Scholars and Warriors

"The nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools." --Thucydides

Rip City

Cars

Thomy: Do they have cars in Brazil and England?

Me: Yep.

Thomy: Yes! I knew it.

Lost Christmas Eve

Trans Siberian Orchestra: because one guitar is just not enough.

You Make Me a Ghost

Clean Your Room

Jeff: Dad, when are you going to clean your room?

Me: Ha! I don't know.

Jeff: Last time Mom cleaned your room but now it is messy again.

Pets

Thomy: Dad, whenever I come home from someone's house, when they have cats Squeaky licks me, when they have dogs he starts sniffing me and following me around. Sometimes he licks me in the ear.

Floating Egg

Thomy: Today I have to work on my math word problem. If an egg floats down the Mississippi River, where did it come from? Then I have to do the math problems and find the letters.

Me: I'll bet it came from a bird or a reptile, maybe a chicken.

Thomy: C-h-i-c-k-e-n. Yep, that fits.

Exothermic Reaction

Jeff: Daddy, why is the sun hot?

Me: Exothermic reaction.

Jeff: Huh?

Me: Exothermic reaction.

Jeff: What?

Me: Exothermic reaction.

Jeff: What daddy?

Me: Exothermic reaction.

Jeff: ....

Friction

Jeff: Why does Jello move around so much?

Me: Because it has a low coefficient of friction.

Jeff: What does that mean?

Me: It means it slips around a lot.

Jeff: Oh.

Is the Moon made of Cheese?

Jeff: Dad, why is the moon so bright in the sky?

Me: Because it reflects the light from the sun like a mirror.

Jeff: Oh. Is the moon made out of cheese?

Me: The moon is made of rock and dust.

Jeff: Oh, I thought it was made out of cheese.

Flying Car

Jeff: Dad, why do I keep seeing things that are not real? I just looked in the sky and saw a flying car.

Me: A flying car?

Jeff: Yes. Then I blinked my eyes and then it was not there.

Sunscreen

"Maybe the internet raised us." --Lorde

"Only the young can break away." --Brandon Flowers

"Don't be reckless with other people's hearts." --Mary Schmich

"Life ain't all rainbows and sunshine." --Rocky Balboa

"If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do." --George S. Patton, Jr.

Harvester Ants

Thomy: Almost all of the ants in our classroom died except for two or three.

Me: Hmm. Why do you think they died?

Thomy: Maybe they got too hot.

Me: Maybe.

Thomy: Or maybe we fed them too much.

Me: What if you didn't feed them enough?

Thomy: Oh.

Me: Or maybe they didn't have enough water.

Thomy: Yeah. But we did give them fruit and that has water in it.

Me: Or maybe they got a disease.

Thomy: Uh-huh.

Me: What kind of ants are they?

Thomy: Harvester ants.

Me: Solenopsis? Are you sure? Solenopsis are invasive. I don't think they would send you an invasive species. They are probably Formica.

Thomy: Formica are a little big. These are small ants. And they are red and hairy.

Me: Hmm. Maybe they are Solenopsis. I will take a look at them tomorrow when I go to your classroom.

Think Like a Scientist

Thomy: Every day of the year is someone's birthday.

Me: How do you know that? I think you're making an assumption.

Thomy: Well... almost every day is someone's birthday?

Me: I suspect you are right and that every day is someone's birthday, but how can we know?

Thomy: ...?

Me: What if we asked people when their birthday is until we found at least one person born on each day of the year. Then we would know that every day was at least one person's birthday.

Thomy: Oh yeah.

Le Faltan las Ideas y le Sobran Argumentos

God from the Machine

Bad Romance

This was my first exposure to Gaga. It kinda blew my mind. My favorite part is when she torches that guy at the end.

Jesus Wears Biker Leather

Love is Madness

Love this song. Not so much the video: it's too anti-establishment for me.

"Your mind goes to dark places." --Dr. Manhattan

Crooked River Ranch

I found a photo archive of pictures taken by Thomy on our camping trip back in July.

First we stopped at Vista House.

Ryan and Lizzy joined us on the expedition.

I sleep when I want, where I want. And Thomy likes to take pictures of me while I sleep.

I call her Lizard, for obvious reasons. 

We found some creatures, but not the coyotes we were looking for.

Lunchtime.

Whenever I want, wherever I want.

The kids helped dig the fire pit and gather firewood.

Our bivouac.

