Okay, I’ll Play…

Alan over at SnarkyBytes brought back some old memories with the D&D Character evaluation… 🙂

It takes a couple of minutes to wade through the form, but this is what I got back…

Neutral Good Dwarf Ranger (8th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength- 13
Dexterity- 16
Constitution- 13
Intelligence- 16
Wisdom- 16
Charisma- 16

Alignment:
Neutral Good- A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment when it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Dwarves are known for their skill in warfare, their ability to withstand physical and magical punishment, their hard work, and their capacity for drinking ale. Dwarves are slow to jest and suspicious of strangers, but they are generous to those who earn their trust. They stand just 4 to 4.5 feet tall, but are broad and compactly built, almost as wide as they are tall. Dwarven men value their beards highly.

Class:
Rangers- Rangers are skilled stalkers and hunters who make their home in the woods. Their martial skill is nearly the equal of the fighter, but they lack the latter’s dedication to the craft of fighting. Instead, the ranger focuses his skills and training on a specific enemy a type of creature he bears a vengeful grudge against and hunts above all others. Rangers often accept the role of protector, aiding those who live in or travel through the woods. His skills allow him to move quietly and stick to the shadows, especially in natural settings, and he also has special knowledge of certain types of creatures. Finally, an experienced ranger has such a tie to nature that he can actually draw on natural power to cast divine spells, much as a druid does, and like a druid he is often accompanied by animal companions. A ranger’s Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Cops doing good…

Yes, it does happen, but these are the stories that never seem to make the media…

Police give young mom a helping hand after shoplifting accusation

by Ashley B. Craig

Charleston Daily Mail staff

Charleston Patrolman Ryan Williard and Detective Duane Fields helped a struggling mother accused of shoplifting at the Patrick Street K-Mart.

What started as an ordinary shoplifting call turned in to something more for two Charleston police officers.

Patrolmen Ryan Willard and Duane Fields were dispatched July 30 to K-Mart at the PatrickStreetPlaza to look into a shoplifting. They spoke to the loss prevention officer when they arrived and then were led to a room inside the store.

There they found a young woman and her two young daughters – a 7- or 8-year-old and a 2-year-old who was still in diapers.

When they learned what the woman had tried to take from the store, their hearts went out to her.

“She didn’t take anything to benefit herself,” Willard said. “She had only taken baby diapers, rash cream and some clothes for her children, ’cause she said she was going through kind of a rough divorce and her husband wasn’t really helping out.”

Willard, 24, and Fields, 34, talked about the situation with each other and then with the loss prevention officer.

“I just felt bad for her,” Fields said. “I’ve got kids at home.”

Fields, a father of two who just made detective, offered to buy diapers and rash cream for the baby and Willard took her and the children into the store to pick out a couple of outfits, shoes and socks.

“You could tell she was just down on her luck, and it’s good for the police to be able to show people that we’re just normal just like them and that we can step out of our boundaries and help in their time of need as well.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Kudos to them!

Squeaky Update…

Sadly not so good news…

Squeaky’s post is HERE.  and Erin’s post is HERE.

If you can spare a few bucks, it would be appreciated…

Teh Funny…

You know you’ve seen the same security training video when it’s starting to sound like the Rocky Horror Picture Show during the video and people start taking parts…

And arguing over who gets to be which part…

Hey, “I” wanted the damsel in distress! No you had that last time and screwed it up, and  one of the ladies pipes up, It’s ‘MY’ turn to be the terrorist, you guys accents are terrible!

Oh well, at least we put the check in the block for another 6 months…

The ‘new’ Navy???

The Department of Defense (DoD) is proud to announce a new fleet of Class 69 destroyers. Having initially named the first two ships USS Daring and USS Dauntless, The Naming Committee has, after intensive pressure from Congress, renamed them USS Cautious and USS Prudent.

The next five ships are to be USS Empathy, USS Circumspect, USS Nervous, USS Timorous and USS Apologist.  Costing $850 million each they comply with the very latest employment, equality, health and safety and human rights laws.

The U.S. Navy fully expects any future enemy to be decent and to comply with the same high standards of our behavior.
The viewer friendly stacks will be painted in the “gay pride” colors.  Live ammunition has been replaced with paintballs to reduce the risk of anyone getting hurt and to cut down on the number of compensation claims.  Stress counselors and lawyers will be on board, as will a union representative for each of the trades on board.

