Pen Turning fun
Topic: Physical Well Being
There's something comforting and mystical about working with wood. You have something that was once alive in your hands. You can shape it and create things with it and you leave part of yourself with the wood. I look with admiration at the work other people do either making furniture or carving or inlaying or otherwise shaping wood into something new but familiar. It's all good and I'm beginning to step into that sort of activity myself. Nothing major yet. I haven't carved the Piata yet but I have made some wood pens.

Very nice stuff and very interesting to work with. The spinning lathe and the act of shaping the wood is both intimidating and fascinating. Learning how to operate the machines used, the lathe, the drill press, the band saw and other tools is also a bit new to me. But I pick things up quickly and I do have a healthy respect for power tools so I should be alright with it all. No fingers lost as of yet. :-) Anyways, these are the two pens I've made.

How to find criminals in your own neighborhood or elsewhere
Topic: Law
You know, the world is a dangerous place. Yes indeed, all you have to do is turn on the local news and see stories of murders, rapes, beatings, robberies, domestic violence, child abuse, etc. How do you know if the neighborhood you live in is safe or even if that guy next door is wanted by the police. Well, online fortunately you can find out a great deal of information about someone and about lots of someone's. Obviously, if you are a lawyer, policeman, judge or NSA official you can just query the computer attached to Lexis Nexis or Westlaw or the equivalent for the police. Put in a name and a few details and there you have it, the complete life history of someone. For the rest of you there is Google and there is Yahoo and A9 to consider. The problem with that is that many of the information sites will not index through the search engines. Newspapers and the like only provide a limited ability to search through their records - unless you pay the fee. Likewise many of the more useful sites which claim to be able to provide you with the low down on that person you are wondering about also charge a fee. All well and good if you are thinking of a particular person. Feel free to pay the fee if you want but most of those sites are bogus. And some of them use purloined information. So take that with a grain of salt.

However, you can check on the neighborhood you live in by searching for your local police department. They often have lists of sexual predators information available. Check on sex offenders I've seen those lists linked to Google Maps to include address and pictures. You can see how many houses down the closest child molester lives. I've seen lists and maps of where the meth lab houses were found. If you'd like to do a bit more research you could go to Corrections Connection here to begin research through the various prison systems. Often times they have lists not only of who is in prison but also of who was in prison. Just the thing if you want to dig up some dirt on someone. This process will be lengthy and many of the states don't really allow you to peruse those records but some do.

You can also watch America's Most Wanted, if it's still on somewhere. or alternately you can watch episodes of Cops to see if you recognize anyone. The FBI still puts out a Top Ten list (not just David Letterman) and I understand there's a no good rotten polygamist on it now. There's also 'Cheaters' which you can only hope to find someone you know and there's also Maury's show where many criminal types are known to sport their gap toothed smiles to the cameras. You could be inventive and make someone a criminal by making some crap up and using your connections to get them put in jail. That only works if perhaps your dad is a lawyer and you have no conscience or soul.

Of course, if you are one of those people who is wanted by the police then you live in fear every day. Every police car that goes by gives you a start and every knock on the door could be your time being up. Heck, I've been a few car lengths behind cars that crash into each other for no other reason than that the drivers have seen a police car. And I doubt those folks were dangerous criminals but I bet those folks thought the police were going to catch them for going too fast. Personally I'm at peace as I happen to see a police car or motorcycle on the side of the road or even coming up behind me. No heart palpitations, no sudden braking. It's amazing what driving the speed limit and not being wanted by the police can do for your heart rate. Of course, if I suddenly see some East German police rolling up beside me I might get a little concerned. I've never been picked up for that incident in West Berlin when I threw some marbles at a East German guard tower, way back when I was eleven or so. Does that answer you question 72-226-147-249.twcny.res.rr.com ?

