Heartbreak anew

For no particular reason, I present four different versions of Don Gibson's classic country tune, "Sea of Heartbreak".

First, the original studio tune, with a photo montage of Gibson added.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4bo4ByFhLM

Next, a Johnny Cash remake. Can't talk country music without referencing The Man in Black.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZAS5ciRTe4

For a more modern tint, Jimmy Buffet's version. A little too mellow and beachy for my taste, but I like Jimmy Buffet's music, so here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzE-se5VYAU

Finally, the opening montage from the Clint Eastwood classic "Heartbreak Ridge". This is where most, including me, first heard this song. The clip of the Korean child crying at about 3:20 is one of the most haunting war images of all time. I've often wondered what happened to that little one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kugsk-4N9NE

Another thing to notice in the last clip, particularly for small arms afficianados, is the carbine at 2:04. Notice the lack of bayonet lug on the barrel. The main thing that separates the M1 carbine from the M2 carbine is the full-automatic capability in of the M2, and wartime maintenance frequently turns weapons into mix&match frankenguns so there's no way to tell whether the carbine there is a M1 or M2. Several years back I traded emails with one of the weapons experts at Leatherneck magazine, and was told on good authority that the US Marine Corps didn't get bayonet lugs on their carbines until 1947 at the earliest, so it's very possible that the retrofitting effort hadn't caught up to the soldier or Marine (can't tell from the clip) by the time the initial movie reel was made.

Also notice the 30 round magazines at 0:51, 0:59, 1:15 and other parts of the clip, as well as the full-auto fire (M2) in the latter two spots.

Oh deer

Did something last night that I hadn't done in a while. I worked a wreck involving one car and a deer. Fairly simple to reconstruct - car coming down a hill, deer crossing the road, and a very bad ending for the deer courtesy of the car's front end. Fairly simple on my end as well, just check on the driver, call for a tow truck as needed (not in this case), mark the deer for the streets truck to pick up, scribble some notes, and then it's off to the next one.

In any crash, officers have to estimate damage amounts. This is half guesstimation and half simple knowledge of cars and construction. A fence, or bumper, or door panel...all fairly straight forward to verify. When in doubt, call an autobody shop, or browse a Blue Book or hardware catalog.

What always struck me is that we're required to assign monetary value and ownership to deer. At the risk of getting overly philosophical, who really owns a deer? Anyone? Personally I have my opinions, but I don't think DMV would take kindly to me writing "God" on a FR300. Instead, we mark the owner as "Virginia Departmant of Game and Inland Fisheries", aka the state wild game department with a cost of $800.

$800?

Where'd they get that?

In the legal sense, keeping the monetary value associated to something breathing (versus a fencepost) under $1000 also keeps it misdemeanor level and avoiding further hairsplitting. I can almost picture the lawyers splitting the animal kinggdom up between felony level animals and misdemeanor animals. As a hunter, I have no desire whatever to get into any sort of animal rights argument with anyone. You think what you want to, I'll think what I want to, and we can still get along just fine.

$800? That seems so....arbitrary.

I'll have to work that one out a little.

release the inner geek

As technically simple as blogspot is, it is still taking me a while to master some of the features...like hotlinking. I hotlinked the four videos in the previous post just now, so enjoy.

videos of the week

Jake Owen's classic song "Starting With Me", played in Roanoke, Virginia, barely a month after the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. Great performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUFkW4BOrgo

Same song, done as a studio video. The audio quality is better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6uk6W3TVPU

Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder and Lead". Nothing like a homicidal Texas hottie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCd8Ig9RLqY

More Miranda Lambert, only showing her sensitive side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eEG3T5mjLQ

Back at it

After a year and a half off, GardenCop is back at it.

Upcoming blog topics:
- my 1903 Springfield that I just got from CMP
- Virginia and local budget idiocy
- winter blahs
- no football on TV
- and most importantly, the upcoming garden season