my gun solution

i originally wrote all this for a childhood friend after going back and forth with her and others online, where she kept asking for a solution to the problem of mass shootings in the United States. eventually i just sent her the email below, since i'm pretty sure most people don't care about the details. it was still a long explanation, but read it first, and if you want the details past that feel free to continue.

"the solution: there's not one. all guns are meant to hurt things, and the vast majority use a magazine to hold ammunition. the AR15 has a 30 round magazine and the Mini14 'ranch rifle' used by farmers uses the exact same magazine and ammunition (its a NATO standard). so if you ban one, the other is still readily available. this same problems applied across the board to all kinds of weapons... some politician 20 years ago just threw around 'assault weapon' to get re-elected, but the differences between most guns are small, and the number of people they can kill is not defined by anything more than their magazine capacity. the only true solutions are one of two - and the examples are Australia and Switzerland. Australia effectively did away with guns, moving money from other projects and buying all the guns from the citizens. after that, guns sales were severely restricted and you had to have a purpose or belong to a club that managed them for you. still, they have mass shootings when people go on a rampage and take club guns or whatever. their tragic numbers related to firearms are of course down significantly, tho some argue the methods simply changed. the problem with that plan and us: we don't have a spare $7b laying around to do the same thing here, and it would cause a revolution. the swiss went the opposite route - there's an assault rifle in almost every home, issued to them by the government. they have the least amount of firearms related issue.... but.... the people get their government issued assault weapon in the military, which men are required to do and women are encouraged to do. obviously this is being done for national defense and to keep an active reserve, but the benefit has been that people are more responsible with their weapons, and no one fucks with the swiss... including crazies. Americans would never tolerate a draft again, and we are so paranoid that our currently volunteer military isn't allowed to carry weapons on their bases much less at home. in 1994 we passed the 'Assault Weapons Ban', which was a 10 year law that defined an 'Assault Weapon' by any weapons that had more than 2 of 5 characteristics... the sad thing is, 4 of those 5 characteristics were COSMETIC, and our public is so uneducated on the topic that they had no idea assault weapons were still selling, in fact they sold MORE, just now they didn't have a flash suppressor or a pistol grip or a bayonet lug or a grenade launcher. the law was a failure and was allowed to expire when it was up for renewal in 2004. and with that, every time there's an event like this, or another law hits the news, assault weapon sales SKYROCKET. anyway, there's no viable solution for us any more than there's a solution to the healthcare mess. unless you can figure out a way to get rid of ALL of the guns, or figure out a way to train and equip everyone, there will always be someone in limbo. and realize, we now live in a society where if i see a woman getting raped, and i have a gun, i can do nothing more than use harsh language and call the police. if i touch the assailant, its assault and if i shoot him, it's murder. sure, it will all play out in court, and the odds are good i'd be set free.... after months in jail and hundreds of thousands in legal defense. we are a society of idealists in a realistic world. i know you wont like this answer, and i would guess you won't want it explained more than i have, but this is actually the short version."

more found below...

the weapon on the left is the AR15, the weapon on the right is the Mini14 'ranch rifle' without a magazine.

they both use the SAME ammunition, they both fire once for every time the trigger is squeezed.

but - any ban on 'assault weapons' would only ban the rifle on the left.

now - watch this:  the gun on the right becomes an assault weapon if you change it slightly...

what changed??

the stock, the added flash suppressor, and the MAGAZINE.

you can see the original magazine has been replaced with a large capacity magazine.  now this rifle will fire the same ammunition as the AR15, and can carry the same amount of ammunition in each magazine.

but - most people who don't understand guns won't take the time to understand all this.  they just want a ban!  they want action now!  and since they don't understand, they end up with a politician that has no idea what they're talking about proposing bans on firearms that will have NO impact on things.

and to make things worse, here is the same gun again:

now it has the magazine, but it's NOT an 'assault weapon' - because of the stock (the body of the rifle)!  yet it still holds the same bullets as the AR15 and the same amount of ammunition!

our anti-gun public is so uneducated on the topic that they allowed our government to define 'assault weapons' by COSMETIC FEATURES.

so... the real key to stopping suburban mass shootings is the magazine on all semi-automatic weapons.

but, there are just under 400 million guns in the United States... and some estimate there are 10 times as many magazines.  they are just a part, they are considered by many to be the nearly disposable extra, and subsequently they are bought and sold in bulk.

here's another example:


the pistol on the left holds 8 rounds of ammunition, but the one on the right is the SAME GUN, but it's magazine is designed to hold 100 rounds.

so... since most guns are semi-automatic, and high capacity magazines are what allows any gun to shoot at length.

LET ME HELP ANY LIBERALS WHO WANT TO ARGUE AGAINST GUNS:

- 'this gun has only one purpose, and thats killing people!' - if two guns are identical in function, but look different, you loose your argument when it has to be defined in a law.

- 'we need to get rid of all the assault weapons!' - again, if you base your ban on aesthetics, you not only don't solve the problem, but you lose the attention of anyone who understands that you're really not changing anything.

- 'i dont feel safe taking my kids to the movies knowing guns like this are out there!' - now you seem uninformed, and paranoid, and in the end you're not giving the legislators anything they can define.  PLUS now it looks like you only care about yourself since you're ignoring the bigger problem.

- 'how can we allow these assault weapons to be out there when they can kill 50 people in one terrible event!' - now you're only reacting because of a single terrible event, and worse, you're ignoring the many many many more who are killed daily by guns that don't have high capacity magazines.

