In the interest of healthy debate about our nation's gun violence problem (crushingly listed here):
Title EACH gun like we do real estate and vehicles
Require ALL sales, even between private citizens, be registered with the state like we do with real estate & vehicles
Require category-specific licensing, like we do with vehicles and trucks. One non-automatic pistol license covers an infinite number of them, but semi-automatic or automatic handguns require elevated licenses, as would long guns, shotguns, hunting and assault-class weapons
Require owners carry hazard insurance for EACH gun they own. Want to stockpile an arsenal? Call your free-market insurance broker first to see if you qualify for more insurance.
Require proof of insurability and background checks for ALL sales, even private ones
Charge and punish owners for crimes committed with their guns (another good reason to register sales with the state so you're no longer liable for a gun you sold)
Require ALL guns be stored safely as a condition of licensing and insurability
Set penalties, including seizure, for failure to secure guns from minors
Allow law enforcement, medical and mental health professionals to temporarily flag individuals for precursor behaviors like domestic violence incidents, stockpiling, discontinuing anti-psychotic medications.
Enable such flags to be included in background and insurability checks prior to sale (#5 above)
For the record, I'm not opposed to people owning guns and enjoying their use safely. I'm against claims that stockpiled possession is for individual protection and arguments that the 2nd Amendment makes gun ownership so sacred we can't talk about it rationally. I'm not against gun owners, I'm against a culture we've established in which we can't ask reasonable questions (even dumb questions) without ad hominem attacks from gun owners. And word to the gun-owning-wise: attacking the un-gunned online doesn't help your cause much. Lone-gunmen and 'active shooters' have given you such a bad reputation we can't distinguish them from open-carry advocates at the mall.
I heard the radio report this morning in which Chamber President Jane Drussel was interviewed about the negative reaction she and your town have received about Bowe Bergdahl’s return.
While I have never been to Hailey, I have spent a lot of time in the internet. While it can be great, it sometimes enables the general sense of anger in our culture today to focus very sharply and very quickly on a single person or place. Only after a news cycle or two (the span of a week, maybe) does that anger typically move on to someone or someplace else.
I am so sorry that angry people on the internet have turned their attention to you and your town at this time. I wish you all and each peace, and the space to welcome your neighbor home. And as they say on the internet, “Don’t let the bozos get you down!”
Beloved Frankie the French Bulldog died Friday, May 23, 2014 in Seattle.
Frankie the French Bulldog
Born September 16, 2003 in Anacortes, WA, Frankie was the daughter of Tidewater's Dean Martin and House of Tuck's Miss Kansas, and was an AKC registered descendant of the award winning Tidewater lineage of French Bulldogs. Frankie weened on Guemes Island, WA and was named after the traditional French unit of currency. At age 12 weeks she moved permanently to Seattle where she quickly became a daily fixture of the downtown neighborhood of Belltown.
Frankie showed an early aptitude for training, was a graduate of both the Puppy Manners and Basic Obedience programs of the Downtown Dog Lounge, and was well-known at all four DDL locations. She earned lifelong accolades and rewards for her unfailing skills at the prompt sit, advanced waiting, and leave-it. She was known by those closest to her as 'Missy', 'Cutie Pie' and 'Fart Machine'.
Frankie enjoyed urban living to it's fullest. She was often seen sauntering the avenues of downtown, riding buses, dining al fresco and al food truck, shopping in the city's "Lifestyle Mile", and taste-testing at Pike Market. At holiday time, she loved walking home from Pike Market with her humans and the biggest stick a dog could ever hope for: a Christmas Tree. Even her quiet days, when she loved staring contests, rolling on the rug, resting by the fireplace or (better yet) on someone else's tummy, she still enjoyed four walks and eight elevator rides between sun-up and sun-down. She was a fan of crab-style wrestling and practiced twice daily, first with her older brother Hugo "David Niven" the Miniature Pinscher (crane-style, deceased 2008), then with her younger brother Tidewater's Tonka (also crab-style, age 6). Frankie also knew how to enjoy the great out-doors. She traveled the West Coast extensively, visiting beaches from California to British Columbia by car, and the islands and inland waterways of Puget Sound by ferry, motorboat, sailboat, and rowboat. She once crossed the US/Canadian border on foot, and navigated the Siskiyou Pass many times in many kinds of weather, some ill-advised. She once made the San Mateo-Portland run in 13 hours (the dog-time equivalent of 12 parseks). Once, while body-surfing in Elliott Bay, she caught a 26-foot geoduck in her bare teeth and wrestled it to shore. She always smelled like a sandy summer beach, even in the middle of winter. She was also seen often on the Burke Gilman Trail, in Discovery Park, on Little Si mountain, and along the King County Trail System near her vacation home in Redmond, WA.
