Control Ammo, Not Guns

I am a longtime advocate of gun control.  While I am a hunter and own rifles and a shotgun, I have no problem with having them registered and undergoing a background check to buy them.  I also see no sporting purpose for handguns and automatic weapons.  When it comes to gun control, I am more liberal than liberals.  The majority of people in the U.S. want gun control now and they want tougher controls than are currently being discussed by the politicians.

Years ago the NRA mailed registered voters their recommendations of candidates.  In my opinion, the NRA is about as anti-American as a political action group can be, with no regard to public safety and the rights of the mainstream public.  When they suggested who I should vote for, I went to the polls and voted for their opposition.

Eventually America will get behind significant gun control, but it will be too late to have an impact on safety.  By many estimates, there are already more than 300 million guns in the U.S., many of them purchased illegally or without background checks.  By the time real gun control finally becomes a reality, there could be almost 1 billion guns in the hands of the crazies.  Doomsday preppers, criminal and gangs, and other gun hoarding people are stockpiling weapons as fast as they can.  Every time there is news about a mass shooting or proposed gun control legislation, a run on guns at the thousands of retail outlets and gun shows takes place. 

The Über right wingers conveniently lean on the 2^nd amendment as proof of their right to arms.  The amendment says “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”.  The political right argues that “people” refers to individuals, yet most scholars would suggest that “people” was a reference to citizens as group, contrasted to an authoritarian government, king or dictator, which up until the late 18^th century was largely the only government known.  The Supreme Court has ruled and we now have a bill of rights that has been changed from the founders’ intentions.  That is very convenient.

Utilizing the same convenient logic, I believe we should outlaw or heavily regulate the sales of ammunition.  This would not infringe on the peoples’ right to bear arms, however it would make it far more difficult to use them.   Sure the preppers and hoarders would stock up on ammo once they hear about a ban.  They are already stocking up.  Ammo is largely consumable and would diminish in supply over time.  Ammo has a shelf life, though it is long.  In most cases, ammo can be reloaded.  Right wingers love to shoot their weapons, presumably for readiness against the everyday citizens infringing on their rights.  Over time, ammo supplies would decline and could create a shooting war between themselves, as they protect their hoards.

Yes, banning ammo sales would solve several problems and may be much easier than real gun control.

Macular Degeneration Prevention Supplements

Two years ago I went to my eye doctor for my annual checkup.  The doctor had me take a new test (new at his office).  His assistant had me look through a scope at a dot on a grid and indicate when I saw movement.  The movement seemed difficult to detect from normal vibrations in the room, but I did my best to appease them.  The doctor said I scored very low and was predisposed for age related macular degeneration.  AMD is a very serious disease resulting in blindness and I don’t want to sound as if I don’t take it seriously.  The doctor prescribed a vitamin supplement that I could conveniently buy from his office.   I received 3 months of a high dose capsule and instructed to take 2 each day and never, ever miss a dose.  The supplement is very expensive and I was told to return in 6 months for another exam.

I returned in 6 months, retook the test, which seemed very subjective to me.  I could see movement, but wasn’t sure it was the movement they were looking for.  The doctor said my results improved slightly, but I was still in danger of AMD.  I took more expensive supplements and was retested 6 months later.  This cycle went on for two years.  One time I failed the test so bad, they said my result scored near zero.  I explained it seemed very subjective and asked to retake it.  I then received a numeric score that was near normal.  The doctor said to keep taking the supplements conveniently sold at his office. 

I stopped by his office one day to restock my supplement supply and the assistant remarked that a large number of the doctor’s patients were taking them.  While I was slightly suspicious before, I became highly suspicious at this time.  I explained this to my wife, who is a scientist and medical researcher.  She read some studies and had me look at one published by the Cochrane Group in London.  The eye health division of Cochrane concluded the supplements provided no benefit. 