- 'you don't need anything like that!!'  really?  you think you're going to win your argument by telling Americans what they need and what they don't need?  if that's the way things are going to go, be prepared for a lot more changes after guns.  you won't 'need' a car if there's public transit, and you won't 'need' alcohol, and you won't 'need' a lot.


so... to really fight gun violence you need to understand the details so legislators can make a defined law.  the problem is that most people don't understand the details....

but i'll explain them if you're actually willing to learn something.

firearms are designed to fire bullets.  most of them are 'semi-automatic', meaning they are fed by a magazine full of bullets and fire as fast as you can pull the trigger.  they are almost never 'automatic'.

and while armies of suburbanites want to rant on and on about the AR15, the vast majority of firearms death come from HANDGUNS.

so, rambling on and on about 'assault weapons' only tells those who are educated on the topic of firearms that you're more worried about the guns from the news, and not the guns that are actually killing the much larger group of people.

we have passed laws trying to regulate 'assault weapons', but there's always a way around the laws.

the worst part about the 'assault weapons' issue is that most people who argue against guns rant at length about 'assault weapons'.... and they don't realize that most guns called 'assault weapons' are called that because of COSMETIC features that don't impact the way it works.

the true threat is the magazine and how many rounds of ammunition it will fire.

---  this is important ---

an AR15 with a 5 round magazine is just as lethal as one with a 30 round magazine, you just have to change magazines more.  California recognized this years ago, and requires the AR15s in that state to have a magazine release that is difficult to use... but this only applies to the AR15.  the fools ignored everything else.

and worse - there are many rifles that shoot the exact same bullet as the AR15, and have high capacity magazines, but people ignore them because they don't have the COSMETIC features of the AR.

--- anyway ----

a lot of people want to point at Australia and claim their efforts to be a success... that's not completely true, a search on google will show you that mass shootings have happened in Australia since their major gun controls went in to place.  the most notorious since then was committed with legal handguns taken from a shooting club.

and worse for us - we would need at least $7billion to buy back all the guns in the United States like Australia did... if you think we just have that laying around somewhere after the $19 trillion in debt we can't pay off - ask a school teacher how fat their budget is... or ask someone who works in public health how much extra cash they have for projects.  we don't have the money to go the Australia route... and if we did, there would probably be a revolution.

and why a revolution?  when the Ferguson riots happened, liberals came out all over asking why the police had military weapons and vehicles.  well, now we know they have them - do you think the people are going to be ok with ONLY the police having them?

you may be ok with it, but when you get off your pulpit please realize that many (if not most) are not.  the news is full of stories about the police abusing their power... now you think you're going to sell the country on the idea that its OK for them to be overpowering?

pro-gun persons are tired of people blaming the guns and point at Canada or the Swiss who have tons of guns and rarely a gun related incident.  but... lets face it, the mentality of people in Canada is a lot more... relaxed than in the United States, and the Swiss require most of their men to receive military training, then after they have served they are sent home with their weapons.

i don't think even our most pro-gun enthusiasts will be pro-mandatory military service.

so... maybe we need more laws?

the United States has been increasing gun laws since the first big gun legislation in 1934.  that's right, we've been regulating guns since 1934.

1934's National Firearms Act was focused on 'automatic weapons' and sawed-off shotguns.

during the Regan administration, importing any 'automatic weapons' was banned, as was the sale of those made here.

let's define that so everyone understands:  an 'automatic weapon' requires only one action to fire the weapon repeatedly.  when the trigger is activated and held, the weapon continues to fire.

automatic weapons haven't been used in a mass killing, ever.  most people will only see them in a movie.  law enforcement doesn't use any automatic weapons, and the military actually limits their use to specific roles because they are difficult to keep aimed and rapidly run out of ammunition.

side fact:  the AR15 is the civilian version of the M16, which was originally designed to be an automatic weapon, but that was changed because soldiers couldn't control the weapon with all those bullets flying out.  now, the M16 will only shoots a 3 round 'burst' at most....  and the AR15 only shoots one bullet at a time.

so... if you think you know what you're talking about when it comes to gun control, and mention 'automatic weapons', you don't.

what you're thinking of is a SEMI-automatic weapon.

George W. Bush got legislation passed that banned the import of certain models of 'assault rifles' because they had no possible hunting value.  many believe this is why the AR15 is the most common rifle found in the United States today.

a semi-automatic weapon has some kind of magazine that holds more than one round of ammunition and fires one bullet for every time the trigger is squeezed.

a semi-automatic weapon should not be confused with a revolver, which has a cylinder that holds various amounts of ammunition and rotates a new round into firing position every time the trigger is pulled.

think 'Dirty Harry' - he carried a revolver.  a revolver is not considered a semi-automatic weapon, though it effectively does the same job.

so what's a semi-automatic weapon?

just about every rifle or handgun is a semi-automatic weapon.

this is important - very few firearms are made to be loaded once and fired once.  most, are designed to hold more than one round of ammunition and either automatically re-loads itself (this making it semi-automatic), or it brings a new round into firing position just before firing (a revolver).

so anyway - let's get to the important stuff everyone is worried about....

the evil 'assault rifle'

the AR15 is the most common American assault rifle, it fires a 5.56 caliber round.

the most common assault rifle in the world is the AK47, at last estimate, over 100million have been produced, and it fires a 7.62x39

here's the problem:  those two bullets are used commonly by other rifles that don't look mean, aren't usually carried in to war, and are actually used for people's jobs.

if you google 'ruger mini-14' or 'ruger mini-30', you will see the ruger 'ranch rifle' series of rifles that have been carried on farms and used by fathers to teach their sons to shoot for decades without being involved in an mass shootings.  they are plain, they come with a wood stock usually, and they aren't flashy at all.  a person could dress one up to look mean, but usually they show up looking pretty plain, like the kind of thing your grampa used to shoot at cans.

and here's the real suck - they are the shooting the same bullets as the AR15 and the AK47...  so banning the evil 'assault rifle' is just going to make psychos get the trusty wooden farm version.

so it becomes hard to regulate past the NFA when you have two rifles that shoot the same bullets and do the same damage, but one is an 'assault rifle'.

what makes an 'assault rifle'?

in 1994 the federal government passed a 10 year 'assault weapons ban', which defined an 'assault weapon' as any rifle that had 2 of 5 possible 'assault weapon' features.  these were:

- flash hider
- detachable magazine (of more than 10 rounds)
- pistol grip
- bayonet lug
- grenade launcher

here's the problem - - most of these things are COSMETIC.  none of these things actually impact how the weapon performs except the magazine.

after the 10 years, Congress realized the law was a failure and it was not renewed.

so, what did the gun makers do during the 10 year ban?  they started to make guns with big magazines and one other feature on the list - OR - they sold their rifles with a 10 round magazine and two features from the list... making people buy the magazine separately.

and really - let's get to the most important part of the gun debate:

THE VAST MAJORITY OF GUN RELATED INJURIES AND DEATHS GO UNNOTICED BY THOSE OF US WHO CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

The FBI and the CDC regularly publish data about homicides and causes of death for our country, and when you do the math, there are gun related killings every day... in poor urban areas that most of the paranoid suburbanites reading this don't care about.

