Blogspot is hinting heavily that I need to switch from the “old” Blogger to the “new” Blogger.

Anyone else switched from “old” to “new”? Is it worth it?

LawDog

Winter weather modifies many things, not the least of which involves personal protection.

There is the obvious — the clothing that is required to handle cold will require a difference in the way we access our tools — but there is also the not-so-obvious.

The body handles cold — cold weather — by drawing the outer parts of itself closer in. We huddle inside our coats and jackets, shoulders hunched and hands crammed deep inside pockets.

The thing is, if we aren’t careful, our sphere of awareness will mimic our physical actions. As we draw our arms in to our chests, tuck our hands into pockets or fingers under arms to conserve warmth; or to keep limbs out of the wind, some people will also retract the range at which they start to notice things.

I see that I have already lost some of my Gentle Readers. Let me clarify:

Everyone notes and classifies things within a certain radius of their body space. Most do it subconsciously, while some of us do it consciously. To use my self as an example, if I am walking down Main Street at the height of summer — unless someone calls attention to himself — people are just people until they get within about twenty feet of me.

Once a person is within my twenty-foot radius, I consciously note clothing, body language, general emotional state, breaks in pattern and any intuitive signals from my hindbrain.

During the winter, walking down the same Main Street, in snow, with a cold wind blowing, dodging patches of ice, this twenty-foot radius is almost halved unless I consciously work at it.

So, the same person I would have noted and classified at twenty feet during September, has a good chance of getting to within ten feet of me in January.

Halving the space in which you have to make a decision and react is never a Good Thing.

On top of that, weather conditions themselves become a hindrance. Frozen water — sleet, snow, ice — is slick. Actions and reactions which are second nature on dry ground, will dump you upon your fourth point of contact when — unconsciously — performed on ice.

I studied Kodokan judo for some years. People who know of this invariably congratulate me on my choice, either due to the “superiority” of grappling styles in referee’d, ruled fighting games, or the full-speed sparring, or the encyclopaedic knowledge of chokeholds.

Those may be good reasons, but the best thing that judo taught me was how to fall. And it made breakfalls a reflexive action.

Do you know how to fall?

If you’re around ice, it might be a worthwhile skill to pursue.

Slick ice may also interfere with, reduce, or outright eliminate our options. Faced with a developing situation, oft times the best option is to avoid — to run away before the situation escalates to the point of requiring a deadly force decision.

It can be difficult to run on ice. A vehicle — usually a fine way to escape a situation — may be totally immobilized on ice. Could you be spinning your wheels, or sliding slowly sideways, while the critter you are trying to avoid walks up to the side of your vehicle?

These are things to think about, to consider, and to plan for.

My Gentle Readers have no doubt practised some fighting (shooting, knifing, whatever) from various prone positions. Has the act of drawing from prone also been practised? Has this practise been done in full winter gear? Gloves, scarf, winter coat, sweater?

Not only that, but warm weather practise is practise for warm weather situations.

Have you practised in the snow? In the cold? If not, how do you teach your body and your subconscious what to expect?

Winter also has an effect upon your tools. There is the famous example of lubricants that thicken and disturb function in low temperatures. A Bad Thing, but one most prepared people know of.

Fewer know that low temperatures can have an adverse effect upon battery life — and given the number of tools that require batteries for some part of their function, this can be a Life Altering Development.

When I worked midnights, I habitually walked the business district of my town at midnight, checking that each door was locked and secure.

One Panhandle winter night — temperatures below freezing — I walked along checking doors with my pistol holster protruding through a slot in my jacket waistband to allow for a quick draw if necessary.

As noted, the temperature was below freezing, and my exposed metal pistol — riding outside my jacket away from body heat — cooled.

My walk done, I went back to Dispatch, poured a cup of coffee and warmed up. In a small, closed room, with four adults exhaling moisture into the air, wet carpet, coffee-pot steaming — in other words a mildly humid atmosphere.

This moisture condensed — obeying the laws of physics — onto cold items in the room.

The break was interrupted by a 10-50 MVA (motor vehicle accident) and I spent the next half-hour directing traffic as the VFD and EMS pried someone out of a car. Out in the cold. Where the moisture that had condensed on — and in — my pistol froze.

I doubt that the tiny amount of ice present would have had any effect on the functioning of my pistol. However, it was not something that my fair-weather summer training had prepared me for, and that disconcerted me quite a bit.

