Giant Gobs of Goo...

...found floating off the coast of Alaska. Is Sarah Palin involved?

Something big and strange is floating through the Chukchi Sea between Wainwright and Barrow.

Hunters from Wainwright first started noticing the stuff sometime probably early last week. It's thick and dark and "gooey" and is drifting for miles in the cold Arctic waters, according to Gordon Brower with the North Slope Borough's Planning and Community Services Department.

Brower and other borough officials, joined by the U.S. Coast Guard, flew out to Wainwright to investigate. The agencies found "globs" of the stuff floating miles offshore Friday and collected samples for testing.

Well, I'm reserving my opinion for now, but I would like to point out that Michael Jackson has not been buried and his body's location is not known.

Quick gunny thing, here's an article I missed earlier in the year by my old pal and cool jazz musician Roger Eckstine on Bob Mernickle's 1911 Wild Bunch holster...sorry it took so long Roger!

The sport of Practical Shooting is basically a make believe game of good guys versus bad guys.

Each individual contest within a match, whether you call it a scenario or a course of fire, is based on engaging a set of targets that upon start signal “threaten” the shooter demanding that they engage the targets as rapidly as possible without missing.

Within this last sentence are terms that are used in a variety of different organizations that interpret the application of practical shooting from their own points of view. The United States Practical Shooting Association, (USPSA), and the International Practical Shooting Confederation, (IPSC), challenge their contestants with courses of fire that increasingly demand athleticism.
[...]
There is plenty to argue about among practitioners who staunchly defend their organizations. The funny thing is that all of the above share a common link in terms of the sport’s origin. I’d bet that many seasoned competitors don’t realize how big a part Cowboy style quick draw or “leather slap” competition played in the history of organized Practical Shooting.

Before Col. Jeff Cooper and his looseknit association of tactical think-tankers developed a game of speed, power and accuracy, shooters paired off like drag racers to see who could draw from a holster and hit the target first. These were showdown games based on shootouts just like those found in the American Wild West. Or, at least that’s how early television would have it told.

Today’s practical shooting games range from a pure sporting event to recreating the old west or playing cops and robbers. But the divide is shrinking all the time. The USPSA, the American based arm of the international body, (IPSC), now presides over a Single Stack division that closely mirrors the rules of the IDPA Custom Defensive Pistol, (CDP) entries.

But, a recent development in SASS cowboy action has brought all three organizations even closer together. The organization was built on a three-gun format of lever-action rifle, slide action or double barrel shotgun, and single action six shooter. But, the format has now been expanded to include the single action Browning 1911 45.

Read the whole thing!

BTW, I've enjoyed the repartee in the Comments on one of my previous posts, some of which centers on whether I'm paranoid or not. As Curly Bill Brocius might have said, "Well, gee!" When OVER THE EDGE came out, there was a whole series of commentary questioning whether I was actually insane or just mildly looney. I am occasionally flayed alive on the tactical blogs for being a poseur, on the mainstream blogs for being a too tactical, everywhere for being a sell-out whore who takes money for something other people do for free, and occasionally even called smart (probably a diminutive for "smart-ass").

All those things are probably true to one extent or the other. People — myself included — are many things, often conflicting, at different times in their lives. I am indeed obsessed with many things — cooking salmon on a grill, learning to fly radio-controlled helicopters, shooting a perfectly clean cowboy match, bicycling, collecting cowboy hats, custom 1911s and exotic Ruger single actions, and, occasionally, my work.

What I'm not obsessed with are things like personal defense, preparedness, planning, training, etc. Rather, those are things I do that allow me to live the kind of life I want to live. I outline this philosophy specifically in TRAIL SAFE, yet another of my many products that I relentlessly shill...I suggest those of you who question my mental state but haven't read it, do so immediately. In fact. buy 3...I could use the money.

We all get to choose the kind of life we want to live. I was deeply moved by Helen Keller's profound insight, "Life is either a great adventure or nothing." I opted for the great adventure. Over the years I have accumulated an interesting set of skills, many obtained through painfull trial and error. The underlying philosophy for that journey is a simple one — I am responsible for me and for those in my care. It's simple, but it has widespread implications.

Overall, my training has served me well, both as an individual and as a journalist who has traveled some strange, and occasionally dangerous, paths. Here's a question...would I have needed that training if I had done as my parents dearly wanted — gotten a good degree, worked a good job for 30 years and retired to fish? Don't know; didn't do it.

Second point, this one on preparedness. When looking at social disruptions, you need to separate the survival of the country with the survival of the individual. America easily weathered 9/11 and the destruction of New Orleans, but bunches of individual Americans still died. My goal is once again simple — regardless of the disruption, I'd prefer to not be one of the deaders. Again, that goal has widespread implications. Remember, I've now spent a lot of time with people the U.S. government pays to think about this stuff...you think I'm paranoid!

As I say in TRAIL SAFE, enhanced awareness — what we teach weekly in THE BEST DEFENSE and THE BEST DEFENSE: SURVIVAL — also enhances a person's life. As we become more aware, we are better able to both appreciate and to participate in everything the world has to offer. My job right now is to help people become more aware while at the same time entertaining them.

I think our country is on the wrong path, and I think one of the consequences of that wrong path is the enhanced potential for social disruptions. So while we focus on the macro manstream political issues — the 2010 election — on the micro scale we (or at least I) want to make sure that, as stated above, whatever happens me and mine don't end up on the buried-in-dirt side of the equation.

Simple?