How do I know this?  just yesterday i had some happy homemaker and nurse ramble at me about how i was a moron who was making it impossible for her to feel safe taking her kids to the movies.

WHAT??  there are parts of north St. Louis where it's not safe to wait for the bus because every day there's a random murder on the streets, and you're freaking out because of the two mass shootings that happened at movie theaters?   Here's some math for you my dear:  it's at best a random chance you'll be one of the few in American history to be killed in a movie theater by a psycho, but if you go for a walk down the street on the south side of Chicago, you'll be dead in no time at all.

you're more likely to win the lottery twice, on your birthday, than you are likely to be killed in a mass shooting.  but you're more likely to be shot in Chicago than you are in Iraq.

and in Chicago, they aren't using 'assault weapons'.

what's the solution?   well, the only real solution is to fix the causes of violence in this country.  fix the education system, fix poverty, promote acceptance, teach people respect.  do all that and all violence will stop.

but really...  we don't care unless there's a tiny chance it may impact us.  then we will get all excited and rant and rave for a while, and life will go on.

Mail Call for Commander Valenta

--> NEW INFO:  the Honor Flight team asked me to get the letters to them by November 7th!  so, you have a week to get it to me at MY ADDRESS so i can give it to them.  sure, any stragglers i'll just bring to the airport, but try to get any letters to him via my address this week - THANKS!<--

--> ALSO - the veterans will return to Lambert that night around 7:45pm, if you want to be there, bring the kids, make up signs, and come along - be aware that parking is the WORST, so target getting there at 6:45<--


my father has been invited to go on the Veteran's Day 2015 Honor Flight, which is a trip donated to veterans sending them to Washington DC, that focuses primarily on veterans from World War II, then those from Korea, and so on.

(my father served in both WW2 and Korea)

some information on it can be found here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_Flight

the flight leaves early in the morning, arrives in DC, and shuttles them around to the various sites in a fashion that honors their service and those who they lost.  the vets are there all day - then on the flight back they are treated to something called MAIL CALL.

while in the service, especially in combat or after a long time at sea, getting mail from home was a treat for the vets - so keeping with that, this last effort is made for them.  on the flight back, each veteran is handed letters from their local politicians thanking them for their service - and with that (and more importantly) from people they know, friends of their family, and their families, thanking them for their service.

many consider it the best part of the trip.

with that in mind, I'm asking all of you to write a letter to my dad - something short and simple - thanking him for his service and the service of the veterans of his generation.

i didn't know how to ask for this, so i looked online.

- some people got thank you cards from the grocery store
- some people just wrote thank you on post cards
- some people sent pictures of their kids (one person thanked the vets for being the reason their kids speak english and not german, ha).
- some thanked vets because they never got to thank the ones they already lost
- some organized their kids' classroom (some kids just write 'Dear Veteran')
- some sent a corporate thank you
- one was the hand prints of someone, their spouse, their kids, and the dog, with a note that said, 'thank you for giving our family a free home'
- some younger vets sent pics of themselves in the service with messages like 'thank you for leading the way'
- some people remembered other members of the family already passed
- some people made plaques so the vet could hang the thanks on their walls
- some people thanked them for their own kids
- some people just marveled at the sacrifices made by vets 60 years ago vs now
- and you can write whatever you want.

so here is how this will work:

since my father is 89 (and considered one of the young ones), they prefer a 'guardian' go with each vet.  it has been decided that should be me (i wanted it to be my niece, but apparently they need someone who can pick the veterans up and so on in the event of a crisis).  so i'll be there to see to his needs.

i can collect anything you would like to send, and will give it to the organizers when we get on the flight.  so, if you would like to send him anything, send it him at my address:

Commander Richard R. Valenta
814 Dickson Street
Saint Louis,  MO 63122

to give you an idea of the impact it will have:

and if you're not familiar with Honor Flight:

why i'm not going all rainbow...

people are rejoicing everywhere... yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States decided that marriage is between two people, not two genders, and that it was a right, not a legally regulated privilege.  congrats to gays and lesbians, you can now suffer through angry divorce like the rest of us.

yesterday, even Fox News spent all day celebrating this grand success, no news channel could ignore it, the hype could not be avoided because we as a nation have decided this is the issue we want to focus on.

while i understand that this is a huge step forward for civil rights in our country, here's why i'm not going to spend a week celebrating:

-on the same day which started with this ruling, 3 terrorist attacks were made, one was even a suicide bombing in a mosque, and ISIS has instructed radicals worldwide to do their best to unite and cause synchronized efforts of terror.  terrorism experts believe this was the first such effort.
-one of the two murderers on the run in New York was killed, the other is still loose, and he's just as willing to get in a gunfight with whoever he comes across.
-Homeland Security announced a spike in terrorist traffic, and expects attacks on US soil during the next few weeks.
-Clementa Pinckney was laid to rest, POTUS sang amazing grace, and instead of blaming a zealot, we blame a flag, which will lead to endless debate and posturing instead of progress.
-we all owe Japan and China a combined $3TRILLION

...and most importantly (and probably most ignored)...

