Meanwhile, Just Up the Road a Ways...

...University of North Carolina - - Charlotte has it's own SWAT team.

Pic:



Pretty diverse bunch, huh?

h/t Radley Balko, who thinks "So how long before the UNC-Charlotte SWAT team feels the need to justify its existence by expanding its mission? I predict they’re serving drug warrants and raiding frat houses within a year."

CALL THE SWAT TEAM!

The Inspiration For Holmes' Watson?

Surgeon-Major Alexander Francis Preston, an Irishman who served in Afghanistan and was wounded at the Battle of Maiwand, may have been the real-life inspiration for Sherlock Holmes' friend and biographer, Dr. John Watson.

Pic:



Click the link for Preston's story, and speculation as to whether Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of the Sherlock Holmes stories, used him as a model for Dr. Watson.

Where I Want To Live

If I ever found myself having to live in New York City, I think I could live happily here, as long as no one else was on the island with me.

North Brother Island, a former leper colony/quarantine island in the East River:



Click the link for some striking photos. I rather imagine this place will end up as some millionaire's playground.

Today's Musical Interlude

Joan Baez, In My Time of Need.



Beautiful lyrics, with Baez singing in a manner that brings to mind Margo Timmons of the Cowboy Junkies, and tasteful, Steve Cropper-style guitar playing. It's the sort of prayerful song that rips me to shreds every time I hear it.

Here's another, by Johnny Cash; again, great guitar playing, punctuated by mandolin, and Johnny starting in a murmur, ending in a roar:



Don Williams? Who hasn't shared this sentiment at least once in his/her life?



And finally Warren Zevon, husky-voiced, accompanied only by his guitar:



And no, I'm not playing all these seemingly maudlin songs because of any current tragedy in my life or announcement of a fatal disease; I'm just feeling a bit blue today.

You Can Sometimes Have Pity For a Robber...

...such as the robber of the bank in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, a toothless woman who needed the money to buy dentures.

It's not quite Jean Valjean stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family, but it's pretty close.

The Forrest Scenario

Down in Greer, South Carolina, a robber killed a homeowner, but the homeowner took the robber with him:

Police now say that the shooting deaths of two people in Greer came during a robbery attempt.

Police said Tuesday that 62-year-old Douglas J. Burgess Jr. died in a shootout with a woman who was trying to rob him.

Police said Burgess answered his door Monday morning and found a woman asking for money. Investigators say when Burgess refused, the woman pulled a gun and so did he.

Each of them fired once.

Thirty-four-year-old Tamika Yvette Weatherspoon of Greer died during surgery at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

I'll call this an example of the Forrest Scenario, or No Damn Man Kills Me and Lives! It's named after Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the most remarkable soldiers on either side during the Civil War. Forrest started the war as a private soldier, and when the war was over he was a Lieutenant General. He was both recklessly brave and a natural tactician of near-genius. His record was marred by a virulent racism that saw him involved in a massacre of black soldiers during the war, and by his role as a leader in the Ku Klux Klan after the war.

The Forrest Scenario happened after some Union raiders captured some of Forrest's artillery pieces. Forrest laid the blame on a young Lieutenant, Andrew Wills Gould. Forrest and Gould subsequently met to discuss the matter, and the discussion turned into a violent argument, during which Gould shot Forrest in the abdomen. Forrest, thinking he had received a death wound, stabbed Gould to death with a pen knife which he opened with his teeth, his other hand busy fending off Gould's gun. Forrest is reputed to have yelled No damned man kills me and lives! (some historical accounts can be found here.) Gould subsequently died of the stab wound Forrest inflicted; Forrest, to his amazement, found that Gould's bullet had missed his vitals and, glancing off of his hip bone, lodged in muscle tissue, and after a brief recovery Forrest was back on duty.

So. When you carry a gun the ideal situation is to never need it; or, if you need it, to be able to end the confrontation without firing it. Sometimes, though, you're forced to fire it to save your own life. Worse still is to fire it in the Forrest Scenario, as a last great act of defiance and vengeance, taking your attacker with you. Worst of all, of course, is to be an unarmed victim, at your attacker's mercy, to be done with at his/her whim: violated, stripped of dignity and bodily integrity, the death of a slave or captured animal.