Something to keep in mind, folks.

LawDog

I went down to the last Market Hall gun show, along with Reno and his family.

As an aside, how do you city denizens handle all those people breathing your air?

Anyhoo, where was I? Oh.

While I was down there, I got to coon-fingering a CZ-P01.

That is one sweet, no-nonsense little pistol.

I was originally looking for a CZ75-PCR, but there were none to be had in the entire gun-show, so I started taking a long look at the P01, which seems — I think — to be a PCR with an extended dust cover, slotted for a tac-rail.

I really don’t have much of an opinion concerning tac-rails on pistols, so the presence of one on a P01 is pretty much a moot point.

The P01 fits my hand like a glove, the controls are all easily reached by my thumb and the pistol points naturally. The fact that it comes in 9X19mm is a plus for me, as the 9mm is pretty much my favorite defensive pistol calibre.

The only down side I see so far is the fact that I haven’t gotten to shoot one yet.

I may have to take a weekend and brave the Metroplex in search of a rental gun range with CZ’s on the rent list.

LawDog

You know, there’s nothing quite like watching an 18-wheeler roll sideways down an overpass embankment to jazz up your morning.

Kind of makes coffee look like mama’s milk.

Despite a) Being in North Texas, and b)Global Warming, things have been bloody cold and slick around here for the past weekend or so. Had a good, stiff cold evening before the freezing rain hit — which kind of guaranteed the maximum Slippery Quotient Possible.

There should be huge signs about twenty miles out in all directions that say:

We’re Doing Our Best, But Who The Hell Expects Ice In Texas, For God’s Sake?
–signed, Texas Dept. of Transportation, Highway Division.

Wrecks everywhere. One of our rookie deputies wrinkled his Durango a bit. That’ll be good for about six months of hell.

The truck driver who tumbled his rig down the slope swears up-and-down that he’s driven the last twelve winters in Colorado with no problems. Heh. That’s Texas for you.

It’s warming up a bit, but we’re looking at a bit of a chance for some snow long about Thursday or Friday. Joy.

Your Humble Correspondent spent last weekend firmly ensconced in his nice warm house, with a series of hot toddies close by, some good old paperbacks and a shelf full of DVD’s. I’ve got no problem doing it next weekend, too.

LawDog

By way of Tolewyn, we have discovered the sordid tale of Patrick Rogalin and Public Storage, Inc.

Patrick is a soldier in the U.S. Army Reserve over in Missouri. Well, these days being these days, Specialist Patrick Rogalin got called up for active duty in Iraq. As part of his preparations for his trip, Specialist Rogalin put all of his belongings into a storage unit belonging to Public Storage, Inc.

Spc. Rogalin apparently arranged for an automatic withdrawal from his bank account to cover the monthly rent.

Sometime during his dusty Middle-Eastern trip, something went wrong. Apparently someone accessed his bank account and wrote several hundred dollars worth of checks that cleaned out the account. Anyhoo, Public Storage wasn’t getting paid.

Spc. Rogalin states that as soon as he found out he was having bank problems, he made other arrangements, and it seems that Public Storage was more than happy to keep accepting his money — even better, Public Storage never notified Spc. Rogalin that there was any sort of problem.

Tour of duty over, Spc. Rogalin gets back Stateside in October, heads over to pick up his property as part of the whole “getting-back-to-normal” bit — and lo and behold! His property ain’t there no more.

Turns out, Public Storage auctioned off the soldiers property. In June.

Seems that Public Storage sold all of Spc. Rogalin’s stuff, kept the money made from the sale, then continued to accept the payments that Spc. Rogalin was sending them for storing stuff … that they had already sold.

When Spc. Rogalin — understandably enough — asked for compensation for the estimated $8,000 worth of personal property auctioned off by Public Storage, Public Storage offered him $2000.

Mr. Patrick Rogalin is being a gentleman about the whole thing. He doesn’t blame Public Storage, and he has been refusing offers of financial aid.

A scholar and a gentleman of the Olde School.

I’m not.

The treatment of Specialist Patrick Rogalin by Public Storage, Inc is shoddy, inexcusable and I’m pretty sure it’s a violation of Federal Law, specifically the 2003 Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

Public Storage, Inc. Customer Service department: 1-800-567-0759, Monday through Friday 6:00am to 5:30pm PST, Saturdays 6:00am to 5pm PST.