-the United States and it's NATO allies continued to increased their forces along the border with Russia, as the Russian economy plunges and their point the finger at the United States.  THIS IS IMPORTANT, remember the 80s??  if you don't understand why this is important, go watch the movie 'The Day After'.


yes people, while we all celebrate and brace ourselves against the tree of love hoping to crush the crazy Christian zealots we have annoying us here, there are armies of armed zealots overseas organizing and hoping to put us all under 'sharia law'.  if you don't know what it is, Google it.

they are so crazy, they have turned on their own people.

murderers are running around shooting at federal officers, and we're calling for gun control because of a flag, and we have no idea what to expect from these mid-level news stories, because we are ignoring the only other major superpower that is threatening to start the next major global war.

yes - understand this - if the Russian economy continues to plummet, and we continue to increase our military presence along it's border, that is what is looming.

and before we all start posturing about oil companies and rich white men - this is because we agreed to defend NATO, and it wasn't long ago that our current president, Barrack Obama, went to the NATO summit and pledged to continue to move our people in and help them as needed.

so this is looming.  it's a definite possibility, and if we get Russia to calm down, we still owe China, and we still have armed radicals killing people all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, hoping soon to move over the pond and start problems here.

it's time for a short and joyous celebration, gays and lesbians are people - they are human beings, and morons like Westboro need to sit down and accept it.  but our problems aren't the cry babies at Westboro, and they aren't the lone gunman who shot up a church - our problem is the looming world war, the horrific debt, and the real religious zealots who are working every day toward us.

even now, you're reading this and some of you are thinking i'm an ass for taking the wind out of the sails of this glorious moment.  no, that's not my point.  i'd like to think even those who worked hardest on this landmark decision would agree that avoiding global war and the oppression of sharia law is more important.

so celebrate on some level, be happy for those who can now make their love legally official... but, let's make sure we don't misunderstand what other problems are looming and need to be addressed, problems that can not be solved without the loss of countless lives.

you no longer have privacy

today i write to you about privacy... which is important to some for many reasons, some valid, some not, and some don't care at all.

in the end, whether you realize it or not, you have no privacy, you lost it a long time ago.

now, you may be able to keep tons of secrets from the people in your world, but really, they probably aren't looking.

let's face it, most people are too lazy to follow another person around to really figure out their secrets, your friends will give up on you if they think you're shady and if you are that shady your family realized it a long time ago and probably do everything they can to hide your secrets for you so they can act like they are oblivious and keep the family Christmas on track.

BUT - on some level, what i'm about to tell you still applies.

when i mention privacy, first people think about themselves and what would embarrass them.  and sure, it would be bad to get caught sleeping around or stealing, but that's really just the tip of the iceberg.  the rant your daughter spews out about how you invaded her privacy by listening in while she talked to Cindy about how she totally wants to get with Johnny, but she doesn't want to break up with Steve, sure, that's a valid claim on privacy, but really, that is the least of your family's problems.

eventually, your daughter will be caught being the filthy tramp she is... don't worry.  sure she will be friendless, and you will regret not putting your foot down years ago when she used privacy as her loophole to a life of immaturity, but in the future your bigger problem will be larger than whatever lies you have to use to enable her behavior and keep the family vacation together.

because privacy isn't completely about immature behavior, or how embarrassed you are by someone else.  because embarrassment is only half the problem.

yes, the odds are good she is going to have trouble finding a job when the potential new employer finds out she used her last job as a dating pool... and yes, that is embarrassing.

but it can be even worse.

as you show up to the therapy session your family needs to deal with the latest set of drama, there are cameras everywhere.  and those cameras will recognize who you are.

you think i'm kidding, but i'm not. (for proof, check out the first link at the bottom)

security and surveillance system are doing much more than providing your daughter's coworkers with video of the drunken strip-tease she thought she was only doing with the man she just met at the company retreat and is totally in love with.

sure, also embarrassing, but again only half the problem.

because when the man she's totally in love with realizes she's crazy and dumps her like every other guy and you end up dragging her to therapy the systems there to protect you will then SELL YOU OUT...

and not to the local tabloid, because no one cares about her continued nonsense, she may think she's a rock star, but she's not.

no, you'll be sold out to a marketing firm, who then takes your data and logs it as a face that was showing up every Tuesday and Thursday at 3pm with your husband and daughter and going into Suite 245, which address records show as Dr. Crazypeople.  they will then start to market to you and your family things that typically market to people with your kind of crazy needs.

with that, they relay this information to your health insurance company (even though you paid cash to keep your privacy)... who proceeds to raise your rates because they have proof of a family history of irrational behavior and mental illness.

when you get the letter and look at your spouse and wonder how two people that lead a completely boring life could get accused of such things, you will want to sue someone for the invasion of your privacy.

but you can't.

over time, your face is seen by more security cameras... when you stop by a car dealership to pick up a friend, or when you eat fast food, and all of that is logged.  suddenly it could impact your credit report, and cause you to get mail about pre-planning funerals while you're still in your 50s.

and maybe - just maybe - you think you're someone who's avoided the problem.  you think you're above it, you're not on Facebook, you don't really do email, and you shy away from those crazy interwebs.

it doesn't matter.

first, your daughter has undoubtedly already posted pictures of you online.  from MySpace to Facebook to Instagram (owned by Facebook) and the old reliable Twitter, anything from her pic with you as she leaves to go to prom, and your relieved face in the pic she posted after her extensive stint in college.  and maybe, it's not even her fault.  pictures are probably online of you from a company event, a charity function, a softball league, or something as innocent as your local church.

that picture identifies you, then that face is matched to the security cameras and suddenly the machine has you.

and aside from the cameras, other random things like your information from the auto club or your purchase history with your credit card sold you out.  in fact, a recent article (link below) from Wired magazine mentions that those who don't have a social presence online probably have a 'Shadow Profile', a profile for you with them so they can have a placeholder for you while they data mine your information.

