Take Care of Your Own Neighborhood... Dogs

Florida Woman Mauled to Death by Dogs that Had Allegedly Terrorized Neighborhood, Owner Charged in Killing

First, go read the whole thing.

OK, we all know that some individual dogs are just plain mean, and some breeds are generally more inclined so than others.  The woman who owned these dogs wasn't properly fencing them, and evidently not properly training them either.  But what ticks me off is that other neighbors had previously been attacked, but refused to cooperate with law enforcement to counter this threat.  Look people, this is Florida.  Call the cops if you can, or pepper spray or shoot the damn dog if there isn't time.  The main thing is to break the immediate assault then to get the continuing threat off the street.

A couple of years ago while riding my gravel bike I was jumped by a pit bull.  For his trouble, he ended up with a face full of pepper spray.  From then on he was always fenced, and when he'd see me passing he'd lay down turn his head as if to hide, so I guess the pepper spray counted as a form of "training."  But the part that bugs me?  I later learned that the same dog had been previously terrorizing neighbors, and they'd done nothing.  What's more, this was adjacent to a school.  What if that same dog had decided to eat up one of the kids who'd stepped out the back door?  Yes, the responsibility is on the owner, but there's also a degree of responsibility for those neighbors who'd previously turned their heads.

Anyway, returning to the case in the news item above, because of the owner's negligence and a neighbor's reluctance, a woman is dead.  Don't be that neighbor, and don't shove the problem off on someone else.  Deal with the dog problem as it comes around.  A dead 50-yo is bad enough, but you really don't want a dead kid on your conscience.

ps: 10 Internet Points if you can ID the semi-famous photo in the figure.

And So It Begins

Won't turn into anything, but on the other hand it's not nothing.  Stay tuned.

Movie Review: A Scanner Darkly

I finally got around to this one last night, and kind of liked it, kind of didn't.  The funny thing is, though I like the point of Philip K. Dicks' works, I seldom enjoy his mode of storytelling.  It's a twenty year old movie at this point, so I'll let Wikipedia tell you as much of the plot as you care to read.  I will say though, it is beautifully made and acted, and all the plot loose ends are wrapped up by the finish, and of course and as usual, I agree with the societal commentary PKD was making.  The rotoscoped animation over the live action was a lot of fun to watch as well, and it really worked with many of the plot elements, especially with the "scramble suits."  It's just that a lot of the movie made my skin crawl (yeah, check that opening scene!) for no real payoff.

Three out of Five Stars, and that's knocked down one star from what would be four if I liked PKD's storytelling manner better.  You may care for his style though, so add that one star back in if that's case.  So... conditionally recommended.

Re-Read for the Nth Time: Protector by Larry Niven

After last week's slog-fest, I had to clear my mind with some actual science fiction, and Larry Niven's 1973 novel Protector is always a good choice.  You can find others' plot summaries and spoilers elsewhere, but here's why it's so good.  In a scant 217 pages it tells one hell of a story, but the first 100 pages cover:

• humanity's status on Earth in 2125
• humanity's status in the asteroid belt as well
• a glimpse into the friendly but slightly strained interplanetary politics of the era
• an alien first contact story
• everything you need to know about the aliens' motives and their unusual life-cycle
• how this all ties into one big package
• and finally, several tidbits to link the story into Niven's larger future history universe.

And that's just the first half of the book.  There are many more thrills, chills, and chase scenes in the second half, before the ride comes to a graceful halt with the gas tank nearly empty and all four tires smoking.

You see, this is how a good science fiction author does it.  None of it is forced or rushed, and Niven never, ever resorts to the tired "Well professor, tell us how it all happened" trope.  The whole book is just one big cavalcade of interesting ideas strung together with believable characters and competent prose.

Four point five out of Five Stars,  Recommended.

On This First Day of Hurricane Season

Got new flashlight batteries?  Rotated your gas?  Canned food that you won't mind eating for a few day?  Backup drinking water options covered?  Got FRS walkie-talkies (local option, cheap serviceable option)?  Got an AM/FM radio (good & local, really amazing good, total nerd-out options)?  No?  Then get the hell on the stick.

When the chips (and the internet) are down, you can get the news from WOYS 106.5 FM.  When the chips are really down, try WHBO 1040 AM (Tampa) daytime, WWL 870 AM (New Orleans) day or night, or WSB 750 AM (Atlanta) nighttime.  If the storm is so big it shuts all four of those down, sorry man, not much I can do to help.

If phone service is down, FRS is your easy, license-free option for talking around the neighborhood.  (You did set aside an extra one for the widow lady next door, right?  Good.)  Don't believe the range numbers on the box, marketing departments lie.  Around here, figure on a half-mile on channels 1–7 and 15–22, or a quarter-mile on channels 8–14.  Why?  Because those blocks channels are limited to 2 and 1/2 watts respectively.  If that's not enough info, go over to wikipedia and read up..

Also, if the power goes out, use battery camping lanterns rather than candles or oil lamps.  Last thing you want is to start a house fire when everything else is going wrong.

Hope for a Comparatively Mild Hurricane Season

No guarantees, ever, but overall conditions seem unfavorable for Atlantic basin hurricanes this year.

We shall see.  Hurricane season starts tomorrow.

Mountain Bikers & Insurance

Mostly this is a problem for the pros, but it can be for the rest of us as well.  Article at Singletracks.

Also note, there's a world of difference between the people doing exhibition downhill stuff like the Red Bull Rampage and people like me doing what is best described as hiking on wheels.  However, I don't think that any insurance company can discern between these activities; I know that some of my family certainly can't.

As a side note, I see that BCBS has dumped their Live Fearless advertising campaign of a decade ago.