Public Storage, Inc snail mail:
Public Storage Inc.
701 Western Avenue
Glendale, CA 91201-2349

Be firm, but courteous. Outraged, but polite.

Check in on Specialist Rogalin’s MySpace page — the link is under his name in the first sentence of this article — for updates.

LawDog

By way of Matt G, I find a … variation … of my blog.

I have just snorted half-a-cup of tea through my sinuses.

LawDog

Texas Representative Ron Paul, Libertarian-in-Republican-clothing, has filed to form an exploratory committee for the purposes of maybe running for President in 2008.

That’s outstanding news.

He’s got my vote.

LawDog

Well, despite the assertations of the Democratic Party that their wins in the mid-term elections actually means that most of America believes in liberal immigration issues, the anti-illegal-immigrant backlash continues.

The latest governmental entity to decide to do what their elected officials in Washington, DC refuse to is the city government of Farmer’s Branch, Texas.

Last month, the city council of this small suburb of Dallas joined 60 other municipalities around the nation and passed a city ordinance — unanimously — requiring that landlords must establish that potential renters are either American citizens or have proper residency status before renting property to them. Renting property to illegal immigrants would net the landlord a $500 fine per day of occupancy.

They also passed an ordinance declaring English to be the official language of the city and allowing the city Police Department to participate in the enforcing of Federal immigration laws.

All measures were due to take effect Friday, 12JAN2007 — tomorrow.

While I did note that with this measure Farmer’s Branch joins about 60 other municipalities around the United States with this ordinance, it should also be noted that Farmer’s Branch is the first town in the State of Texas to pass such laws.

As one might expect, the screaming has been fierce.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and the ACLU managed to get a Texas District Judge to issue a 14-day restraining order against enforcing this ordinance — on the grounds that part of the process of drafting the ordinance violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Both MALDEF and the ACLU — along with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) — are also filing further lawsuits in both State and Federal Courts on multiple grounds.

The city has placed the measure on the ballot, and on 12MAY2007, the citizens of Farmer’s Branch will be able to vote ‘Yea’ or ‘Nay’ to this anti-illegal-immigration measure.

Right now my crystal ball predicts two surefire things:

1) No matter which way the Good Citizens of Farmer’s branch vote on May 12, it will be a long time before the legal challenges in State and Federal Court are done; and

2) Anti-illegal-immigrant measures are going to get worse until the U.S. Congress pulls it’s collective thumb out of it’s fundament and does something meaningful about the illegal immigrant problem in this country.

Keep an eye on this one, folks: it could wind up as history in the making.

LawDog

By way of Ms. Janean, I find that I have been given an award, a ROFL Award for the month of December 2006, to be precise.

This is, indeed, an honour.

There is a graphic attached to the award, and we shall see if it can be hung on my blog. It should appear on the left side of the screen.

Thank you, Ms. Janean. Thank you very much.

LawDog

Well, here comes the new, revitalised Democratic Party — same as the old Democratic Party.

One notes that they still think that any problem can be solved by wrapping Massive Amounts of Someone Else’s Money around a Brand New Law and throwing the result at the problem.

Case in point: The Democrats — and not a few Republicans who have seen which side of the bread holds the butter — have rammed a bill through the House which mandates the full inspection of all sea and air cargo entering the United States.

Hey, it sounds good, and that’s what counts, right? As long as it looks and sounds good, why bother doing any research?

Here is the Official Port of Houston Authority website. Just out of curiosity, let us look for some statistics.

Here are some statistics of interest.

Bear in mind, these are for one port only.

In 2005, the Port of Houston handled 1,582,081 cargo containers. That’s for one year. One year having about 365 days in it … off come the boots, shift this little piggy … about 4,335 containers per day, or 180 containers per hour.

If my math isn’t totally off, that comes to 3 containers a minute, all day, all night, 365 days a year.

Now, I don’t have any idea how long it takes to “fully inspect” a 20-foot cargo container, but I’m willing to bet it takes longer than a minute. I’d guess probably somewhere between 30 minutes and a couple of hours.

I wonder how many new Federal employees — paid for with money gouged out of the American taxpayer — will be required to “fully inspect” cargo containers coming off the ships at the rate of one every 20 seconds?

And that’s one port on the Gulf of Mexico. I’m willing to bet that the East and West Coast ports can match that easily.

I guess it’s easy to solve problems when you think you have the right to coerce — I’m sorry, tax — all the cash you need out of the citizenry.

LawDog