I ran a poll on an occasion, asking how many of you had the Forrest Scenario in the back of your mind when you acquired your CCW license and your every day carry firearm, and I got a lot of answers in the affirmative.

Yeah. You may get me, those of you who prey on your fellow humans, but by God, I'll do the best I can to take you with me. That's the real meaning of the Gadsden Flag's message of Don't Tread On Me! You may get me, but I'll try and return the favor.

Pretty Good Summary, Actually

Over at Jesus and Mo, Jesus summarizes the Koran.

Headline of the Day

"Cannibal who ate head of former lover proposes to Satan worshipping vampire girlfriend behind bars of psychiatric unit."

Here's a picture of the pair looking...about like you'd imagine they'd look:



Wasn't the appearance of these two prophesied in Revelation, somewhere?

Note In Passing

If you have an electric pencil sharpener - - or even one of the hand-cranked sharpeners familiar to schoolchildren - - and you notice that it isn't sharpening worth a damn, open it up and look at the cutters, you'll likely find it's gummed up from some woman using it to sharpen her makeup pencils. You'll have to either scrub the grungy stuff off with a stiff brush or, if it's caked in and hardened, scrape it out with a stick or metal rod.

I have to clean the hotel's sharpener now because some battle-axe brought her dull-as-fuck pencil to the desk. Here's a tip, ladies: men find natural eyebrows far more attractive than those drawn on with a pencil.

Use the Force, Tard!

"Jedi Knight', 33, jailed for fighting Taser police armed with toy LIGHTSABER."

Officers had been alerted to an incident inside a Toys R Us in Jantzen Beach after a man allegedly used a toy lightsaber to attack people.

According to police, by the time officers arrived three people had been assaulted by a man brandishing the toy.

Officers said they tried to calm the man down but he kept swinging the lightsaber and shouting incoherently.

So they then tried to use a Taser on him, but the man managed to break the wires free using the toy.

Abandoning the Taser attempts, police then wrestled the man to the ground before taking him into custody.

David Canterbury, who was arrested at the scene, was treated for injuries and taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation.

I'd guess his midichlorian count is a bit low.

Headline of the Day

"What Was Dripping Down Christina Aguilera’s Legs Two Days Ago?"

Pic:

Governor McCrory?

Tara Servatius, one of the best reporters in Charlotte, looks at some numbers.

31.4% – Again, as I wrote the other day, this is now essentially a Democrat or Democrat leaning state. It’s not deep blue, but rather a purpley blue, but definitely blue. And it is a state that has elected just two GOP governors since Reconstruction. The last one, Jim Martin, left office in 1993.

That, too, will give McCrory an uphill climb. Here’s what I wrote on that Friday:

It is common knowledge in the campaign world that GOP registration in a state or district has to be at 35 percent for the GOP to have a serious chance at winning. It’s at 31.4 percent. Unaffiliated registration is 24.5 percent. Democrat registration is 43.8 percent. To win, McCrory or another Republican must turn out the GOP, not too hard in an presidential year, and capture almost all of the the unaffiliated vote, or some of the unafilliated vote and some of the Democrat vote, not an easy thing to do.

McCrory, or any other Republican, could really struggle against someone who doesn’t start the race with high, built-in negatives like Perdue had.

Given that … Perdue’s announcement that she won’t run again was a huge blow to the state GOP — and to McCrory.

Click the link for more of her analysis. I myself am wondering if Perdue was encouraged to step aside, and will get a patronage job - - Ambassador to Somewhere - - in a second Obama administration?

I Love the Smell...

...of electrocuted hippie in the morning.

Smells like...victory.

Yuppiecue?

BBQ Jew hasn't yet tried it, but as a general principle, he's against it.

I could see where it could be come a class divide issue; while the Armani-wearing yuppie might be welcome in the working-class BBQ joint found anywhere in the rural South, would a working man - - a farmer, say - - in clean bib overalls with a red bandanna sticking out of his pocket be welcome in the Yuppie Cue restaurant, or would he be turned away for not conforming to the dress code?

Five Years of This...

...here at The Drawn Cutlass, and a year or two before that on LiveJournal.

Here's the first post I ever did at The Drawn Cutlass.

I notice in the stats that most of my traffic comes from Google searches, specifically image searches, Giant Squid and Kim Kardashian's Tits being the top 2 searches.