Recently I switched eye doctors and asked about my predisposition to AMD.  My new doctor said my macular looked fine.  I explained the test taken and supplements prescribed.  She said the test was referred to as the Amsler grid and the proper application was to detect whether there was a break in the grid or the lines were distorted.  Movement detection was not part of the test and there are no numerical scores given.  I looked at the Amsler grid she held in front of me and the lines looked perfectly straight. She said the supplements wouldn’t hurt, but she doesn’t recommend them either.  I announced I had been scammed.  My new doctor didn’t disagree, but was cautious to avoid the word scam.  She said her desire was to secretly go to other doctor offices for eye examinations and see what happens elsewhere. I wish she would; I was scammed.

 

My Blog Statistics

15 months ago I began my blog to allow friends and family to keep track of where I was and what I was up to.  I had retired from the company I worked at for 28 years and was ready to move to Taiwan and marry.  I did that and I am happily married, however life continues to evolve, as it does for everyone.  I became bored not working and re-entered the workforce after 7 months of retirement.  I continue blogging approximately every week and have posted 65 blog entries to date. 

Sometimes I try to add some humor to my work, though many people would be surprised to hear that.  I occasionally receive comments that suggest my humor has failed.  While living in Taipei, I described the noisy, polluting motor scooter swarms and wrote why they were part of the culture, but largely unnecessary after a great public transportation was installed.  I included some Hello Kitty references, lame motor scooter gang discussion and even modeled a nice pink helmet.  This was an anti-scooter piece, yet I received a comment that my blog was right on target; they were necessary in Taipei.  Since then I have worked on my writing skills to better communicate my thoughts.

My blog reading audience initially was the intended friends and family and it has grown to include many people largely unknown to me.  The intended targets have read it less frequently over time.  I am often told when I see friends, that they have not read the blog in a while.  My life isn’t that exciting, so I believe writing about what I did each week or where I traveled, may not be too interesting.

I can see what countries the readers are from and which blog posts they read, though I cannot tell who the individual readers are.  I have few formal followers, though there is larger group of consistent readers, based on the blog stats.   The country with the most blog reads is the U.S. with 75%, followed by Taiwan with 10%; which I expected.  Third place is Canada.  My sister-in-law lives in Toronto, so I hoped for some Canadian traffic.  She asked that I include more pictures of her sister.  Since I began adding more pictures of my wife, my Canadian traffic has gone down.  The interesting readership follows in descending order: Russia, Germany, Singapore, U.K., Poland, Spain, China and many more.  China is interesting because you cannot access the Google blog website through normal internet channels and most likely have to use a special VPN connection.

The blogs that generate the most readership seem to be the human and social interest stories, and less about my personal life.  Sleeping Asian Hidden Danger is by far the most popular with a 2 to 1 margin over second place Umbrellas for Rainy Taiwan.  I often see a 50 hit spike on Sleeping Asians within one hour and I assume someone is passing the link around. My political commentary of Tommy Thompson is a Piece of Crap was popular for 2 weeks during the election season and is third place. Motor Scooters and Love Motels are fourth and fifth.

Based on the declining interest in my life, and the apparent interest of blogs unrelated to my life, I think I will change the focus of my writing.  I still enjoy writing and will continue.

 

 

Little Drummer Boy

As a youngster and teenager, I took drum lessons and played in the school band, the orchestra and the civic band.  My favorite drumming was the cadence played in marching band.  Every year we played a drum solo in a judged competition and the best drummers played for a larger audience. My favorite solo was The Little Drummer Boy.

I have a high end electronic drum kit that I use periodically.  My grandson loves to play the kit with me (or without me).  For Christmas, my wife and I gave him a small toddler sized kit.  This is not a toy, but a small scale set equipped with seat and base drum beater.  My grandson loves playing his drums and often starts by clicking his drum sticks together for a 1..2..3..4 count.

Attached are pictures of my Grandson playing my kit with me, his own kit and a link to YouTube to see him in action.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E3n4O5RfYw&list=UUDKZBZk0VKw3EfUk9m4oLXw&index=1

My 2010 Vintage Wine

For those people that don’t know my story, I completed my wine making education at U.C. Davis in 2008 and began making wine in 2009.  My second vintage arrived last week after much drama.  Like many small wineries, I have used a custom crush facility; it doesn’t make sense to own all of the processing equipment for small scale boutique wines.  My first wine is outstanding.  My grapes for both 2009 & 2010 are from Beckstoffer Georges III vineyard and I have compared my wine to the 2009 Schrader Cellars "GIII - Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford.  You can find tasting notes on Schrader at the major wine rating publications.  My 2010 isn’t as good, though it is still a nice wine.  But the wine does have a more interesting story.

