Sniper Training

CNN repeatedly mentioned last night that John Mohammed, although former army, was never trained as a sniper.

As has been said repeatedly by anyone with any firearms training, 150 meters is not sniper range. If you miss a slow-moving target at anything closer than 300 meters with a scope, you're just a bad shot.

Site Update

Just updated the site a little, adding a new Thought, this one about LJ.

Holiday Giving

Got the coolest catalog yesterday, although simultaneously one of the most unusual. I think a number of folks on my gift list will be getting something from this fine organization. It's cool, it's about giving, yada yada yada. Read about them.

I'm a big fan of direct-action charities. I don't give to the Sierra Club because they are a bunch of paid lobbyists. I give what I can to the Nature Conservancy, though, because they do one thing - buy land. If you want to save nature, the best thing to do is buy land and stop others from messing it up. That's what NC does. Heifer International doesn't give people food, they give them the means to eat. The old adage about teaching a man to fish applies so well here. And, the gifts range in price from $10 to $5000. For five grand, you give a village or two an entire menagerie, but for those of us with more modest means, a flock of chickens is affordable, or a share in a goat. That just sounds silly, but it's a good thing.

In the midst of the consumerism which most of us indulge in, we could stand to help others, right? The USA is a very affluent country, overall.

And there was great weeping and gnashing of teeth

Anna Nicole gets second season on E!

Now playing at a school near you!

Coach tapes girls locker room. Yeah, like it's an isolated case or something.

Muhammed

OK, this guy is a total nutcase, of the Tim McVeigh type. He claimed to be a demolitions expert - he was a truck driver. He claimed to be a sniper - he shot expert once. He claimed to be a Green Beret - he was a truck driver!

He was stationed at Fort Ord and Fort Lewis, the two army posts I at which I was stationed during my years in the army. Suppose I ever met him? Nope, he was a truck driver in an engineering battalion. M.I. geeks don't associate with anyone whose GT score is below 100.

Glad they caught this jackass, but it's too bad he was military. McVeigh did enough damage, and the string of spouse killings is no ray of light either.

So, here's a discussion question (not an invitation to a flame war) - Does the military attract violent men, do men become violent from being in the military, or is the correlation not statistically significant and the media is blowing it out of proportion? Discuss.