The crew will be 50%/50% men and women and will contain the correct balance of race, gender, sexuality and disability.
Sailors will only work a maximum of 40 hours per week as per union rules on working hours, time and a half for overtime and double time on Sundays and holidays, even in wartime.

All the vessels are equipped with a maternity ward and a gay disco.  Tobacco will be banned throughout the ship, but recreational cannabis will be allowed in wardrooms and messes.
Saluting of officers is now considered elitist and has been replaced by “Hi Sailor”.

All information on notice boards will be in 37 different languages.  Crew members will now have permission to grow beards and/or mustaches. This applies equally to female crew.

A majority of Senators have suggested a “non-specific” flag because the current “Stars and Stripes” may offend some Nations during port calls.

The newly re-named USS Cautious will be commissioned shortly by muslim cleric from the Washington DC Mosque who will detonate a small explosive device near the hull.

As she will gently slide into the sea the Marines Corp Band will play “In the Navy” by the Village People.

Her first deployment will be to escort boatloads of illegal immigrants to ports on the East coast.

The President said, “Our ships reflect the very latest in modern thinking and they will always be able to comply with any new legislation from the U.N.”  His final words were, “I told you there would be “CHANGE!”

Really not too far from the truth… dammit…

h/t JP

It’s Official…

Kahr Arms is moving out of NY…

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. –  A firearms manufacturer in New York, partially blaming the state’s new gun control law, said Wednesday it’s moving its corporate offices — and its plans for expansion — to Pennsylvania.

Kahr Firearms Group of Pearl River is the first gunmaker to announce it’s leaving because of the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, which was put into law after closed-door negotiations in January. It was the first law in the nation prompted by the killing of 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., in December.

‘‘We’re looking for a more friendly environment for our business,’’ said Frank Harris, Kahr’s vice president for sales and marketing. ‘‘Maybe we could have stayed here and built a plant, but the way the bill was passed left us feeling there were a lot of uncertainties going forward.’’

Read the whole article HERE.

One down, and how many more to go from MA, CT, MD???

Yep, actions have consequences!!! Good for Kahr!!!

Interesting history…

The old vs. bold pilots thingie has been around for a lot longer that we thought…

image001

Apparently Gen Hap Arnold didn’t want his old pilots getting killed by recruits or flying fighters, or dogfighting, or flying at night…

Needless to say, this went straight out the window two years and a bit later…

By 1945 the 23 year old Colonel with 50 missions WAS the old bold pilot!

More worrisome that NSA???

A couple of folks were discussing this today…

Undated documents show that federal agents are trained to “recreate” the investigative trail to effectively cover up where the information originated, a practice that some experts say violates a defendant’s Constitutional right to a fair trial. If defendants don’t know how an investigation began, they cannot know to ask to review potential sources of exculpatory evidence – information that could reveal entrapment, mistakes or biased witnesses.

“I have never heard of anything like this at all,” said Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School professor who served as a federal judge from 1994 to 2011. Gertner and other legal experts said the program sounds more troubling than recent disclosures that the National Security Agency has been collecting domestic phone records. The NSA effort is geared toward stopping terrorists; the DEA program targets common criminals, primarily drug dealers.

Full article HERE.

There have been ‘rumors’ of this going back 20+ years… Appears now that where there was ‘smoke’ there really was ‘smoke’…

And another link HERE from Reuters UK…

Facts…

Oops, gotta hate it when facts actually support us…

Amid calls nationwide for stricter gun control laws, Virginia is experiencing a unique trend: the state’s gun-related crime is declining but firearms sales are increasing. 

Firearms sales rose 16 percent to a record 490,119 guns purchased from licensed gun dealers in 2012, according to sales estimates obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

During the same period, major crimes committed with firearms dropped 5 percent to 4,378.

Read the whole thing HERE

And for those who talk about carrier landings, here’s a side by side of day and night traps aboard USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN taken in 1997.

Remember, this is in GREAT weather… now throw in 20-30 foot seas, wind, etc and ‘blue water’ ops, e.g. there is NO WHERE to go… yep, they earn that flight pay on those days/nights…

h/t JP, Frito and a few others

Meh 3…

Woo hoo… Slept in till 0500…

Now off to another day of meetings where minutes will be taken, hours wasted and absolutely zip point s!!t will be accomplished… sigh…

Y’all have a nice quiet evening!  And re the Grey Man, next installment will be next Tuesday…

Oh yeah, and it’s supposed to be 108 today… sigh