's right."

"How did you do that? What did you do?" the men urged, breathlessly.

One of them exclaimed, "But I lost my arm!"

"I lost my brother!" cried another.

"I lost my leg to those wild boars!" chimed a third.

The trapper said, "Well, the first week I went in there they were wild all right."

"They hid in the undergrowth and wouldn't come out. I dared not get off the wagon."

"So I spread corn along behind the wagon. Every day I'd spread a sack of corn."

"The old pigs would have nothing to do with it."

"But the younger pigs decided that it was easier to eat free corn than it was to root out roots and catch snakes. So the very young began to eat the corn first."

"I did this every day. Pretty soon, even the old pigs decided that it was easier to eat free corn."

"After all, they were all free; they were not penned up. They could run off in any direction they wanted at any time."

"The next thing was to get them used to eating in the same place all the time. So I selected a clearing, and I started putting the corn in the clearing."

"At first they wouldn't come to the clearing. It was too far. It was too open. It was a nuisance to them."

"But the very young decided that it was easier to take the corn in the clearing than it was to root out roots and catch their own snakes. And not long thereafter, the older pigs also decided that it was easier to come to the clearing every day."

"And so the pigs learned to come to the clearing every day to get their free corn."

"They could still subsidize their diet with roots and snakes and whatever else they wanted. After all, they were all free. They could run in any direction at any time. There were no bounds upon them."

"The next step was to get them used to fence posts."

"So I put fence posts all the way around the clearing. I put them in the underbrush so that they wouldn't get suspicious or upset."

"After all, they were just sticks sticking up out of the ground, like the trees and the brush. The corn was there every day. It was easy to walk in between the posts, get the corn, and walk back out."

"This went on for a week or two. Shortly they became very used to walking into the clearing, getting the free corn, and walking back out through the fence posts."

"The next step was to put one rail down at the bottom. I also left a few openings, so that the older, fatter pigs could walk through the openings and the younger pigs could easily jump over just one rail."

"After all, it was no real threat to their freedom or independence. They could always jump over the rail and flee in any direction at any time."

"Now I decided that I wouldn't feed them every day. I began to feed them every other day."

"On the days I didn't feed them the pigs still gathered in the clearing. They squealed, and they grunted, and they begged and pleaded with me to feed them."

"But I only fed them every other day. And I put a second rail around the posts."

"Now the pigs became more and more desperate for food. Because now they were no longer used to going out and digging their own roots and finding their own food. They now needed me. They needed my corn every other day."

"So I trained them that I would feed them every day if they came in through a gate. And I put up a third rail around the fence."

"But it was still no great threat to their freedom, because there were several gates and they could run in and out at will."

"Finally I put up the fourth rail."

"Then I closed all the gates but one, and I fed them very, very well."

"Yesterday I closed the last gate. And today I need you to help me take these pigs to market."

-- end of story --


The price of free corn...maybe our liberty!

"Federal welfare, in its myriad forms, has reduced not only individuals to a state of dependency. State and local governments are also on the fast track to elimination, due to their functions being subverted by the command and control structures of federal "revenue sharing" programs. [Within the story] if you use [the words] federal handouts in place of corn and [the words] people in place of the pigs - how close are the American people to having the final rail put in place?"
"Just say NO to federal corn." The bacon you save may be your own."

Finally!

My power went out two nights ago--bad thunderstorms for the past couple days and such. Came home from work tonight--still no power. So I hit the bar downtown until midnight--then when I came home: POWER!

It may have been an inconvenience, but I think I've learned something from all this: If you have a problem, and nothing else seems to work, DRINK. When you've had enough to drink, the problem will correct itself.

Well, perhaps the theory needs some more testing.

I sanded down the stock on my K31--not enough to significantly change it--just enough to remove the finish and smooth out the worst of the dings (also used an iron and damp cloth to pull some out before sanding). I just finished putting the second coat of dark walnut stain on it--I'm hoping the beach will take the stain well. I'll probably be reassembling the rifle and taking it shooting tomorrow (today, actually) provided I can pick up some ammo. I really have to get some reloading equipment for it. I did win an auction--480 rounds of 7.5mm Swiss will be on its way as soon as the seller contacts me with payment instructions. Looks like $179 + shipping--not too bad a deal from what I've seen.