The Haze Filter

Sad, But Probably True ::

And we have no political will to change this course of events, especially given the austerity measures being promulgated. Not only will the Chinese surpass us, but I look for the Indians to do so also.

My New Kindle Fire ::

I've resisted getting an e-book reader for a long time because I have long felt that I would be much more comfortable, not to mention at ease, with turning the pages of a real, old-time analog book, but a couple of weeks ago I bought myself a Kindle Fire and I've found that I'm very happy with it and I don't miss having a physical book at all. I don't have to worry about going by the bookstore, although I visited Barnes & Noble earlier this evening. I generally don't have to worry about ordering and shipping, but I did search for an Albert Camus e-book a couple of days ago which apparently is not available in that format from Amazon.

I'm still exploring my Kindle and I will probably have more to say about it as I gain more experience, but so far I would heartily recommend it!

A Hunting Accident ::

The local news is reporting this story this evening:

A man has been shot to death and now investigators are trying to find the person responsible... His wife found him lying next to his 4-wheeler and thought he'd had a heart attack. Doctors found he'd been shot once Hart got to the hospital.

"We're trying to find out who was maybe hunting in this area. At this point, we're investigating it as a hunting accident," said Jackson County Sheriff Chuck Phillips.

I haven't hunted in years and I've never owned a high-powered rifle as all of my hunting was for small game and ducks and I always made it a point to hunt with others who were safe. Unfortunately there are many who are very careless when it comes to the direction that their weapons are being fired. I remember fishing once with my wife in a small farm pond in the Hurricane Creek community of Madison County, Alabama when someone across the valley began target firing a high powered rifle with the result that we could hear the bullets whizzing over our heads. Believe me, a bullet traveling through the air makes a very distinctive noise. These bullets were well over our heads, but we decided that the better part of valor was to leave the pond.

I was also duck hunting one morning after Christmas with 2 friends and someone up in the woods was shooting a 22 rifle. I don't know what he was shooting at, but at one point a bullet went right through the reeds that camouflaged our blind just inches in front of us. We each fired off a round from our shotguns in order to alert this person that we were down in the bay. It was time to leave anyway so we gathered up our decoys and headed home.

It's hard to find real country these days and I live in a rural area where guns are often fired and it always makes me nervous! There are just far too many hunters out there who I don't trust to be responsible with a firearm!

Merry Christmas ::

Here's wishing each and every one a very Merry Christmas! After hours of reading directions stating "some assembly required" and "batteries not included" treat yourself to an Egg Nog with some Jack Daniels for breakfast!