PLUS - technology is in place to start taking pictures of you and guess at what you'll look like in the future, so the Shadow Profiles can match you in case you happen to drop out of site for a while.  (to test that, there's a link below).

government?  sure there is a valid concern from the conspiracy freaks about government abusing this power as well... but really, you need to decide if you want higher mortgage rates and being added to a no-fly list over your daughter's need for therapy.

those days are coming... in the last link i've posted below, an Italian speaker at a TED Talk goes over the same information i've mentioned here.  he's got a VERY thick accent, and can be difficult to listen to at times, but he points out that the 2002 film Minority Report showed the lead character walking through a mall where all the nearby advertising was targeted at him.  and the technology to make that happen is already well under development, and we have been more than happy to provide the needed data.

on some level, you should be angry at yourself for not setting your daughter straight because her problems are about to become yours.  but really, we should all have a larger concern.  i have the same first and last name as my father, and a confusion in records could cause ME to start getting marketing (and pricing, and limitations) meant for him.  on some level, this has already happened... in my attempt to get smoking cessation medication, it was improperly processed as his at first, and rejected due to his age, even though the prescription was for me.

and even now i'm typing this, and i've told the planet that i have smoked a cigarette - soon the computers will log this information and i will forever be branded.

think about that, if you've ever used a credit card to buy cigarettes, that has been recorded, as was your face on the security cameras.  they may not have been for you, but now the world knows - the machine knows.

and while many feel they've avoided these problems, led clean lives, no crazy kids, and don't use the internet except for company email... don't be fooled.  every email system out there scans your email 'to improve system performance', and every cell phone logs your location - it has to, for your safety, by federal law.

so - many people will read this and think they can't control it and don't care what happens as long as their personal day to day life isn't impacted (basically, they are still only going to care if they get embarrassed).  well, realize that people are buying this information, some of it is freely available and some is available to anyone willing to pay for it... so really, it's only a matter of time until you're embarrassed.

HOW DO WE SOLVE THIS PROBLEM?

we can't unless we become aware.  this is going to happen, and unless your plan is to live alone on an island, this future is on some level unstoppable.  you can forever live in your own private bliss by telling yourself that your daughter isn't the troubled person everyone else thinks she is, but that wouldn't have stopped the gossips from talking about her behavior before the internet, and it's not going to stop the machine from doing what it does now.  personal privacy about personal issues will start to infect your life, and the simple will have the potential to spin into the complex.

current legislation worldwide effectively ignores the potential problem to consumers and each person's sanity, and most people are so completely unaware of the problem they don't know to start complaining.

we live in a society where most feel helpless against technology, and many do not question what's pushing them around.  let's face it, when your daughter doesn't show up to a family brunch and claims she was too busy doing something else, you're not going to go through the trouble of looking through all the security cameras possible to find out she slept in at some random guy's place.  you'd rather not be disappointed in her and deal with that... but the same does not apply to the machine.  and like your daughter, the machine will start pushing you around.

and worse, millenials have less of an expectation of privacy, and the machine knows, it's logging as much as it can, and it knows that you won't have the guts to ask your kids if they use Instagram or Facebook, and see what they post... even though they've probably posted pictures of you.

so sure, the best advice i can give you is to lead a clean life, pay your bills, don't buy cigarettes in the seedy part of town... and yeah, probably set your daughter straight early in life.  but really, we all need to be aware of what's going on around us.

if you don't believe this is already happening, go online and search for some random type of product.  search for 'new pizza oven' or 'golf equipment'... then watch the ads on various websites you visit start to target you with italian food and golf resorts.  this very basic web technology is the start, and the future will be decided by the machine as it tells you what you wanted, helps sell you more, and also limits you based on what it thinks is your past.


click here for information about facial recognition available today

the Wired article that mentions 'Shadow Profiles'

this website will formulate your future appearance

here's an article about Facebook using your phone to target you

click here to watch a video from a more informed person than i about this topic

the loss of Panda

i sat for 20 minutes attempting to find the best title for this post... and there's not one.

recently, a woman i had been involved with in my past took her own life, and my thoughts are strong, but difficult to fully put into words.

of course, they center around 'why?'

she was young and beautiful and strong and well spoken.  from a small farming town, she carried herself all the way to a master's degree at a top level university, and started her own private practice bringing therapy to those who had eating disorders and family issues.

we were together during the summer of 2005, the summer of the Blue Lagoon.  my friend's grandfather had turned his ranch home in a wealthy community over to my friend to watch for the summer while he was away.  my friend was required to get the pool painted, and was told that he and his friends could have the use of it all summer.  so we did.  and Amanda was there, with her smile and her Rolling Rock beer.

she had since moved to Louisville.  she had a Maine Coon cat named Jack, and a Pomeranian dog named Reggie, and most importantly a man she loved and lived with.

we were still friends, we would bicker too much on Facebook, so we weren't linked there... really it was my sarcastic view of the world and her serious belief of my impact on too many.  not that i have any impact on anyone really, just my attitude and the example it was of society i think.  but we still talked via text or email and would see each other's posts on Instagram... mainly of our pets, she loved to see Max.

and recently i had been helping her send her resume out while she looked for jobs back here in St. Louis.

two nights ago, she changed her Facebook picture to one of Reggie supporting her St. Louis Cardinals... and a few hours later on Instagram i posted a picture of Max and Cat having a stare down, she 'liked it' just after i posted it.

then a few hours later she took her own life.

and now, we are back to 'why'... and to my knowledge there was no note, there was no explanation... and even if there was - no matter what could have been said, the 'why' is really never enough to justify it.

it seems that it's impossible for some people to be happy with what they have these days.

they act happy of course.  we live in a world where the season finale about the Kardashians featured Kim marrying her soulmate Kanye, the love of her life, to live on forever in wealth and beauty and happiness....

wait, what?  didn't she do that 3 seasons ago?

and so many follow suit... we all trudge on with our bullshit while we believe we are far from Kardashians, and we don't realize the impact we have on others, and how quickly we move on.  and how we have become a society of disposable people.

we don't play by the 'rules' anymore.  people aren't accountable... and then there are the few, the good natured few, those who dedicate their lives to helping those who can't handle the burden of 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians'.

and eventually, they can't handle the burden themselves.

people corrupt themselves every day, they cheat, they lie, they try to have the right attitude and speak in Kardashian like extremes where everything is SO this and SO that... and the extremes impact others.

people feel like they are in a competition of love and attention, when in reality they are only competing with their own issues.