Many were struck by her friendly spirit. As a pup, after getting clawed in the eye by an unfriendly cat, she returned from the ER and immediately ran off to tap at the same apartment door, hoping for a friendlier 'hello!' Frankie's public works included once stopping a crowded city bus on 1st Avenue just by staring at the driver, who, it turned out, wanted to smell her puppy breath. She valiantly appeared on the front-page of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in a three-column photograph to commemorate the grand opening of the Regrade Dog Park. Her adorableness, however, was ultimately unable to save Seattle's #2 daily newspaper from its own demise. She also inspired a formation of a small business, Frankie Fan Club LLC, that produced a line of t-shirts and hoodies sold in area shops and boutiques for several years.
Her proudest role, for which she never tired, was as one of the first and certainly the most steadfast guardian of Tesla, the little girl under who's cradle she often slept, and who's company she often kept.
Frankie's indomitable curiosity for strangers big and small, animal and mammal, and her calm confident disposition were her signature presence to the very end. She passed quietly with her family attending after a brief illness. She was an exemplar of her line, of bully breeds, and of the power of the unconditional love dogs offer us. She was her humans' very first dog, and by her very wonderfulness inspired the spontaneous adoption of her older brother Hugo only three months after she had moved to Seattle. She remains in the hearts of her human family and friends, and in our imagination on a blanket at the beach alongside Hugo holding a down stay for eternity while keeping an eye out for anything that moves.
Tesla & FrankieFrankie's Seattle Post-Intelligencer Front Page Photo
A wonderfully warm and charming colleague of ours passed away recently. His funeral was this weekend at a Catholic church in town where he'd recently been confirmed. It was a funny and way-too-soon remembrance of a man who touched many segments of our diverse community. It was also 90-minutes of sitting and standing in a large lit church. Our daughter had many questions (this was her first funeral), and did a great job integrating new ideas like the Passion of the Christ, the Eucharist, and the act of Communion into her understanding.
Afterwards, as we exited the reception, we found ourselves walking back through the now-darkened church. "This is kinda spooky" I said out loud, and we paused just a moment to hear the echo. I had the impulse to show her that solemn spaces can be festive places too, so I suggested, "we could do things we never get the chance to do, like, run around!"
And with that I ran down the side-aisle, then veered left into a pew. Half-way through the pew, my foot caught on something, and I lost my balance. I fell. Hard. Against the corner end-cap of the pew. I stumbled out into the center aisle doubled-over, unable to breath, and barely able to stand. My right hand went immediately to my left side, through my now-torn leather jacket (my birthday jacket!), and there were stars in my head.
Right away I thought I'd broken a rib, but after few minutes was able to speak, breath a little deeply, and stand upright. The impulse to laugh, both from surprise, and also from the stupidity of what happened was pretty strong. I was able to drive home, reverse parallel park, put on a sweater, and walk my dogs, but all with some discomfort. While moving around the next day, I felt my rib pop in place like a knuckle.
I've since gone to the clinic and had it x-rayed. The staff had a good laugh about how I'd injured myself. "Running in church? That's a new one..." The diagnosis was "fractured seventh rib" and "incredibly lucky because it's not displaced or broken."
It wasn't my church, or my God, but there's plenty of meaning one could attached to this latest mis/adventure. It may certainly put a dent in my hopes for epic roller-coaster riding later this week.
Friends of ours for years have complained of being unable to use Skype Video or Netflix Streaming services on there home's "Comcast Triple Play" (now Xfinity) service. Connections slow, stutter and drop on pc's, tablets, and televisions. We've suggested their ISP was 'throttling' the internet connection: selectively slowing access to certain service providers like Skype video and Netflix streaming. But how's a mom and pop consumer to test that one? Here’s a report of a guy who secured an admission of throttling from a customer support rep at Verizon.
Verizon’s throttling appears to have started after a Federal Appeals Court panel struck down the FCC’s rules enforcing a concept called “net neutrality”. “Net Neutrality” is the concept that all internet service providers should respond to and route all web traffic equally, without regard for what the traffic is or who it’s between (like between your tv and the Netflix streaming servers). By striking down the FCC’s rules enforcing this, companies like Verizon and Xfinity are now free to throttle, and then charge you more for providing the same speed to your Netflix account or favorite news site that they provide when you check your email. “Net Neutrality” is a good thing and is one of the core tenets of the design and creation of the internet. Throttling and 3rd-party network fees to access your content are bad. Even the Editorial Board of the New York Times understands that.
My daughter and I logged on to Code.org's "Hour of Code" site tonight, and she's already made it through 8 lessons (using the Scratch interface to control an Angry Birds maze) and produced the following JavaScript:
