I'm a Libertarian living in Humboldt County, CA. I've lived here in Eureka since 1973 and joined the Libertarian Party in 1992. This blog will mostly focus on local political issues, but I may stray into state and national issues as well, when I can't help myself. Please post your comments by clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of each post. Although I do moderate comments, you need not be a registered user to post them.
Interesting piece on how breathalyzers, those things you blow into to see if you're legally drunk, work and some unintended(?) consequences of their use. Wonder how often this happens? This sort of stuff was never mentioned when I when through the breathalyzer training at Redwoods Police Academy.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 12:12 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
Fred, were you a police officer?
Come to think of it, you do look like you could be a retired policeman in your profile picture, with that finger-wagging pose and the big handlebar mustache.
Your profile says you are "xtyger" in Aces High -- so do you fly a P-40?
Not really a police officer but most of the jobs I've had in my life were involved in the security, military, law enforcement or corrections fields.
I put myself through the Basic Law Enforcement Academy at College of the Redwoods in '84, hoping to get a job in law enforcement. Never could do well enough on the oral boards, though, for one thing.
I worked 8 1/2 years as a security officer at Humboldt Bay Power Plant, which is what piqued my interest in law enforcement as I worked with a number of retired cops. Then I worked 3 1/2 years at Humboldt County Juvenile Hall. I also spent nine years with the local Army National Guard Military Police Detachment. That followed six years with the Combat Engineer unit up here.
I've rarely flown a P-40 in Aces High. My plane of choice is usually the P-51D Mustang for general use. For bombing raids I usually take a Mosquito. I also enjoy a lot of time in ground vehicles, usually the M16GMC3. That's a half track with quad fifties on the back. It's fun sitting on the airfield and shooting at the attacking planes.
I haven't been up on Aces High for some months as I have a problem with the USB ports on my computer so I can't connect my joystick. I hope to take this computer in to get it fixed within the next few weeks when I end up going to the Bay Area for a few days. Might as well take it into the shop when I'm not going to be around anyway.
I thought maybe "xtyger" referred to the Flying Tigers, who flew P-40s at first. But of course a P-40 could never keep up with a Mustang in aerial combat.
I'd love to check out online WW2 flight sims but I don't think my old iMac would work with them.
My handle "xtyger" came about in a somewhat convoluted way: When I first started ww2 flight sims we were flying in Air Warrior 3. I needed a username and, if memory serves me correct, you had to use a name with only so many letters.
So, I usually use fredtyg as a username, but that wouldn't be a good game name. So I just took off the end and tried to use "tyg" and they wouldn't accept it for some reason. I believe I changed it to tige or tyge (this was some years ago) and used that.
My squadron, VMF-525, ended up moving to Warbirds cause there were too many problems with Air Warrior. Warbirds wouldn't accept tyge cause it was too short, or some such. I worked on it and figured tyger might be ok but it would be even better if I added an x to the front for EX- Tiger. Kinda like X Men.
Only problem is, at least half of the pilots up there can't figure out how it's supposed to read. When someone calls me on voice they often pronounce it as exteeejer. Oh well.
And, no, I don't think there's a Mac version of Aces High. Might be for some of the other sims or there might be some flight sims exclusively for Mac players.
I miss flying in Aces High. I'd play on my other computer but the game requires 900mhz minimum and my other machine is only 600mhz. Just have to wait to get this high end machine fixed.
I think Macs can play on Warbirds, but they do have to be the newer, faster ones.
Well...get a faster Mac.
I enjoyed Warbirds. Some things I liked with Warbirds better than Aces High. I forget what got the other guys to leave Warbirds, but when they left I didn't follow them to Aces High, if for no other reason than I didn't want to hassle with installing yet another game on my old e-machine.
Got out of playing the ww2 sims altogether until I won this Alienware Gaming System. Then I looked up the old squadron and joined them in Aces High.
Why did you choose Libertarian, Fred? I like a lot of things about it but I don't get a vote in the Primaries as a 3rd party.
Why Libertarian, Rose? Because the Libertarian Party is the only party that espouses a live and let live philosophy, which is what I believe in. I'm not a doctrinaire libertarian, for example, I'm not exactly a believer in open borders.
I'm actually totally happy being registered with the LP. It gives me a different perspective when watching the politics as usual that goes on. I never know whether to laugh or cry when I see the Left and Right going after each other, each often being guilty of the things they accuse each other of.
Sure, some people want to feel they have a part in the major primary elections, sometimes I feel a little of that, but my vote likely will make little difference.
Besides, we have to remember that primaries don't really decide who wins the candidacy. Candidates are chosen in the respective party's conventions. They usually echo the primary results but they aren't bound to the primary results.
I think it's important to register based on what your principles are, so I'll probably be registered LP until the day I die.
BTW; In case you hadn't seen it, back in my blog archives, I made a post about why I joined the LP. It's the Monday, January 23 post. That was probably before you joined up with this blog.
Hey I like the new way the comments open up in a full window, instead of the little pop-up window.
You oughta make that January 23 post a link. I think the Libertarian approach is very interesting, and much more democratic.
I checked out your Libertarian Party of Humboldt County webpage and I like everything on it, including the right to own a gun, our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and this likewise essential right:
"To choose your own way of life. The law should protect all people, married or single, straight or gay, conventional or unorthodox. Government shouldn't use taxes or other penalties against lifestyles it doesn't approve of."
I hope this includes the right to smoke marijuana, recreationally or as a medicinal herb, as long as you're not hurting anyone else.
I like what I see, too.
Anon 439 wrote: "I hope this includes the right to smoke marijuana, recreationally or as a medicinal herb, as long as you're not hurting anyone else."
Indeed it does. Some libs, rather than describing the lib philosophy as "live and let live", prefer the old '60s and '70s "hippie slogan", "Do whatever you want. Just don't hurt anybody...".
Some call that the old Classic Liberal motto and, in fact, libertarians are commonly referred to as the Classic Liberals in some circles, as opposed to what most consider liberals to be today: Those promoting more and more government involvement in our lives.
Yeah, today's bourgeois liberals are no threat whatsoever to the government. In fact, liberals' impotent noisemaking is a very helpful distraction, useful for perpetuating the illusion that America is a democracy.
We certainly do need less government, not more. But the U.S. government will never voluntarily relinquish power to the American people. And we can't use violence against it, because that plays right into their hands.
So the one and only effective thing we can do is refuse to pay taxes to the criminal orginization known as the "federal government".
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