'well, you don't understand my life' and 'why do you care what i do?' is the general attitude.  they don't realize that while people may not care, they still notice.  they like to think they are getting away with things, but they aren't.  they have terrible impact on their kids or family or friends, they treat others like shit and don't even realize it... then the friends are gone and kids are a mess and the parents just enable it and reinforce anything the kids say so they can feel that the kids love them no matter what.  the kids then think their parent is their best friend, because they never have any conflict while each is on a self destructive crash course, and they can't figure out what their problems are...

...and she dealt with this every day.

there are some basics in life, they really are about being a good person, up front, honest, true,

AMANDA WAS ALL OF THOSE GOOD THINGS

and, she called it like it was... she was caring, and she knew how to handle people, without letting them live the lies, and without letting them fall to the pressures put on them by family or society.

she knew the truth would set them free.

if she were hear to read this, she would tell me i'm honest, but i'm just as much a part of the problem with my picky sexist views and lack of flexibility toward those who have genuine troubles.  she would tell me that people who are caught up in alcoholism or a bad marriage or self esteem issues need help.  she would tell me that men who cheat have narcissism issues, and women - oof, she would tell me that so many women are a mess, but that i needed to get them help because i just could never understand the pressure from fathers or worse, divorced parents, and on top of all of that how society beats down on women and is so much harder on them, and how strong a woman has to be to get around all that!

ok Panda, there, in my private eulogy, I said everything like I think you would have... not that i completely agree, but i secretly always did know your thoughts were valid.... on some level, ha.

well - that's it, i finally just came up with a title.  most people in my world end up with a nickname of some kind (oddly, I haven't), and she loved animals so much.  her favorite for a while were Pandas.  she loved to watch the Panda-cam from the zoos around the world, especially the baby pandas.  and in that, some of us started to call her Amanda-Panda.

she loved all the animals... one of my lifelong friends named Larry is a big, tall, out of shape, loud, obnoxious, animal.  he has literally been shot in the head and lived to talk about it.  imagine the guy who was a hockey goon all through high school and his short span in college, who now owned a business and spends every night drinking hard in a bar trying to figure out why he can't lose weight as he loudly bellows crass commentary at whatever factory secretary happens to stumble in.  he's an animal.

she loved him... she once told me that of all my guy friends, Larry was her favorite.  and i would ask why - he's loud and obnoxious and rude... and she would reply, "yeah, he's just a loud obnoxious teddy bear".

she could wrap him around her finger... and in turn, the goon was beside himself all day after he heard the news.

Panda wasn't perfect... the bad side of Amanda cost her a wonderful life, and us a great soul because the good side of Panda was one of the greatest people you could hope to know.

because Panda was genuine, she genuinely cared.  you knew how she felt, you didn't catch her in lies, and she didn't do anything she would be embarrassed by.  she fought past her insecurities and didn't do things people could gossip about, and you always knew where you stood, you always knew she would be there when she said she would - there was no chance that something would 'come up', or that she could let you down.  when she cared about you, you knew it.  and really, she cared about everyone.

she was so good it frustrated me at times.  our differences didn't end our relationship years ago, that ended purely because i wasn't ready to let the relationship progress... but after in our friendship there were times where we disagreed on things so strongly i couldn't talk to her.

then, the night after i found out, i got a voicemail from a friend of ours.

"i know she felt very fondly of you, it just saddens me... she adored you, she would always talk about how much she loved you.  i never conveyed that to you, but she did."

and, she's gone... and we are left with a world filling with people who find others disposable, and think that ease and comfort are relationship qualities... then bail when truth surfaces and life gets hard.

i guess she bailed too... following the trend i guess.

except, she's one that was worth keeping around, and we didn't know she needed help.

so people, from now on, be a Panda.  stop competing, stop trying to live the way society does, don't live a life you have to hide, stop living in fear of other people's judgement.  trust me, if you need drama in your life, there's enough drama in the truth if you rub it in each other's faces... and really, if your truth is so awesome that you can't find drama in it, you should probably grow up and be happy with it.

find your happiness.

if you are not strong enough- reach out to people, and if you are strong enough- be someone that others can reach out to... and ask, ask others how they are, and be a lifeline - even if it's just long enough to hand them off to someone else.

be a Panda.

stop hiding your life, someone will accept it.  and stop hiding things from others so that others know you will accept them.

accept.

and don't let yourself be burdened by society and family and the bullshit of life.  learn to let go, dragging up old drama for attention is only hurting you.  everyone sees through the bullshit, even you, stop playing the game.  we all need to stop playing the game... because some people are just giving up.

i've lost two friends to suicide in the last year - TWO - one was a businessman with a beautiful wife and home and two beautiful kids... and now i've lost Panda.

why?

find your happiness... and if you can't, find help.

http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/gethelp.aspx

http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/cams/panda-cam

our 10 thousand dead

70 years ago today 150,000 souls launched themselves from Great Britain to liberate Europe from tyranny.

So many Americans died in that invasion that the bodies had to be left behind, instead of bringing them home a cemetery was created there.

There are nearly 10,000 Americans buried there.

The vast majority of those who went into combat were children really, in their late teens and early 20's.  Some of them parachuted into the darkness of night, others ran on to a beach facing machine gun fire.

Some were children.  By today's standards they would still be in school.  On that day, they were the men challenged to save the world.

As I start my day, I'm watching an interview with two of them, and when asked what was the most surprising part of the invasion one replied, "when a man is shot and facing death, you think they'll be strong, but when they know the end is coming most of them cry out for their mothers."

And they heard that, a lot.