Long time no see me
The way time flies is always a wonder to me. Turn around and a year has zoomed by. People you remember as babies are teens, teens are adults and adults are older and grayer. An amazing thing. Of course, we feel that we haven't changed one bit, we are the same as we ever were at least in our own minds. But somehow we know the lie of it all, our legs don't have as much spring in them as they seem to have had previously. Eyes aren't focusing as well, hair perhaps even seems different, perhaps thinner and with even more white hairs in it. Of course, I contend that I've always had white hairs so that isn't quite the indicator it is for others. It doesn't stop me from spending way too much time trying to pluck them or cover them up. Vanity. But those white hairs are pretty darn obvious in dark hair so there is that. Humm. Well, anyways, thought I'd check in. I know some folks keep track of me. Hey ya JJ. Well, gotta restart firefox some update or the other has been loaded up. :-)

Pressdanistas Roll On
Now Playing: Monteverdi - Scherzi Musicali a Tre Voci
Topic: Politics
This last week in political news it has been another exciting foray into the ongoing battle between the liberal Pressdanistas and the United States government. A week of nonsense concerning the Vice President and a hunting accident where the Washington Pressdanistas got themselves up in a righteous frothing madness over the fact that VP Cheney didn't immediately notify the New York Times of the incident. Amazing. In that week a Hamas has been preparing to take over the government in Palestine amid great interenational worry and consternation, a number of the escaped terrorists in Yemen, including Jamal Badawi, mastermind of the Oct. 12 2000 bombing attack on the USS Cole in which 17 US sailors perished - were captured, struggles in Congress over the reauthorization of the Patriot Act have gone forward and it's not looking good for libraries,the Bill of Rights and freedoms in general, nearly 2000 men women and children were killed in a mudsline in the Philippines, Author David Irving an English historian and general right wing looney, is on trial in Austria for the thoughtcrime of denying the holoucast and could get 19 years for it, people are still dying over cartoons and bird flu is on the march, killing untold numbers of chickens, swans, ducks and about five people. Each one of these stories is worthy of attention and a certain level of outrage and moral indignation. But to spend all of this time over a hunting accident where the VP shoots his friend with some birdshot is really a new low in the lack of civic responsibility and moral responsibilty that the press has to all of us.

Now it goes without saying that members of the press, like members of the government, all think they know what is good for us and what we should worry about but in this case it's a bit of a personal grudge against Cheney for not 'being more accessable' to them. Really, they are upset since they have been used to belittling the Vice President whoever he might be as long as he's a Republican. With Cheney they haven't been able to lay a glove on him and it knaws at their souls. Really, who could care less. There are actual stories out there to be put on the cover of Newsweek and Time. Something besides Dick Cheney and 'sex and the 40 something baby boomer' - but we won't get the real news, the stuff that really matters. Not as long as there is a breath left in Brittney Spears, Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise and the other of fake news stories for FOX, CNN and the morning news shows to pimp. Oh geez, why bother.

Happy Early Valentine
Topic: Mysteries of Life

Islamic Priorities
Now Playing: Gordon Lightfoot - Songbook
Topic: Politics

I've been watching as this 'controversy' has bubbled up in Europe. A newspaper in Denmark published a number of political cartoons which depict the religion of Islam and Muhammed their prophet in a bad light. This has of course outraged the Muslim community, a great rising 'moral outrage' by this otherwise silent community when it comes to all of the murder and killing done in the name of Islam. A poll over at MSNBC shows that over 80% of people think that this sort of outrage over political cartoons is misplaced and frankly it's absurd. There isn't even a level of moral equivalence here, they simply ignore the murder, torture and killing done in their name. This outrage is coming from a religion that does not suffer any other religion. This coming from a religion that destroyed an ancient Buddha in Afghanistan a few years ago. This coming from a religion that puts people in jail for having a Bible out in public. And this coming from a religion that sponsors Madras schools throughout the world where young Muslims are taught to hate nonmuslims and who are taught a human rights stifling strict interpretation of their Koran. A full list of Saudi horrors is here Saudi realities
There is also now a online Dutch photoshop contest with tons of Muhammed images guaranteed to upset many many people. Dutch Response

Islam's True Legacy
This cartoon, this political cartoon along with 11 others have created a major firestorm of controversy and rage in the Islamic community. As a test of freedom of the press the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten invited over 40 artists to create works depicting Islam's prophet Muhammed. You can see the images here along with other images, both historical and political. Now imagine a world where Muslims would get emotionally upset when thugs, in the name of their religion, take hostages, torture, execute and blow innocent people up. Imagine a world where Muslims got as upset about that as they are getting over accurate depictions of their religious leader. Yah, I can't imagine it either. They ask for respect for their religion when their religion clearly does not respect anyone or anything else. They ask for respect for their religion to include never criticizing their religion when in countries where their religion is predominant they imprison Christians for saying anything about their own religion and where their sharia law in antithetical to western ideals of equal protection and equal rights for women, freedom of religion (to include freedom from religion) and the rights of individuals. Anytime the west, whether it's the Danes or the Germans or Americans, kowtows to this sort of one sided 'respect' we lose our rights and our freedoms and the tyrannical vision of a Islamic based world comes closer to reality.

Happy New Year
It's Chinese New Year, year of the dog. There are a few interesting Chinese traditions. One of them being the leaving on of your lights through the New Year's celebration time in order to keep away angry spirits. Spirits are thought to naturally be angry because they are no longer alive. There is the idea that particular angry spirits might come to you and cause trouble. I've personally got a few angry spirits who would like to cause me trouble so I think I'll be keeping my lights on for a bit.

Beyond Good and Evil
Topic: Mysteries of Life
Every once in a while you wake up and you learn something that you didn't know before. A bit of information that gives you pause. Someone you know dies. A shock, a tragedy, something not expected. You feel bad, shaken and upset. What if somebody dies that you don't like. Do you cheer? If you are religious do you think about the will of god or the workings of karma? Would you feel smug about it as the death of someone you don't like confirms your vast and secure theories of the universe? That would certainly be arrogant and self delusional of you to think. What if that person who dies is someone you wished was dead. What if the level of dislike and distaste you have for the person is as high as can be, would you feel happy, vindicated, triumphant over the death of the person you despise? What kind of a person would that make you then? Would that make you an evil person? If you felt your life had been destroyed by that person, now dead, would you be an evil person if you felt happy with that knowledge? What is the level of harm that one person can do to you that makes you alright with being happy they are dead? What if you believed that the dead person wished you dead? An eye of the beholder sort of determination? What if you knew all of that and had fleeting feelings of happiness or whatever you might want to call it and then seeing yourself in that instant, felt remorse and afterwards felt bad for feeling good. Perhaps you could then detatch yourself from any feelings and you went beyond good and evil over it. How on earth would that even be possible? Is it possible to feel enough Buddhist detatchment over the whole thing that you could remove yourself from judgment over it?

When I post information about people who are executed or shortly to be executed my feeling is that nobody should kill another nor participate in the death of another human being. You'll find many anti death penalty websites desperately making up reasons why this person or that person shouldn't be executed. A bad childhood, bad things having happened to that person, the person is too old, too young, retarded or reformed. Rarely do they focus in on the sufferings those people to be executed have caused. The women, children, old people they've raped/tortured and killed hardly have a voice in the attempts to save their killers. I don't feel bad when those people are executed. I sometimes think about how frightening it must be to go through the whole process but then I think of the victims who went to agonized deaths and I think about Karma and cosmic retribution. Two Thai fishermen have just been sentenced to death in the brutal rape and murder of a young woman and as I look at their pictures I see their fear. I don't feel bad for them, I think of their victim and I hope that really is fear in their eyes and I know that their Karma has fully wrapped around them. I don't know that this makes me a bad person, I hope it doesn't make me a bad person.

I don't know. I'm still digesting. Still trying to wrap my mind around it.

Bronco Football win over Patriots
Topic: Mysteries of Life
Watched the Denver Bronco's beat the New England Patriots this evening. A nerve wracking event which came out in a way I wanted. Much too much emotional investment in a football game but I've always followed my Denver Broncos and I don't think I'll stop anytime soon. The best part of it will be hearing those who didn't even think the Broncos had a chance try to backtrack and change their tunes. All I heard was how the Patriots were going to win the game and how the first game where the Bronco's won didn't have this player or that player and blah blah blah. Broncos won, get over it.

New Year
Now Playing: Cecilia Bartoli - Opera Proibita
Topic: Mysteries of Life
Happy early new years, the year of the Dog begins on January 29, 2006. I'd mention the Aztec day but there are x's in it and it's in three parts and just confusing. As I see another New Year's celebration go off without a hitch it seems to me that the islamists who had declared war on the US and western culture in general haven't made a peep in quite some time. A perfect time to try to strike fear in the hearts and minds of a civilian population to further their twisted evil plans of an islamic future dictatoriship world would be New Year's eve. All those parties, all those soft targets. It really would only take a suicide bomber in Australia at some public celebration and another one in another western nation to send the parties around the world ducking for cover. The fact that Osama and his ilk haven't done so would mean that they are pretty darn weak and unable to. Good news and a good sign that the capacity for evil by such cowards isn't as great as we have feared. So a good start to the new year.


Been happily listening to Cecilia Bartoli - Opera Proibita. A beautiful woman and a beautiful voice and highly recommended. Also listening to another find, Madredeus- a Portuguese chamber-pop/fado group with Teresa Salgueiro as the singer. Amazingly beautiful. Sings in portuguese and I don't understand a word. But like the Italian of Cecilia Bartoli, it's not necessary to understand the words to enjoy the incredible and beautiful voices.

To be or not to be - googled
Topic: Mysteries of Life
Me and Santa. I always like to meet up with the big guy every once in a while. A meeting with an icon of the season, a chance to touch base with the inner child inside of me. That inner child that somehow still remembers a body image of a small, young young me. One less hairy and less grumpy. A nice moment there. The fella in the Clause suit asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I don't know how many grown men come up to get their picture taken with Santa so I doubt either of us knew what the proper conversation would be. But you know, being nice is always a good first choice and so it was nice being nice. Good times.

Well, every once in a while I take a peek into the logs of my site. With thousands of people every day visiting it there is no real way to know everything about every click coming through my site but I can get a snapshot look at what's happening. The search terms, who is linking me from their sites, a general geographical idea of where some folks are coming from - that sort of thing. Every once in a while I look there and see my own name being searched. No big deal, I've seen my name googled many a time. There are tons of 'Gilbert Davis's out there. There is even one in Arizona who has gilbertdavis.com which I hope every day he forgets to renew. No big deal but always a bit startling. Sometimes someone will even send me a email saying hi there or screw you or whatever. It's always better to get if off your chest. Feel free to send hate mail or whatever just don't use any terms that my filter filters out. :-) And Merry Christmas to you.

Celebrity Multiple Murderer -
Topic: Law

I feel a bit conflicted about this particular death sentence and possible upcoming execution in the State of California. I do not believe in the death penalty or in executions for all the usual reasons. It's not moral to kill, it's not moral for the state to kill, it's not fairly or objectively administered, it does not deter and it is costly. Detailed arguments Here here.

Having said that I look at the circus atmosphere surrounding the upcoming scheduled execution for Stanley 'Tookie' Williams with mixed emotions. While I am against the death penalty I do not have a great deal of sympathy for the usually rightly convicted men and women facing their executions. I won't argue that little Ken or Stan was neglected as a child or was high on drugs or emotionally distraught or make any excuses for someone who murders other people. I look at the case against Tookie here and I see a cold blooded murderer who deserves to be in prison. I think that having murdered four human beings in the course of a robbery excludes you from being nominated for a 'Peace' prize. I think that murdering four people should exclude you from being feted by liberal intellectuals who seem to fall over each other to defend this guy and plea for his life.

