Apollo Robbins - World's Greatest Pickpocket

In the past week I've bumped into this guy's story twice, and wanted to share with the readers here.  

I'll let you review his story via a great write up in The New Yorker and via the video below.

The guy is amazing.

Glen Campbell Covers Foo Fighters' Times Like These

One of my top 10 bands of all times are the Foo Fighters.  I think band leader Dave Grohl is a rare musical talent, and he never ceases surprising with his continuing evolution as a musician.  

One of the hallmarks of a great band is 1) the extent that their material get covered and 2) who covers it.

With that as a backdrop, here's Glen Campbell putting a fine country spin on the Foo's Times Like These. 

Enjoy

Fiscal Cliff and Lack of Leadership

Events over the past two months have shown just one thing: how completely broken our political process is. In all of the "work" conducted, nothing has changed. We still spend way more than we take in. We still lack any long term solutions to stabilize the economy. And our politicians still care for nothing other than their prospects for getting re-elected.

I wish there were easy answers. There are not. The only thing that will fix this mess will be leadership. And in an environment of 24/7 partisan news cycles, we can't be expecting any true leadership anytime soon.

This is an ugly mess that we continue to propagate upon ourselves...

Double Bubble

There are a lot of things about Wisconsin in general, and Green Bay in particular, in which the stereotype is very close to reality.  One of them is drinking alcohol.  A lot of alcohol.

Those that know me know that I'm no tea-toddler; far from it.  However, compared to my neighbors, I'm still in the minors.  The bars around town and Lambeau Field itself, well, that my friends are the drinking big leagues.

While "two for one" offers have gone by the wayside at many bars outside of Wisconsin, they're a standard here.  But it's not "two for one."  It's "double bubble."  If you say "two for one," they'll out you as a Minnesotan and start telling you how bad your football team is.

And it isn't any rinky-dink double bubble either; one where the price is inflated to compensate for the free drink.  No sir.  This is buy one for the already affordable regular price and the next one is on the house.

My local establishment has even gone so far as establishing a Double Bubble Club, where all one needs to do is flash the magic card (originally purchased for $20), and every other drink will be free with a prior paid one.  Here's my card, along with my libation of choice, and my upside down shot glass denoting that I'm owed a free one for my next drink:

My buddy, no tea-toddler either, and I have put this to good use.  In just a couple of visits we've wiped out our purchase fee, and we're now "playing with the house's money," so to speak.  In fact, we've run some numbers and we're pretty sure we're going to get the guy that originally thought of this fired before the promotion comes to an end.  

His loss is our gain.

Double bubble.  Your guidepost to drinking economy here in Packerland.

Just don't ever call it "two for one."

Incredible Football Kicking Display

Check this stuff out:

Ten Things to Avoid When Arguing Against Guns

When conversing with anti-gun espousers, be they opinionated zealots or merely just shocked parents that feel a reactionary need to “do something,” there are a couple of themes that come up in conversation which show that they don’t know what they’re talking about.  This lack of knowledge can defeat one's argument as get things derailed.  Hence, if you’re arguing for the curtailing of our rights and you want to sound like you know what the hell you’re talking about, you may want to avoid these following errors:

• Mentioning “automatic weapons” – Those weapons, which fire multiple times with a single pull of the trigger, are already highly regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.  For all intense and purposes, they are already outlawed and banned for sale to the general public.  What you likely mean are semi-automatic weapons; guns which expend one shot with each pull of the trigger.
• Suggesting a ban of semi-automatic weapons – Note that pump action, revolver, and some lever action guns can be fired by proficient marksmen at a speed to rival semi-automatic fire.  Now what?
• Mentioning “the ability to order online without any kind of background check” – This rumor, rampant on left-leaning sites, is completely untrue.  Firearms cannot be shipped, except to an actively licensed FFL holder, who will then conduct the proper background (NICS) check prior to handing off the firearm for possession.  Anything else is already highly illegal
• Failure to understand clips vs. magazines – A clip feeds a magazine.  To someone familiar with firearms, saying “clip” when you mean “magazine” is an instant red flag that you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.
• Wanting to ban “high capacity” magazines – If you want to have the argument, you need to define “high capacity,” – exactly how many rounds, does it apply to all calibers, does it apply only to magazines or all feeder systems, etc.?  Note that there are pitfalls for each of these, depending on your definition.  Be prepared
• Making the argument that, if turned down for a firearm purchase “all someone has to do is get a friend or relative to buy it for them” – That’s called a straw purchase, and is already highly illegal.  It is punishable by a $250,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison.  While someone could still do it if they wanted to, any person could commit any kind of other felony as well.
• Suggesting banning of “military-style assault weapons” – There is no such thing as a “military-style assault weapon.”  It is a generic term that could mean anything.  Throwing the “assault weapons” catchphrase out there without any kind of specific definition is like suggesting a ban on “powerful vehicles.”  Do you mean cars and trucks alike?  Vehicles that have specific hardware, capabilities, or horsepower?  Vehicles with specific paint schemes?  You see where this is headed.  Hence, when a specific ban is requested, the espouser should be prepared to discuss specific things like features, calibers, components, and the like.
• Suggesting a ban on future sale of specific firearms – Three things: 1) There are already 300 million guns in circulation in the US.  No matter what you want to ban, the cow is already outside the barn door.  Shutting it now does little good.  2) The drug trade in the US, an illegal enterprise, is over $300 billion.  The government can’t stop that (not even close), how could it stop guns? 3) The newly banned guns will only be made more attractive to exactly the type of element that society does not what to have them (e.g. criminals and the insane).  
• Suggesting the 2^nd Amendment applies only to muskets, militia, etc. and does not mean citizens can have guns – There is a wealth of information that goes back to the intent of the Founding Fathers on this one.  You may want to read up on it.  Regardless, District of Columbia vs. Heller put all of that conjecture to rest.  Until another Supreme Court case repeals that decision, private citizens maintain the right to arm themselves.  That’s our law, like it or not.
• Suggesting confiscation of anything – This is the ultimate in folly.  There are north of 300 million guns in the hands of about 50 million US citizens.  Regardless of the law that gets written, a percentage of gun owners will not comply with any order to turn over their weapons.  If that number is 1% (which I’d argue is very low), that represents 500,000 armed folks that are not going down without a fight.  500,000.  Minimum.  Any idea what that would look like? 

By avoiding these landmines you'll look a lot more like you know what you're talking about and will have a better chance of influencing your rival.  Good luck out there!

   

Family Shares Their FTLD Story

A family shares their Frontotemporal lobardegeneration story.  

It struck pretty close to home, and made me miss my Dad.  Even the sick version.

Merry Christmas

Linus, mind doing the honors?