A few years ago, when sitting around the dinner table with my veteran father and uncle, the older niece shot her mouth off about how some newspapers were printing the names of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan on their front page.  She commented about it, asking my father and uncle if the newspapers did that during their war.

My uncle just laughed, he didn't even look up from his meal.  "why is that funny?", my niece asked.  "It would have taken up the whole page" my dad finally replied.

Today my friends worry about important things, like making sure their toddler doesn't get scratched by a cat, if they can get their kids in the best schools, and on the best soccer teams, and have the best things.  The kids were raised on Teletubbies and now have iPhones, the girls are anorexic, the boys grow fat playing video games, and most don't have to work because mom and dad want them to focus on their education... which ends up being more about what they learn from starlets and sports heroes.

Back then, the 19 year old 'men' who parachuted in with the 82nd Airborne fought for 33 days without relief.  Today we worry about the kids getting too much homework and we complain about shortened summer breaks.

Our problems today aren't the mass genocide of jews and the crushing oppression of foreign armies across Europe while the Japanese run rampant across the East killing hundreds of thousands of Chinese.  We have terrorists that we ignore while we run around paranoid about what others think of us in our SUVs as we head to our social gatherings.

We as a people have forgotten what's important in life, because some things are so easy that we assume they will always be there.  We are so comfortable, we assume that we will never be invaded, our lives are great, we can now complain about important things like Common Core and kids caught sexting, and we are not scarred with the memory of our destroyed cities overrun by invaders.

We have forgotten what it is to be a people who know to do what's right, over what's comfortable.

The only soil kept by the Americans in Europe in World War 2 is the land needed to bury our dead, the rest was returned to those who lost it to tyranny.

There are only 8000 remaining D-Day veterans today, if you're lucky enough to meet one you need to thank him, because D-Day was as much about keeping Hitler from invading us as it was about pushing him back from what he had already taken.

And it cost thousands of American lives.

Try to teach your children the depth of their sacrifice.  Attempt to stop them long enough as they run off to camp or to the pool or to submerge themselves into video games, so they can understand that 70 years ago today, the beaches of Normandy were literally red with the blood of Americans.

Some parents will want to save their children from the horrific thought of this day, they will make excuses in the hopes of sheltering their young minds from such a horrific part of history.

Those parents are not doing their children any favors.

We cannot forget the sacrifice made by that generation, and why they are the greatest generation.  It's sad on some level that we have become a fat nation that chooses to treat the story of D-Day like an overlooked paragraph in a history book.

Do something.

Make your kids watch Saving Private Ryan, tell them without fanfare about the Americans that saved the world.  Make sure they understand that EVERY household in the country contributed to the war with 20 MILLION people in uniform.  Do something, anything, so that today they can understand the sacrifice made.

And maybe, you and them, will understand again what's important in life.

GUN FACTS - know the details before you shoot (your mouth off)

I'm going to attempt to write this with as little skew or spin in the direction of my beliefs... mainly because I want people to make their own decisions, but I want them to do so with the right information.

why?  because we as a people have stopped making decisions based on facts, and now are more likely to do so based on feeling.  feelings are great, but don't make me cough up a few obvious reasons why life will always be hard and often decisions on how things should happen are as well.

FACT:  guns are used to kill more Americans than any other weapon

it's true, the FBI catalogs the killings in our country, and firearms account for 67.5% of them.  this shouldn't be difficult to accept, any number of different types of firearms are available in various sizes and types, from large shotguns that shoot huge slugs to little tiny handguns smaller than your hand that shoot bullets smaller than a 1/4 inch in size.

the data on what kills Americans can be found here:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10shrtbl07.xls

FACT: of all those killed in the Unites States, better than half are killed by HANDGUNS

this should also not be surprising, if you can get a cheap 'Saturday Night Special' or a 'Derringer' style handgun that can easily fit in almost anyone's pocket, it shouldn't be surprising that people roaming around with them are killing each other.  for good reasons (self defense) or bad (robbery or crimes of passion), these are easily carried and easily used by Americans to kill each other.

the data on what types of firearms are used by Americans to kill each other are found here:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10shrtbl08.xls

FACT: an AUTOMATIC gun is just that, AUTOMATIC.

that means that when you fire it, then it reloads and keeps firing until you stop firing it.  an automatic weapon is very closely related to a machine gun... but generally it's not a machine gun.  a machine gun is generally considered to be large (usually not something a human would carry and shoot with accuracy).  however, a machine gun is defined as an automatic weapon:

ma·chine gun

noun

1. 1.

   an automatic gun that fires bullets in rapid succession for as long as the trigger is pressed.

the above definition is important.  you can tie a string around the trigger of an automatic weapon and leave, and it will keep on firing as long as bullets are being fed into it.  most people who are familiar with firearms consider an automatic weapon to be a 'machine gun' when it is belt-fed, or fed by some seemingly endless amount of bullets.

FACT: assault weapons can be, but are usually NOT automatic

and with that, most people educated on the topic of firearms don't consider an assault rifle to be a machine gun.

FACT: most firearms have some kind of magazine.

here we get a little dicey with definitions, because those who truly understand firearms would probably be offended if i considered the drum of a revolver to be a magazine.  but in the end, the weapon has a storage capacity of bullets that it fires before it needs to be replenished.  shotguns normally keep their shells in a tube under the barrel (normally around 5-8 shells), revolvers have a drum of bullets (normally 6-8 but can be as high as 10 bullets), and rifles usually have magazines (which can range from 5-30 bullets in normal capacity).

FACT: firearms vary in CALIBER, which is the size of the projectile being fired from it.

the range is significant, i'm not even going to bother to state the complete range because someone who knows more than i do will correct me.  what's important here is that everyone should realize that sometimes large guns fire small bullets, and sometimes small guns fire large bullets.  no matter what the gun looks like, and no matter how long the barrel is, and no matter how large the magazine is, in the end it has a caliber which defines the size, and to a certain extent the power, of what's coming out of it.