The survivors. We got a little wet on the last day.

La Paga

Ten years later this song has a new meaning to me, though still different from the author's intended meaning.

Bilateral Symmetry

Thomy: Whenever I look at something my nose gets in the way. Why do I always see my nose?

Me: That's a big question. What do you think Squeaker sees?

Thomy: Oh, his nose is way out there.

Me: Yep. He has a long snout and his nose is on the end. What direction does he travel?

Thomy: Straight.

Me: Does he move forward or backward?

Thomy: Forward.

Me: What would happen if his nose was on his butt?

Thomy: He wouldn't be able to smell things.

Me: That's right. He would have to stop and turn around when he wanted to smell something. That's why animals like humans and dogs have their sense organs--like eyes, noses, ears, and mouths--in front where they can sense things as they move forward. These animals are bilaterally symmetrical. What does symmetrical mean?

Thomy: It means the same.

Me: Yes. Syn- means same or joint and -metry means measurement, like metrology or metric. So together they mean "same measurement". Animals that are bilaterally symmetrical are the same on the right side and the left side. What about a starfish? How does it move around?

Thomy: Starfish have eyes on their feet.

Me: That's right, they have an eye on the end of each arm and they move around in any direction so no matter where they go they have an eye out in front. Can you think of another animal that is not symmetrical or has a different kind of symmetry?

Thomy: A germ.

Me: That's true; many single-celled organisms are not symmetrical or have a different form of symmetry. Can you think of a multicellular animal that is not symmetrical or has a different form of symmetry?

Thomy: A sponge.

Me: Yeah, many sponges are not symmetrical or not perfectly symmetrical. They also don't have any sense organs or any nerves either. I think only jellyfish and other animals have nerves.

Movie Stars

These are my favorite actors and actresses, in no particular order:

Paul Giamatti
Sigourney Weaver
Noomi Rapace
Jake Gyllenhaal
Ryan Gosling

More Movies

These are more of my favorite movies:

The Nightmare Before Christmas
Coraline
Alien
Rob Roy (1995)
Les Miserables (2012)
End of Watch
A Few Good Men
True Grit (2010)
The Last of the Mohicans
The Last Samurai
The Bourne Identity
Drive
Fight Club
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Minecraft

Thomy talked to me for thirty minutes about Minecraft. I fell asleep during the conversation and when I woke he was still talking. Finally I had to interject.

Me: Wow, you know a lot about Minecraft.

Thomy: There are people that know more about it than me. And some people make mods. Like, older people can make mods. That's how I know about Apple Boy.

Jeff: And Apple Girl.

Thomy: There is no Apple Girl.

Jeff: Oh, come on. They can make one.


I didn't dare ask about Apple Boy.

Rainfall

From Les Miserables (musical production):

"Don't you fret, Monsieur Marius;
I don't feel any pain.
A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now.
You're here, that's all i need to know.
And you will keep me safe.
And you will keep me close.
And rain will make the flowers grow.
[...]
Just hold me now and let it be;
Shelter me, comfort me.
[...]
The rain can't hurt me now.
This rain will wash away what's past,
And you will keep me safe,
And you will keep me close.
I'll sleep in your embrace at last.
The rain that brings you here is heaven blest;
The skies begin to clear and i'm at rest.
A breath away from where you are;
I've come home from so far.
[...]
A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me know."

--Eponine

Escape from Yesterday

From Les Miserables (musical production):

"One day more
Another day another destiny
This neverending road to Calvary
These men who seem to know my crime will surely come a second time.
One day more"

--Jean Valjean

The Red of a New Dawn

From Les Miserables (musical production):

It is time for us all to decide who we are. [...]

The color of the world is changing day by day. [...]

Red: the blood of angry men
Black: the dark of ages past
Red: a world about to dawn
Black: the night that ends at last

Tigers Come at Night

From Les Miserables (musical production):

"I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living.
I dreamed that love would never die;
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted.
There was no ransom to be paid,
No song unsung, no wine untasted.
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart,
As they turn your dream to shame."

--Fantine

Second Chances

From Les Miserables (musical production):

"I am reaching but I fall
And the night is closing in
As I stare into the void,
To the whirlpool of my sin.
I'll escape now from the world,
From the world of Jean Valjean.
Jean Valjean is nothing now;
Another story must begin."

--Jean Valjean

Not Your Mom and Dad's Orchestra

Fun Run

Jeff: The fun run is in two days so if today was tomorrow then the fun run would be tomorrow.

