2017 Goodreads Resolution

A few more books, a little less screen time...

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. In progress [16]

Death's End, by Cixin Liu. In progress [15]

The Crash Detectives: Investigating the World's Most Mysterious Air Disasters, by Christine Negroni. Negroni offers a credible theory about the disappearance of Malaysia Air 370 by folding in the fascinating and sobering details of at least a dozen other air disasters and near disasters that have occurred since the dawn of the age of flight. [14]

Deep Time, by David Darling. [13] 

Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse. [12]

Ancient Ruins and Rock Art of the Southwest, by David Grant Noble. Those who know me understand that sussing out what humankind was up to in the pre-historic period is my thing.  David Noble's book came highly recommended by another amateur enthusiast who works a V-Bar-V petroglyph heritage site.  It does not disappoint, offering succinct directions, useful descriptions, and thoughtful analysis of "ruins and rock art" found in my neighborhood.  [11]

Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, by John G. Neihardt. "Black Elk Speaks" tells the story of an Oglala holy man and his Lakota people who lived through the worst of the American Indian Wars, from the Fetterman Fight to the Little Big Horn to the Wounded Knee Massacre. This book has long been on my "To Read" list (and my bookshelf), but when Joseph Campbell spoke highly of it in "The Inner Reaches of Outer Space" I bumped it to the top of my list. As I enter the autumn of my life I have been encountering books I should have read in my youth. This is one of those. [10]

The Inner Reaches of Outer Space, by Joseph Campbell. This collection of essays and lectures by Jospeh Campbell has been on my "To Read" shelf for quite some time, but Mortimer Adler took such exception to it in his "Truth in Religion" I had to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out Adler was upset with about one page of the 148 that make up "The Inner Reaches of Outer Space." I don't disagree with the views Campbell expressed on that page and the rest of the book is a heady melange of psychology, mythology, religion, art, and literature. Certainly not Campbell's most accessible work, but worth reading. [9]

Sinagua Sunwatchers, Kenneth J. Zoll. Of the thousand some petroglyphs discerned on the rock panels at V Bar V Heritage Site located along Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley, many correlate to midday shadows cast by two rock gnomens during the equinoxes and solstices and at other calendrical events throughout the year. "Sinagua Sunwatchers", by Kenneth J. Zoll, lays out the details patiently in methodical detail. [7]

Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth, by Mortimer Adler. The late Mortimer J. Adler reminds his reader, "De gustibus non disputandum: about matters of taste, there is no disputing. De veritate disputandum est: about matters of truth, we should engage in dispute..." And dispute he does. Adler's Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth (1990) is chewy, spirited, and oddly argumentative (Adler had some strange beef with Joseph Campbell, who approached religion as misunderstood mythology). A thought-provoking, challenging, and ultimately useful read. [7]

The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality, by Andre Comte-Sponville. My, what a fine "little book" this one is! Comte-Sponville reminds us that the search for meaning has long been - and will forever continues to be - conducted by the non-believer and the non-religious as well as the theist. He reminds the theist that atheism need not equal nihilism while reminding the atheist that non-belief need not entail fatalism. I plan to make gifts of this rich little volume to my favorite evangelical, my favorite Marxist, and many of the others I also love in between. I'll be reading "The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality" again. [6]

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, by Omar Khayyam. As with many volumes I finally have made time to read I wish that I'd read this many years ago. It stands as a worthy companion to the works of Rumi, Ecclesiastes, and the Tao Te Ching. [5]

Flintknapping: Making & Understanding Stone Tools, by John C. Whitaker. A rich resource for those who want to make stone tools or just understand their place in pre-history. [4]

An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar: Talking about God, the Universe, and Everything, by Randal Rauser and Justin Schieber. [3] A worthy effort by two evenly matched opponents, yet more enjoyable than most such exchanges in that authors Rauser and Schieber obviously respect each other. Not sure they got to choose their title. Schieber was called upon to defend the implications of a materialism I'm not sure he holds, while Rauser defended a God of the Philosophers (bare theism) rather than the trinitarian~monotheism of biblical Christianity. I'd buy a sequel, but next time I'd hold out for paper rather than use the Kindle app on my smartphone again.

Hiking the Southwest's Geology: Four Corners Region, by Ralph Lee Hopkins. [2] A marvelous and easily accessible guide to all the many features of the primordial past that lie beneath our feet and entertain our eyes with scenic vistas. This is one of our "Go-To" books we use to plan our road trips across the southwest. Highly recommended!

Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It, by Julia Keller. [1]  A social history about the man and his times, the application of patent law, the rise of industrialization, the internecine machinations of weapons procurement by the American military establishment, and the role of military technology applied to the acquisition and defense of empire. Regrettably, this book contains very details about the innovative gun itself, its evolutions, or its re-adoption in modernized form in the Jet Age. Not what I expected.

Let's read 48 books in 52 weeks...

I Have Feet

Which are hard to fit...

Finding zapatos that accommodate my 10-1/2 EEEE (or sometimes H) stompers has been a challenge this past half century or so. It's all the more difficult when they have to work with my uniform - black and leather-like.

Last weekend I was in Phoenix at a conference so I visited Ace Uniforms during a lunch break. I was told it would be the Disneyland of uniform stores. It lived up to the hype.

I did some business with Don, getting a couple Blauer Armorskin external armor carriers of the correct size. My recent weight loss moved me from a XL to L. I'd say "Yay," but that means I have to send my armor panels back to Second Chance to be recut. Then I found some ready bags in which to carry our AR500 rifle armor.

Professional business done, my eyes turned to the wall of shoes and boots. First I got a pair of pretty normal looking Bates 3/4 rise boots with zip sides. They fit. They're solid. They're sold!

"Let me show you one more option," says the helpful sales clerk through a sly smile. He hands me a box labeled Under Armor. I thought it was empty. I opened the box to look down on a pair of something that look like boots but which were lighter, much lighter. "DPS loves these," he says. I can see why. My none too dainty hooves are in heaven! They looks like boots, but they feel like bedroom slippers. Mrowww! Zero break-in, total comfort. The Under Armor Valsetz RTS Tactical boot; give 'em a try!

Made Some Changes

To make a spare shotgun a little more useful...

When Erik was in middle school I awarded him a Remington 870 Express Lightweight Youth Model 20 gauge for turning a "D" in maths into an "A."  I had replaced the truck tire that Remington calls a recoil pad with a Pachmayr Decelerator Sporting Clays and the front bead was removed on the advice of a wing -shooting instructor.  All good.  Erik promptly outgrew it.  I bought him the adult sized 870 Express Lightweight Synthetic 20 gauge.  It comes with Remington's marvelous R3 recoil pad on the full length stock.  The little shotgun went into the safe for decade.  A thread at Scoutrifle.org got me thinking setting it up as a handy little general purpose shotgun, equally suited to the use of bird shot, buck shot, and slugs.

The youth model's short (12 inch) LOP absorbs that extra inch of barrel, making it no longer overall that the 20 inch 12 bores I used to work with, so I'm not going to replace the 21 inch vent rib barrel.  Still it needs sights for my purposes so I've ordered XS Express Night Sight Set Benelli, Remington Vent Rib Steel Matte Standard Dot Tritium Front, White Line Rear.  Found a local smith to install them (at a price; seems dovetails are spendy here in Prescott).  These sights won't be as precise as a ghost ring rear and and a square post front but it might still let a fella pot a quail without too much distraction. I aspire to seeing how far out I can reliably present a hazard to navigation using the Brenneke one ounce slugs (1392 or 1476 fps; my shoulder gets to choose).  Once installed, all I have to do is determine which buckshot load it likes best with which choke tube and select which of the three rear sights in the XS kit lands Brennekes where I want them. 

I attached a Weaver base to the wood fore end with brass screws to serve as a flashlight mount.  I've got a spare Weaver top mount ring in the parts box somewhere.  I've got a spare Surefire for a light.  Presto, I have a weapon mounted light.

Onboard ammo storage means a fella can select different sorts of cartridges so a four-shot TacStar side saddle was ordered.  Andy Langlois made me a four shot leather ammo holder that I screwed to the wood stock. Screws work so well I may never use the lace-up variety again.  Might add another screw or two.

I replaced the plastic factory follower with an aluminum aftermarket unit from Ultimate Arms Gear.  The factory safety was swapped for jumbo button from S&J Hardware; buh bye, J-lock!  Finally, Uncle Mike's set me up with some sling swivel studs.  The rear swivel is mounted at the bottom of the pistol grip to keep the sling  out of the way while reaching for the ammo cuff underhand and it allows a higher carry position when slung in African style.