Shortly before the wine was planned to be bottled, I was informed that the custom crush facility had major financial problems and the future of everyone’s wine stored there was in doubt.  Despite that the wine had been 100% paid for in advance, California will not give the wineries title unless they have a license to bottle.  Over the course of the next several weeks, through limited communications and ominous news articles printed in Northern California publications, we learned that the custom crush company housed at Sebastiani, was assigned by the Board of Directors to a third party. The secured lender and assignee arranged for a rush auction, where a prearranged company created by a small private equity firm, was the only bidder for the assets.  This is a legal practice in California and allows companies to avoid lengthy and expensive bankruptcy procedures.  However, small businesses like all of the affected wineries get hurt.  It was rumored that some Mondovi family and others were interested in buying the business, but were shut out of the process.  We were told our wine could be sold in bulk to other wineries.  Some of the employees of the illiquid company became management of the new venture.  They told us how irresponsible the old company was, but that we should trust them.  My winery, and many others, became unsecured creditors attempting to get our wine back.

When the new venture proposed a solution, they set-up conference calls for small groups of wineries to participate.  The new venture owner told us that if we pay a fee of 20-50% of what was previously paid, and pay in advance, they will bottle our wine and let us have it.  Some of the winery owners thanked this guy for “saving” the wine.  They called him a hero and the owner acted like he believed the praise.  I fully understood the process was simply an opportunistic collaboration that followed a financial meltdown, in a state with poor protection for creditors.  No hard feelings from me, but I won’t call these guys heroes.

Now I have my wine, and I paid a premium-monetary and emotional.  The wine has a story that I can tell as I share and distribute it.

 

 

 

 

The USPS is Irrelevant and Important

Yes, the United States Postal Service is both irrelevant and important. How can they be both? Please read on. My Wife and I have an unusual life. I live in a suburb of Milwaukee, but work several hours away, so we have a home and an apartment used during the week for work. My Wife lives in Taipei, but works 100 km south of the city, so we have a home and an apartment there. I lived in Taipei for 7 months, before returning to the U.S to work.

When I moved to Taipei, the USPS didn’t have a good solution to forward my mail, so I changed my address to my Son’s house in West Allis. Actually I did that because I thought it would be cool to have Stallis as an address. Actually that is not true. My Son then sent the relevant mail to my Taipei home. There is almost no important mail sent to me by USPS. For many years, I had all bills, bank and investment statements sent via e-mail or I retrieve them on-line. When I returned to the U.S., I set-up a post office box, because I didn’t want mail to sit in my home mailbox for long periods while I was away at work, and I didn’t want my Son bothered with my mail any longer. When I return home on weekends, I try to pick up my mail during the only window of time my schedule coincides with the USPS hours of convenience-before noon on Saturdays. It is not uncommon if I am traveling, that several weeks go by without the opportunity to get my mail, which is almost exclusively junk.

My Wife has also utilized our U.S. home address for her mail. She has lived in the U.S. several times and has bank and investment accounts, credit card bills and other mail that the USPS won’t forward to Taipei. When I changed my address to my Son’s house, I changed her address too. When I set-up the post office box, I couldn’t change her address, because the USPS requires that she be there in person to make that change. So my mail went to the p.o. box and her mail to my Son’s house.

When the election neared, both of us needed to vote by absentee ballot. I mailed the request form to the local town clerk via USPS asking she send both ballots to my p.o. box. I received my ballot at the p.o. box, but my Wife’s didn’t arrive. The clerk called and said she could not send them to a p.o. box and mailed them both to our physical address in the town. My ballot was clearly sent to the p.o. box, so I wasn’t following her logic. My Wife’s form was returned to the clerk because her mailing address had forwarding to West Allis. The clerk said the USPS was not allowed to forward ballots. I then changed my Wife’s address back to our home and had the clerk remail the ballot. Now my Wife’s mail goes to our home and my mail goes to the p.o. box.