Me: Oh yeah, that sounds like pretty solid logic.

Jeff: ?

Still Alive

Not as funny unless you have played the game.

Ruffneck

Harden Up, Mate

This video is not for the faint of heart.

Rock and Roll Stops the Traffic

Roses have Prickles

Bobcat

Thomy has earned his Bobcat rank in Cub Scouts. I am very proud of him.

Perceptions

From Introducing NLP: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People, by Joseph O'Connor and John Seymour:

"The world is always richer than the ideas we have about it. The filters we put on our perceptions determine what sort of world we live in. There is a story of Picasso being accosted by a stranger who asked him why he did not paint things as they really are.

"Picasso looked puzzled. 'I do not really understand what you mean', he replied.

"The man produced a photograph of his wife. 'Look', he said, 'like that. That's what my wife really looks like'.

"Picasso looked doubtful. 'She is very small, is she not? And a little bit flat?'

"An artist, a lumberjack and a botanist taking a stroll through a wood will have very different experiences and notice very different things. If you go through the world looking for excellence, you will find excellence. If you go through the world looking for problems you will find problems. Or as the Arabic saying puts it, 'What a piece of bread looks like depends on whether you are hungry or not'."

Ricardo Arjona

Ricardo Arjona is one of my favorite Spanish singers. The poetry of his songs is exquisite, tragic, romantic, intense, and honest. I have translated portions of two of his songs. The translations are my own and are not verbatim as I focused on capturing the poetry and the mood more than the specific language. It's a shame that no translation can compare to the original.

El Amor
Love is the author of lost causes.
Love always starts off a dream and ends in insomnia.
It's a profound act of faith that smells of lies.
Love dances to the tune played by God or the Devil.
Love is the war that was lost between sex and laughter.
It's the key to unleashing the tears from your eyes.
It's the slowest moment in the world when everything rushes by.
Love always opens a way, slowly, no matter the obstacle.
Love is the arrogance of holding onto something impossible.
It's searching in another for what you don't find in yourself.
Love is ungrateful; it lifts you for a while then pushes you down when it can.
Love is two in one and in the end they are none; it is accustomed to lying.
Love is beauty fed by sadness and in the end it always leaves you.
Love's always better when it's found somewhere else; it shines bright in novellas that sell perfect endings.
Love doesn't let you say what you want to say without letting you know that it spits in your face.
Love is sitting and watching pass by the death march of all of your dreams.

El Problema
The problem was not finding you; the problem is forgetting you.
The problem is not your absence; the problem is I still wait for you.
The problem is not our problems; the problem is it hurts me.
The problem is not that you lie to me; the problem is I believe you.
The problem is not your playfulness; the problem is you toy with me.
The problem is not that it hurts me; the problem is that I like it.
The problem is not the damage; the problem is the holes that it leaves.
The problem is not what you do to me; the problem is that I forget.
The problem is not what you say; the problem is what you don't say.
If I loved you because you were free, who am I to change you?
If I was the only one in love, who am I to force it on you?
The problem is not in loving you; it's that you don't feel the same way.
How do I get rid of you if I never owned you?
How do I leave you if you're so far away?
The problem is not in changing you; the problem is I don't want to.

RE: justified in use of deadly force?

This post follows up from where we left off two days ago.

My friend:

Wow Jon thank you for the detailed response this is helpful, as you mentioned in order for SUV to avoid any culpability it would have to prove it did not instigate. It is as you say sticky.

I am trying to understand the force continuum as it applies to judgement in a court of law when things get sticky.These things seem to start by the invincibility feeling people get in their cars.

Imagine you are hot under the collar ( well not you cause you roll ice cold - I kid I kid ) but me hot under the collar. I cruise past the bikers and it ticks them off everyone is chasing me. To paint the context lets order as follows

1) bikers catch up and  swarm the road

2) I am trying to get through and start honking to clear a path

3) bikers are angered and move in around me, further clogging the road ( I am forced to slow and they start honking and whacking my car )

4) I move to evade and hit a bike

This is a really unfortunate place to be in and shows that much can be averted with a cool head. Anyway I have set the no win scenario up for you. Now using what you know about force continuum and Oregon law to the best of your understanding what do you do next to protect yourself and if possible be supported by the law?

My reply:

A cool head and adequate situational awareness would have likely avoided the whole mess. Never underestimate the importance of situational awareness and the predictive advantage it bestows.

