- Noodling around Wikipedia the other day, I somehow wound up on the page for Augusta, Georgia. There was an odd-looking building in the skyline that I just had to find out more about: Turns out it's called the Lamar Building. Does that not look like an awesome superhero lair up there?
- I did not make it to Sunday's blogmeet because I was at school, so I didn't do a post-blogmeet writeup. Bobbi did and did.
- A good (and funny) review of a three-day pistol class with Larry Vickers.
- A gun you can't use properly can be a danger to yourself and others: Dude attempts to shoot bear off his buddy, and puts a round through his buddy's brisket, killing his friend deader than Elvis. Oops. I know people I'd trust to shoot a bear off me, and I know others who... well, I'd rather take my chances with the bear, truthfully.
Books. Bikes. Boomsticks.
“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
"It was unclear how many times the bear was hit, or whether the bullet that killed Stevenson had first hit the bear. Bowe said that possibility was under investigation."
ReplyDeleteSounds like he probably did hit it at least once, plus he had already wounded it. Grizzlies can take a lot of killing.
If I were him, I'd worry more about the fact that the feds are looking at charging him for killing a grizzly.
Superhero lair? Looks more like the White House post-Carter/pre-Reagan.
ReplyDeleteThey should call it the Jimmah building, but he's more antihero than super..."Able to crush an economy in a single term..." Oh wait, O-Man's got that one copyrighted.
pawnbroker,
ReplyDeleteThose are windows, not solar panels. It's a big glass-walled penthouse.
Jake: If I were him, I'd worry more about the fact that the feds are looking at charging him for killing a grizzly.
ReplyDeleteSurely not? I thought there were clear "in defence of human life" clauses that let you get away with that.
Jake,
ReplyDelete"Sounds like he probably did hit it at least once..."
Sure, but "Well, I hit the terrorist too!" sounds weak in a courtroom accused of accidentally hitting a bus full of nuns and orphans.
Oh, he shot the bear first. I withdraw my objection.
ReplyDeleteperlhaqr,
ReplyDelete"Surely not? I thought there were clear "in defence of human life" clauses that let you get away with that."
Yes, but they shot it first (thinking it was a black bear) before the whole self-defense thing started. I mean, if I shoot somebody in the leg, and they start shooting at me, I can't very well claim I then killed them in self-defense.
(Also, I am reminded of the Tennessee lad who excitedly brought the biggest deer he's ever kilt! to the check-in station, only to find that shooting one of the newly reintroduced Smokey Mountain elk heard was officially Frowned Upon...)
...er, elk herd.
ReplyDeleteFTBA (from the bear article): We're fairly convinced it was obviously an accident
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be annoyed by this line for the rest of the day, I just know it.
jf
I know someone who was mauled by a 600 lb black bear...
ReplyDeleteHe was mauled because the dude he trusted to back him up with a shotgun during his bow hunt decided to drop the shotgun and run.
He only survived by the skin of his .44 Mag Desert Eagle.
QoTD Nominee ! "Anytime you follow a wounded animal, but particularly a predator like a bear, you have to be very careful,".
ReplyDelete"Those are windows, not solar panels..."
ReplyDeleteWell, not like Jimmy's feelgood photovoltaic ones, but there's lots of kinds of solar panels, and that giant Pei solarium certainly qualifies...I didn't throw in a qualifier 'cause it would eff up the joke, and I didn't think it would be necessary here.
And if it's a lair, there's gotta be some kind of super-purpose; a charging port for the super hoopty, or energy absorption for our hero herself...
"It's SolGirl...fast as a ray of sunshine and hotter than a two dollar pistol!"
pawnbroker,
ReplyDeleteI dunno, did you look at the picture of the interior of that room? I can totally see Bruce Wayne brooding out those rain-streaked windows over a darkened city skyline...
(Of course, that skyline would be the rather twee one of Disgusta, which would ruin some of the 'Gotham' effect, but still...)
"Sure, but "Well, I hit the terrorist too!" sounds weak in a courtroom accused of accidentally hitting a bus full of nuns and orphans."
ReplyDeleteTrue, though that's a difference between "knowing what's behind your target" and the target and friend being directly engaged. But I hesitate to criticize someone in such a dynamic situation without being able to actually see what happened. Did he have a clear shot and the bear yanked his buddy up and into the line of fire just as he pulled the trigger, or did he just have bad aim? Did the bullet deflect off a bone in the bear and into his friend? We'll probably never know the answer to the first one, and I have little confidence we'll ever know the second one, either.
The friend and the shooter would most likely have both died if he hadn't shot the bear, and while shooting risked killing his friend (which it did) it also held the greater possibility of saving him, so (at that point) it was kind of a "nothing to lose" situation.
The equivalent to the situation you mentioned would be "Yes, I hit the bus full of nuns and orphans, but it was the only shot I had, and I prevented the terrorist from setting off the nuke."
Does that not look like an awesome superhero lair up there?
ReplyDeleteCertainly does. It also reminds me of the time a couple years ago when the burlesque troupe performed in Rochester, NY. The building hosting the event had giant, wall-sized windows, which gave a spectacular view of the river and of the Times Square Building.
It's clearly the abode of a plutocratic sorcerer who's planning to sacrifice his plucky new secretary on its rooftop altar, ushering in a millennium of darkness under the reign of Gozer.
Maybe the Rochestrians should call in the metahuman protector of Augusta for help.
He was mauled because the dude he trusted to back him up with a shotgun during his bow hunt decided to drop the shotgun and run.
ReplyDeleteWhat gun for ex-best friend?
That is a very odd looking building. I lived somewhat near Augusta when I was a lot younger. I don't really remember the building, so I either did not notice it, or in my youthful igorance just thought it was normal. After all I grew up with 1970s earthtone kitchens.
ReplyDeleteThe second question with regard to who you trust to shoot at the bear: Are the people you don't trust bad shots, or good ones?
This news article kinda burns me. I live in grizzly country. Here are 2 guys from Nevada hunting black bear, who can't tell the difference between that and a grizzly.
ReplyDeleteThey wound a grizzly by mistake, and then... FOLLOW THE GRIZZLY INTO DEEP COVER under the mistaken impression that they were tracking it. Turns out the bear was tracking them.
If you don't have your stuff together in grizzly country, guns or angels aren't going to save you.
"If you don't have your stuff together in grizzly country, guns or angels aren't going to save you."
ReplyDeleteThe beautiful(?) part is you CAN have your stuff together and most of what happens is still up to the bear, guns and angels notwithstanding.
WV: abluanta - the word for grandmother in the heart of every Spanish-speaking Smurf
If you want to see a good superhero lair, check out the Frost building in Austin
ReplyDeleteAnon, I'm pretty sure the Frost building was designed & built by Ivo Shandor. I mean, just look at the thing...
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_Bank_Tower
Another fun fact about the Lamar Building - the state senator who paid to build the awesome superhero lair in the 1970's was convicted of bank fraud shortly after it was finished.
ReplyDeleteI grew up not too far from Augusta; all through the first half of the '80's, at least, there was a giant internally-lit white cross mounted on top of the penthouse on the Lamar Building; so big that first you noticed the cross, then the penthouse!!
ReplyDelete