Even with a small hole in my leg healing...
I very nearly snap-kicked a man in the crotch yesterday. Better still, I would have followed that with a side kick to take out his knee. Now I'm not an angry person, and while I'm old and fat and in bad health, I haven't completely forgotten my training. I was minding my own business, walking on the narrow sidewalk of a mini-mall parking lot when this guy came in my direction.
He was young and fairly clean, so I suspect his acting like he was deranged or mentally ill was indeed an act, done to get a rise out of people. Most of the truly mentally ill I've encountered on the streets (and let's not forget that I did work on Skid Row for a bit) look the part in addition to acting that way.
I was prepared to ignore him and just step past, until he reached out in an effort to grab and/or touch me. Then I stopped and prepared. His hands stopped about six inches short of my body. Had he made contact, moments later he would have been lying on the ground looking up. He didn't have a weapon in his hands but that doesn't mean he couldn't grab one and make a sudden move. I held my ground and seconds later he withdrew his hands and he stepped around me. Probably disappointed he got no reaction from me. Healthier because he didn't force the issue.
It reminded me of an anecdote from my past that I may have related in these pages. I was at the gym on an Air Force base, playing basketball. We were between pick-up games and standing around talking when a friend thought he'd be funny and sneak up behind me. He grabbed me, holding my arms against my sides. I reacted instinctively, stomping on his instep, hitting him in the groin with a back-heel and I had to stop my suddenly freed hand from back-fisting in the face. He was angry but I told him you don't sneak up and grab people without risking a reaction.
Now I'm not a warrior like the SEALs who went into Pakistan to kill bin Laden, or other special forces types. That doesn't mean I didn't get trained to a degree to care for myself. I don't "swagger" and the real warriors don't either. When you see someone swaggering and bragging about their exploits in combat, odds are good they are full of feces. The real warriors walk around relaxed, observant and ready. When something sets their "spider-senses" to tingling, they stay relaxed but raise their levels of awareness and readiness. They are the true warriors. I'm just an old, fat, disabled guy who happens to be a bit more dangerous than I appear. Me, I prefer flight to fight. I hope to live out my life never again having to engage in self-defense, except of course for the defensive-driving that living in Southern California makes a necessity.
Other ponderings on a Friday morning. Why are shootings done from a car labelled as "drive-by" shootings, but shootings involving pedestrians aren't referred to as "walk-by" shootings?
Can Los Angeles afford to host the 2024 Olympic Games?
Kudos to a judge in San Francisco. He ruled that a bicyclist will face a felony charge of gross vehicular manslaughter for an incident where the cyclist blew through two red-lights and a stop-sign before plowing into an elderly man walking in a crosswalk. The man died of his injuries four days later.
My leg hurts a bit where the doctor made the incision. It isn't bleeding or anything. I guess it's normal to feel a little pain when you've been cut open to insert a catheter.
You've stolen a woman's wallet. You've used the ID to make up new checks that you've been using. You've used the credit cards. Wouldn't you be on the look-out to make sure that if you run into the woman and she asks you for ID before bringing you a drink, you wouldn't hand her her own driver's license? Apparently one thief didn't think that through and is now drinking water in the gray-bar hotel.
When she's alone and taking a bubble bath, Jennifer Love-Hewitt wears a tiara to make her feel like royalty. Any chance we could watch and see how blissful she looks at that moment?
Schools in Louisiana taking part in Governor Jindal's voucher program teach some "interesting" facts to their students. Here are a few samples:
"[The Ku Klux] Klan in some areas of the country tried to be a means of reform, fighting the decline in morality and using the symbol of the cross. Klan targets were bootleggers, wife-beaters, and immoral movies. In some communities it achieved a certain respectability as it worked with politicians."—United States History for Christian Schools, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2001
"A few slave holders were undeniably cruel. Examples of slaves beaten to death were not common, neither were they unknown. The majority of slave holders treated their slaves well."—United States History for Christian Schools, 2nd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 1991
"Many young people turned to drugs and immoral lifestyles; these youth became known as hippies. They went without bathing, wore dirty, ragged, unconventional clothing, and deliberately broke all codes of politeness or manners. Rock music played an important part in the hippie movement and had great influence over the hippies. Many of the rock musicians they followed belonged to Eastern religious cults or practiced Satan worship."
One reason why religious-based schools shouldn't be used for voucher systems is that they'll teach this kind of false history.
Speaking of history, This Date in History:
On this date in 1618, Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion.
On this date in 1655, John Casor becomes the first legally recognized slave in England's North American colonies.
On this date in 1817, the New York Stock Exchange is founded.
On this date in 1868, in the so-called "Sakai incident", 11 French sailors are killed by samurai near Osaka.
On this date in 1917, the U.S. Senate voted to limit filibusters by passing the so-called "cloture rule".
On this date in 1957, Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal following the Suez crisis.
On this date in 1983, President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire".
On this date in 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the murder convictions of Timothy McVeigh for the bombing in Oklahoma City.
Famous Folk born today:
Hannah Van Buren (a First Lady)
Oliver Wendell Holmes (Oliver Wendell Douglas would arrive later with the tv series "Green Acres")
Alan Hale Jr. (it was only supposed to be a three hour tour, it lasted three seasons and decades in syndication).
Cyd Charisse (long before ZZ Top, she had "legs")
Carl Furillo (known as the "Reading Rifle", one of the best right-fielders in Dodgers history)
Jim Bouton
Susan Clark
Dick Allen
Lynn Redgrave
Mickey Dolenz
Randy Meisner
Carol Bayer Sager
Jim Rice
Aidan Quinn
Gary Numan (was he born here in my car?)