The appropriate response to being bullied by a biker gang on the road is to pull over (if you are able) and stop the car. Likely they will ride on. Then call the police. If you happen to hit one of them, whether it be your fault or his, stop the car, do not get out, and dial 911. The scenario branches from there and you will have to make more decisions quickly. You may still end up speeding off or defending yourself with lethal force. But you did the right things first.

To use the force continuum to your advantage you have to stay one step ahead of your opponent: he raises a club, you raise your shotgun; he draws a gun, you back out and call in an air-strike. In the self-defense scenario we start to look like the aggressor if we play too far ahead of the curve. Remember it is unlawful to point a gun at someone without justification--no unprovoked gun waving allowed. We don't point guns to make threats. We draw only when we are justified to use deadly force, though this does not mean we will shoot right away. The best case scenario after drawing a weapon would involve the perpetrator complying with your verbal demands while you subdue him at gunpoint.

But don't get behind the curve either. If the perpetrator has a gun in his hand then you had better have yours out and pointed at him while you give verbal commands. Same goes for a perpetrator with a knife or any other weapon. Ability, Opportunity, Jeopardy. This checklist is intuitive and you shouldn't have to think much about it after you have it programmed in your midbrain. 

My best advice is know when to draw and don't delay when the time comes. Also, pepper spray can be useful to handle those situations when you are not quite sure if you can use deadly force but need more than your bare hands. Have you ever tried the stuff? It is effective. Consider adding it to your every-day-carry items.

A note on the use of knives in self-defense: always carry a knife--or two, or more--but it is your last option to defend yourself. If you have to use a knife you are in grave danger indeed. It is a last-ditch weapon.

I'm not a lawyer, but I have had some legal counsel pertaining to this topic, I have read the laws, and I pay attention whenever stories like this arise. Don't forget: Ability, Opportunity, and Jeopardy. Stay alert and stay calm. Train, train, train. Training isn't just pulling the trigger on the range, it is also metal exercises like we have been doing in this discussion. Look for scenarios that others have experienced and ask yourself what is the best way to handle the situation. Make sure your conclusions are based in reality and not fantasy. You should appreciate the value of role-playing these scenarios and the use of other reality based training methods.

As they say at the Academy, train hard, fight easy.

Desk Fairy

Jeff: At school my teacher said there was a desk fairy in my classroom.

Me: A desk fairy? What's a desk fairy?

Jeff: It's a fairy that looks in your desk to see if it's organized and it leaves a paper with a smiley face or a sad face. But it's not real. I told my teacher it was not real and she said there is a desk fairy. She's crazy.

Use of Deadly Force for Self-defense

I received an email from a friend of mine a few days ago asking about a beating that occurred in New York and whether I thought the victim would have been justified in using deadly force to defend himself. The conversation is reproduced here with permission.

From my friend:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/01/new-york-man-celebrating-first-anniversary-with-wife-child-left-for-dead-after/

If you were packing heat and this gang attacked are you justified in blasting them?

if so when are you justified ( when they swarm around you riding there bikes ?)

When they stop and approach and try to open your door?

when they bash their helmets in your window?

never?

depends by state or other.

Thanks Jon
[signed by my friend]

My reply:

Ability, Opportunity, and JEOPARDY. This is what Oregon law stipulates for justification to use deadly force in self-defense. Other states have similar laws. How much danger did this guy face? A lot. The justification would be based on disparity of force: one against thirty angry bikers are not good odds. And the guy was defending his family.

Now, the situation gets sticky when we consider who started the fight. Did the driver of the SUV intentionally run over the biker? I can't make that call. If so, he may have started the fight and is not justified in using deadly force unless he made an attempt to back out of the confrontation. Maybe running from the scene could be considered backing out.

My comments here assume Oregon laws and not New York laws which I imagine could be less friendly to concealed carry and use of deadly force for self-defense.

If a biker gang attacked my vehicle and I had not provoked them in any way, once they started forcibly entering the vehicle I would draw my weapon and give a verbal warning, or multiple verbal warnings. If they did not comply I would defend my family. But this is going to be a nasty fight and nobody gets out without a few scars. Bikers often carry concealed weapons including guns, whether legally or illegally. Now you know why I like to carry [...] rounds of ammunition on me for my carry weapon, [...].

I am Sparta

Spartan Sprint, Washougal, WA, 2013