As a founding member of the Crips street gang Mr. Williams is directly responsible for a great deal of death and misery in the inner cities and throughout the country. As a multiple murderer he is directly responsible for ending the lives of four human beings. He killed the attendent Albert Lewis Owens in a robbery for $120 at a 7-Eleven on February 28, 1979. He took Mr. Owens to the back of the store and put two shotgun blasts into him. On March 11, 1979 at about 5:30 a.m. Stanley Tookie Williams in the company of another man broke down the door and entered Brookhaven Motel in Los Angeles and shot to death 67 year old Thsai Shai Young, his 63 year old wife Yen-I Yang and their 43 year old daughter Ye Chen Lin. In that murder and robbery they got $50. Victims rights? Here I'm sorry, you won't hear a thing about that in this next two weeks. You won't hear about the four people he killed and you can bet that his celebrity fans don't even know the names of the victims.

Politically speaking Governor Schwarzenegger's decision will be an interesting one. Based on the circumstances of the crime and the avowed Republican sensibilities he has there is no good reason for him to grant clemency. If he does cave in to the pressure from the left it will be a repudiation of his own values. Any which way he spins it he'll have lost the Republican support in favor of the Democratic support that he won't get no matter what he does. An interesting dilemma.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Brault, during the Davis administration was the prosecution's lawyer in an appeal to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Williams was a poor candidate for leniency.

"Having spoken at length with all of the victims' family members, I think that Mr. Williams is just another murderer that deserves to be executed," she said. "There's been so many deaths at his hands or the hands of his followers that I don't think writing a few children's books erases that."

Tookie Williams web site is here.

Found a Song that's been itching me
Now Playing: Boz Scaggs - Hard Times (repeatedly)
Topic: Mysteries of Life
It's one of those things, a song you remember and go looking for. You know who sang it but somehow you just find the bleeding thing. I wasn't even looking for it and there it was.

I am down in the sea of confusion
With the waves of no recovery

Swept away by a distant voice calling
Ain't no use in tryin' to rescue me

I am falling back into your spell
Back into your cell of no return
No way to rescue me

A song from way back in the day. Gone but found again. A little joy of discovery. Rediscovery that is.

Eleven Nights of Fire
Topic: Politics
Intifada Spreads to Brussels and Berlin
As many have predicted, the fires and rioting in France have begun to spread. It's ironic on many levels. France, which has frequently lectured the United States on it's many problems and which has gloated about the many problems the United States has had with it's 'underclass' is itself burning in a way that has not happened elsewhere.

Elsewhere unless you think of the Intifada in the middle east. In that case it was not a short duration event but rather one that lasted for years. I don't know that the structure for such a long lasting uprising is in place in France at this time but this french intifada has the potential to last for a long time. For the price of a bottle and some gas or kerosene, for the price of a bic lighter, this can last for some time. As the level of violence increases to the point of killing people- as witnessed riots claim first victim the stakes are raised. As the rioting youths get more organized and more emboldened the danger increases of it becoming much more severe. France is trying to keep the lid on by not reacting. They think that by not reacting more strongly they are keeping it from escalating, this explains the inexplicably weak response by the french.

I think they realize how close it is to being a full blown insurrection. The french know how easy it is to go from torching empty cars and empty buildings to attacking people more violently. But by not reacting they are allowing the violence to escalate, they are allowing the rioters to find a 'higher' purpose in their violence, one that lets them continue violence but as righteous warriors in the service of Islam. Everyone can find fuel for their own delusional belief in their everyday life. A hard life, a life without as many opportunities as they think they deserve is reason enough for some. Thinking that the western culture has unjustly hurt Islam/the middle east/ supported Israel is more than enough for the excuse to violence. They call our thugs thugs, 'how unacceptable!' - you deserve the violence that befalls you is the answer. There is no reasoning with this mindset. There is no reasoning with violence. But still the French will do so, it's what they've always done. And so the problems will not be solved.