Her tits? Damn, she has nice tits, but Kim Kardashian is all about the ass, guys. Just like J.-Lo or Nina Hartley.

In any event, thanks for continuing to read this drivel. I know I'd get more readers - - well, visitors - - by posting cheesecake or even NSFW pics of chicks, but I'm not in a competition, here. No trophy waiting across a finish line. It's free ice cream. Enjoy.

Zombie George Washington?

Apparently William Thornton, the architect who designed the US Capitol building, wanted to re-animate Washington by warming the body next to a fire, inflating the lungs with a fireplace bellows, and transfuse lamb's blood into his veins.

There's a cool image that accompanies the article:



I guess that's the hatchet that young George used to chop down the cherry tree, if you remember your Parson Weems.

Of Course It's South Carolina...

...why'd you ask?

Anderson County sheriff's deputies are investigating a man's report that he tried to shoot out the tires of his own car as his two teenage sons stole it and drove away.

The Anderson Independent-Mail reports that Mickey Mayberry, of Powdersville, says he was kicked in the head and shocked with a stun gun by his sons, who then took his keys.

Mayberry says he fired two bullets at the tires of the car as the 17-year-old and 19-year-old drove away. He says he wanted to stop them because there's a shotgun in the car.

Powdersville is along the I-85 corridor, SW of Spartanburg:


View Larger Map

Rust Threatens WWII-Era Submarine

USS Requin, a tourist attraction in Pittsburgh.

A World War II submarine that is a popular tourist attraction in Pittsburgh has rusted below the water level and may need costly repairs, officials said.

The Requin isn’t going to sink but may need as much as $2 million in repairs, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Saturday.

Requin is docked on the Ohio River, at the Carnegie Science Center. Officials there said there is no danger, and visitors are still welcome.

Out of the Mud, Into a Cell

A homeless man stuck in deep mud near the Rio Grande River in Albuquerque might regret being rescued, since it will result in him being jailed on an outstanding felony arrest warrant.

Something of a moral dilemma, I guess you'd say.

And Yet Another Example...

...of newspaper editors omitting any mention of radical Islam in a crime story out of Wilmington, NC:

A federal magistrate judge says a North Carolina man must stand trial in a plot to hire a hit man to behead three witnesses in his brother's terrorism case.

Click the link to read the rest.

Ex-Marine Pleads Guilty To Firing On Pentagon, Marine Museum

And nowhere in the story are the words "Islam" or "Muslim" mentioned.

Today's Musical Interlude

The Carpenters, Superstar. What a voice Karen Carpenter had. The "superstar" mentioned in the song, by the way, is Eric Clapton. I like the oboe and horn arrangements in this song, too. It's been fashionable to snark on The Carpenters for decades now, but they had some great songs, and Karen was a hell of a singer. If you don't agree...well, fuck you, everyone that looks like you, and the horse you rode in on de gustibus non est disputandum, as the Romans said.

Cooking Day

Well, every day here is cooking day, but today being payday it's a little more sophisticated than the usual 2 baked chicken thighs. I bought a beef roast, and it's currently in the oven, should be ready to eat by lunchtime. I also bought the makings for crab dip, which I have an insane craving for right now. I'll provide photos if the food comes out halfway decent.

He Is the Very Model* of a Modern...Eccentric Englishman

For 62 years, 79-year-old Phillip Waren, of Brandford, Dorsetshire, has built warships out of wooden matchsticks and the wooden boxes they used to be packaged in.

The master modeller, from Brandford, Dorset, has created every ship built in the Royal Navy since 1945, as well as 60 other ships from the US navy and other impressive floating fortresses from 18 other nations. One of the largest ships in his collection is the famous USS Nimitz, the largest aircraft carrier in the world.

Throghout his career as a ship model builder, Phillip Waren created over 400 individual ships, as well as 1,200 airplane models that make his aircraft carriers look more real. The average ship in his collection is made using around 1,500 matchsticks and takes about a month to complete, but for his larger creations he used over 5,000 matchsticks and 200 wooden boxes. These took him about a year to complete. All in all, Phillip Waren used around 650,000 matchsticks, to create his entire fleet.

Some pics:





More pics at the link.

*Double Entendre unintended but fortuitous.

h/t The Mellow Jihadi.