FACT: firearms of different types will often use the same caliber

this is important.  you can and will find pistols that fire what most people would consider a rifle round.  and you will find rifles that shoot small pistols rounds... and you can even find tiny pistols that shoot shotgun rounds.  my point here: the size of the gun and what it looks like doesn't define it's lethality, it could be shooting anything.  and the point of this is simple: if you applied every restriction ever places on firearms in the United States on a firearm, you could still buy a rifle that's just as powerful as what the military shoots every day... and it could be in a big wood rifle, or a little pistol.  the impact would be identical.

FACT: firearms are by nature made to send a projectile at a target

some people like to make it seem like there's only one purpose to a gun, and that's to kill.... which isn't completely true.  there are firearms that are for nailing things to walls, firearms that are made for competitive target shooting, and even firearms made to throw ropes... but let's face it, by far the most commonly thought of use for a firearm is to send a projectile at or in or through something... and many would argue that's done to be lethal.  however, as a country, we go through a lot more bullets than we have murders - so we are all terrible shots, or lethality against humans is not the most common use.

at the same time, knives are made to cut, bats are made to... pound baseballs, and so on.  but, some could argue that the primary use of a knife is to cut food, and the primary use of a bat is for kids to play softball... where the primary use of a firearm is to kill.

FACT: the 3 most commonly fired caliber in assault rifles are also very commonly found in hunting rifles.

when i say 3 calibers i mean, .308, .223, and 7.62x39.  the last of which is the caliber of the AK-47, and some would disagree that it's commonly found in a hunting equipment, and my only response is the Mini30, which is a rifle found on a lot of farms.  anyway, this shouldn't be surprising, if a caliber is good for hunting people, why wouldn't it be good for hunting food?

FACT: a firearm cannot fire itself.

i shouldn't have to explain this, but it's a valid point that has to be made.  a fork can't make you fat, you have to use it too much... and gun can't kill others, someone has to pick it up and use it.

NOW THAT WE HAVE THAT ALL CLEARED UP...

here's my issue.

we as a people go round and round about guns.  everyone has an opinion - and everyone should have the right to their own opinion.

i'm going even go as far as to say that if a majority of people would like to start making dramatic changes to firearms legislation, then they should hold a vote, and if it passes, it should be enacted.

BUT

before anyone is allowed to make a decision, everyone needs to be informed and really understand all the facts i've stated above.

i recently got into a discussion online about banning all assault rifles... and it bothered me how uninformed people were.

in 1994 a law was passed that banned any rifle from having more than 2 of 7 characteristics that made it an 'assault rifle'.  this included a bayonet lug and a pistol grip... the bayonet lug has absolutely no impact on the rifle's ability to shoot, nor does the pistol grip.  so we spent millions of dollars and untold amounts of time on banning aesthetics.

worse, the law did nothing to ban weapons of the exact same caliber as the two most commonly found assault rifles in existence, the AR type and the AK type.  while i won't go into the history of the two rifles, both are civilian variants of what most of the world's military forces carry.  so we banned guns that look like them.

we did nothing to ban guns that shoot the exact same bullet but don't look like them.  and we didn't touch anything that uses the most commonly found caliber in sniper rifles, because most of those don't look mean or have bayonets.

some would argue that one of the 7 characteristics was the magazine, saying that the gun couldn't have the bayonet lug if the magazine carried more than 5 bullets... but who cares about a bayonet lug??  you could drop the bayonet lug, and put a fixed thumbhole stock on it and have a 200 round magazine.

so... then what?  we need to do away with large capacity magazines, right?

well, first, there are literally millions of them out there so even if you could ban them, you'd never collect them all - plus, there's a NATO standard that makes one caliber of magazines standard for use on many types of rifles... so you'd be impacting assault rifles and common hunting rifles.

some would say that a hunter shouldn't need more than 5 bullets... and maybe that's the case, but you'll still never collect them all, you'd be wasting your time writing that law.

and WAIT - before we go on and on about assault rifles.... we forgot something!

better than HALF of the murders that happen in the United States are committed with HANDGUNS.  less than 3% of murders were committed with rifles, and assault weapons are a small percentage of rifles...  so banning assault weapons would... have impacted an unmeasurably tiny amount of the crimes committed in this country.

and then we get to the "well, we have to start somewhere" argument.  this just infuriates me.  this is like someone who wants to lose weight thinking they are putting a solid effort into it by spending all kinds of time and effort into making sure they only eat the candy with the least amount of impact... but still doing little to no change to their diet and exercise otherwise.

and almost zero legislation has impacted shotguns - because people think those are for hunting.  yes, they are... and they are used for hunting because they fire many bullets at once across a wide pattern.  SO - a double barrel shotgun with NO magazine that only holds two shells could fire more than a dozen projectiles at once across a wide space.

yes, this makes a shotgun deadlier than an 'assault weapon', with or without the bayonet lug.

in fact, shotguns account for more killings than rifles... but the only restrictions currently placed on them have to do with the lengths of their barrels and stocks (they can have bayonet lugs and any size magazine).

recently, a California politician held a press conference where he introduced us to what he called the 'Ghost Gun'.  he ranted on about how many bullets it could hold and fire, and how it was a killing machine.  and, he was completely misinformed.

what he did was get people all excited that he was going to make a difference by spouting off lies.  in truth, if the gun he held could actually do what he said it could... then it would melt from the heat it was putting off.

if you think firearms are a problem in our society today, then by all means - DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  but please, be informed.

realize that you just make an ass of yourself when you spout off what you think are facts when they are simply untrue... and you look like a jackass when you ignore the thousands who are murdered with cheap straw purchased weapons and point the finger at the tiny percentage of guns which are expensive to buy and most commonly tracked.

and accept this one undeniable FACT: if anything, gun violence has proven that no amount of legislation will keep you completely safe, from crazies and criminals, and anyone with the number 2 weapon used for killing in the United States, knives (used to kill more than 10% of those murdered, and have zero control legislation).