The property tax bill is in my name and cannot have a p.o. box as an address. The automatic forwarding period has ended, so the tax bill will not be sent to either the home address or p.o. box. Fortunately I can get it on-line and don’t need the physical bill.

I arrived at the post office yesterday after missing several of my short little Saturday pick-up times, due to travel, and opened up my p.o. box. A note inside said I should pick-up my mail at the front window. When I presented the note to the post office clerk, she gave me a tub of unsolicited catalogs and junk mail. I knew there was nothing in the large pile of mail that I would leave with-all of it would be left in the recycling container at the post office. The clerk gave me the tub and said “you should think about getting a larger post office box”. I thought about why I needed the p.o. box, and why I need the USPS, and responded “no actually my life is too complex for the United State Post Office and a larger post office box won’t help”. She looked perplexed as I walked away with my tub of junk mail.

 The USPS is important because some governmental agencies require a mailing address. Otherwise, why do I need one? When my post office box subscription expires in June, I may not renew it and therefore have no mailing address; sort of go off the mailing grid and be totally virtual. 12 years ago I eliminated my home phone land line, and the reactions I received when people asked for my my home phone number and I responded with none, was interesting. Yes, I am going to have no mailing address in the near future.

The Trinity in Taipei

I am not using the Christian definition of Trinity, but rather three closely related people or things.  I took my Father and Son with me to visit our home in Taipei.  My Wife did a great job in showing my family a little of the flavor of this city, despite a rainy forecast.  Our days centered on food, which is not at all surprising given the Chinese culture and my wife’s love of food.  We ate the entire food consumption and digestion system of various animals; include duck and cow tongues, pig stomach and intestines, and quite possibly the end of some animal’s track.  The favorite Chinese foods of chicken feet, jellyfish, tripe and stinky tofu were also consumed.

The first day we ate hot pot, a social eating event of winter time, where various raw meat, vegetables and tofu are added to hot boiling broths tableside by the customers.  On the second day we had lunch at a traditional Japanese restaurant ranked as one of the top 100 restaurants in the world.  Later in the week we ate at a Michelin rated restaurant serving Xiao Long Bao (small blanket dumpling), where the dumplings are made by men dedicated to their craft, carefully creating 17 folds in the dumpling, as did generations before them.  Throughout the week we had wonderful breakfasts prepared by my Wife and night market foods.

Some of the sightseeing events included a visit to the Ju Ming museum.  Ju Ming is the best known sculptor of Taiwan.  His work is displayed around the world and he was featured in Time magazine.  We took in the observation deck at Taipei 101, which for several years was the tallest building in the world.  Taipei sprawls through the valleys of three rivers, framed by the mountains and you cannot truly appreciate the city size until seeing it from the 89^th floor of a tall building.  The National Palace Museum is the largest collection of Chinese antiquities in the world, created by Chiang Kai Shek when he fled China for Taiwan.  The mainland Chinese visit Taiwan in huge tour groups to see the art from their country.  Ironically, had CKS not taken these artworks, they would have likely been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

We took in a prayer service at a local temple.  Temples are places where you can pray and ask for special consideration from various gods.  Most people pray for wealth or success in their career or education.  People seeking a spouse, or a better spouse, or happiness with their spouse often pray at the temple.  I have a happy marriage, enough wealth to meet our needs and ample education and career success for my happiness.  When I go to any temple I pray for the avoidance of paralysis.  I am not making fun; I just think that paralysis would suck.

I worried my Father would find the travel difficult; however he handled the 20+ hour trip just fine.  The trip was important to me for several reasons.  I obviously know my Father well having grown up in his house, and my Son can say the same of me.  My Son and Father are very close to each other.   My Wife is relatively new to our family and she wants to know everyone better.  There is nothing like spending a week together to learn more about each other and reaffirm why these are the people I love the most.  In addition, my family now better understands why I love my second home in Taipei.