Sasha Vujacic
He was young and fairly clean, so I suspect his acting like he was deranged or mentally ill was indeed an act, done to get a rise out of people. Most of the truly mentally ill I've encountered on the streets (and let's not forget that I did work on Skid Row for a bit) look the part in addition to acting that way.
I was prepared to ignore him and just step past, until he reached out in an effort to grab and/or touch me. Then I stopped and prepared. His hands stopped about six inches short of my body. Had he made contact, moments later he would have been lying on the ground looking up. He didn't have a weapon in his hands but that doesn't mean he couldn't grab one and make a sudden move. I held my ground and seconds later he withdrew his hands and he stepped around me. Probably disappointed he got no reaction from me. Healthier because he didn't force the issue.
It reminded me of an anecdote from my past that I may have related in these pages. I was at the gym on an Air Force base, playing basketball. We were between pick-up games and standing around talking when a friend thought he'd be funny and sneak up behind me. He grabbed me, holding my arms against my sides. I reacted instinctively, stomping on his instep, hitting him in the groin with a back-heel and I had to stop my suddenly freed hand from back-fisting in the face. He was angry but I told him you don't sneak up and grab people without risking a reaction.
Now I'm not a warrior like the SEALs who went into Pakistan to kill bin Laden, or other special forces types. That doesn't mean I didn't get trained to a degree to care for myself. I don't "swagger" and the real warriors don't either. When you see someone swaggering and bragging about their exploits in combat, odds are good they are full of feces. The real warriors walk around relaxed, observant and ready. When something sets their "spider-senses" to tingling, they stay relaxed but raise their levels of awareness and readiness. They are the true warriors. I'm just an old, fat, disabled guy who happens to be a bit more dangerous than I appear. Me, I prefer flight to fight. I hope to live out my life never again having to engage in self-defense, except of course for the defensive-driving that living in Southern California makes a necessity.
Other ponderings on a Friday morning. Why are shootings done from a car labelled as "drive-by" shootings, but shootings involving pedestrians aren't referred to as "walk-by" shootings?
Can Los Angeles afford to host the 2024 Olympic Games?
Kudos to a judge in San Francisco. He ruled that a bicyclist will face a felony charge of gross vehicular manslaughter for an incident where the cyclist blew through two red-lights and a stop-sign before plowing into an elderly man walking in a crosswalk. The man died of his injuries four days later.
My leg hurts a bit where the doctor made the incision. It isn't bleeding or anything. I guess it's normal to feel a little pain when you've been cut open to insert a catheter.
You've stolen a woman's wallet. You've used the ID to make up new checks that you've been using. You've used the credit cards. Wouldn't you be on the look-out to make sure that if you run into the woman and she asks you for ID before bringing you a drink, you wouldn't hand her her own driver's license? Apparently one thief didn't think that through and is now drinking water in the gray-bar hotel.
When she's alone and taking a bubble bath, Jennifer Love-Hewitt wears a tiara to make her feel like royalty. Any chance we could watch and see how blissful she looks at that moment?
Schools in Louisiana taking part in Governor Jindal's voucher program teach some "interesting" facts to their students. Here are a few samples:
"[The Ku Klux] Klan in some areas of the country tried to be a means of reform, fighting the decline in morality and using the symbol of the cross. Klan targets were bootleggers, wife-beaters, and immoral movies. In some communities it achieved a certain respectability as it worked with politicians."—United States History for Christian Schools, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2001
"A few slave holders were undeniably cruel. Examples of slaves beaten to death were not common, neither were they unknown. The majority of slave holders treated their slaves well."—United States History for Christian Schools, 2nd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 1991
"Many young people turned to drugs and immoral lifestyles; these youth became known as hippies. They went without bathing, wore dirty, ragged, unconventional clothing, and deliberately broke all codes of politeness or manners. Rock music played an important part in the hippie movement and had great influence over the hippies. Many of the rock musicians they followed belonged to Eastern religious cults or practiced Satan worship."
One reason why religious-based schools shouldn't be used for voucher systems is that they'll teach this kind of false history.
Speaking of history, This Date in History:
On this date in 1618, Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion.
On this date in 1655, John Casor becomes the first legally recognized slave in England's North American colonies.
On this date in 1817, the New York Stock Exchange is founded.
On this date in 1868, in the so-called "Sakai incident", 11 French sailors are killed by samurai near Osaka.
On this date in 1917, the U.S. Senate voted to limit filibusters by passing the so-called "cloture rule".
On this date in 1957, Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal following the Suez crisis.
On this date in 1983, President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire".
On this date in 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the murder convictions of Timothy McVeigh for the bombing in Oklahoma City.
Famous Folk born today:
Hannah Van Buren (a First Lady)
Oliver Wendell Holmes (Oliver Wendell Douglas would arrive later with the tv series "Green Acres")
Alan Hale Jr. (it was only supposed to be a three hour tour, it lasted three seasons and decades in syndication).
Cyd Charisse (long before ZZ Top, she had "legs")
Carl Furillo (known as the "Reading Rifle", one of the best right-fielders in Dodgers history)
Jim Bouton
Susan Clark
Dick Allen
Lynn Redgrave
Mickey Dolenz
Randy Meisner
Carol Bayer Sager
Jim Rice
Aidan Quinn
Gary Numan (was he born here in my car?)
Sasha Vujacic
posted by me at 9:22 AM
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