The original forend design overhangs the receiver, which can cause a variety of problems when a fella is in a hurry.  From time to time I have somehow (I'm clumsy) managed to pinch prodigious quantities of my left hand between the long wood and receiver of similarly set up slide action shotguns when operating them wrong quickly. In the process of raising blood blisters and shedding blood I've come to hate pinch points and strive to extirpate them at every opportunity.  I used a needle nose pliers to unscrew the forend retainer. If I were going to do this more than once I'd definitely buy the purpose built tool.  

Finally the factory hardwood forend and buttstock got a dose of Rustoleum brand truck bed liner.  Simple, sturdy and simple to touch up.

I'm shopping for a wall-mounted security lock so I can keep this handy little gun close at hand yet protected from the untrained and the unauthorized.

Regardless the challenge encountered - day or night, at arms length or at the 50 yard line - four rounds of buck in the magazine, four slugs in the saddle, and four rounds of shot in the cuff ought to suffice.

The Man Cave Is Mostly Complete

After a year in my burly log home high in the Prescott National Forest all my books are finally unpacked...

Hunting, fiction, biography, natural history, American history, world history, geography, and the classics.

Religion, philosophy of religion, theology, neurotheology, philosophy, biography, and natural history.

Guns, gun building, hunting, natural history, and American history.

Guns, reloading, and hunting.

Leadership, management, security, psychopathology, teaching, and more American history.

Literature, fiction, horror, science fiction, more natural history, more philosophy, more religion, and more classics.

Still have sorting to do, but the manly coziness is to die for.

UPDATE: On Boxing Day I decommissioned the lower file drawers of my IKEA organizer and filled the shelf immediately.  No more unpacked book boxes!

Sticks and Stones Will Break My Bones

But words will never hurt me...

Je Suis Charlie!

Social Construction of Moral Panics

Been bashing this topic around with the professor's next door...

There may be a capstone in this topic if we find the right contrarian.

MORAL PANICS: Culture, Politics, and Social Construction 

http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.so.20.080194.001053

The Political Construction of Collective Insecurity: From Moral Panic to Blame Avoidance and Organized Irresponsibility 

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~ces/publications/docs/pdfs/Beland.pdf  

MASS MEDIA, CRIME, AND THE DISCOURSE OF FEAR

http://www.iasc-culture.org/THR/archives/Fear/5.3CAltheide.pdf

These are the only one I've read so far.  No telling when I’ll get to the rest.  I still have several gigs of unread papers collected while researching my Master's...

A Field Guide to Social Construction

http://xcelab.net/rm/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/mallon-field-guide-to-social-construction-2007.pdf

Beck's Sociology of Risk: A Critical Assessment 
http://www.sagepub.com/mcdonaldizationstudy5/articles/Weber%20and%20Other%20Supporting%20Theories_Articles%20PDFs/Elliott.pdf

Critical Theory of World Risk Society: A Cosmopolitan Vision 
http://www.ulrichbeck.net-build.net/uploads/constellations.pdf

Daring to Fear: Optimizing the Encounter of Danger through Education

http://www.metajournal.org//articles_pdf/9-36-alin-cristian-meta7-tehno.pdf

Fear of crime: audit of the literature and community programs volume 1

http://www.criminologyresearchcouncil.gov.au/reports/1998-foc1.pdf

Functional fear and public insecurities about crime 

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/25537/1/Functional%20Fear%20and%20Public%20Insecurities%20about%20Crime%20(LSERO).pdf

Introduction: The Moral Panic Concept

http://www.ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/Ashgate-Research-Companion-to-Moral-Panics-Intro.pdf

Living in the world risk society
http://hudson2.skidmore.edu/~rscarce/Soc-Th-Env/Env%20Theory%20PDFs/Beck--WorldRisk.pdf 

Moral Panic and Social Theory: Beyond the Heuristic 

http://dspace.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/5573/2/Fulltext.pdf

Moral panic versus the risk society: the implications of the changing sites of social anxiety

http://penelopeironstone.com/UngarMoralPanic.pdf

Place, social relations and the fear of crime: a review

http://www1.geo.ntnu.edu.tw/~moise/Data/Books/Social/08%20part%20of%20theory/place,%20social%20relations.pdf

The Biology of Fear

http://conte.caltech.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Adolphs_CB_Fear_2013.pdf

The Edge and the Center: Gated Communities and the Discourse of Urban Fear

http://faculty.washington.edu/plape/citiesaut11/readings/Low%20Gated%20Communities.pdf

The only thing we have to fear is the ‘culture of fear’ itself

http://www.frankfuredi.com/pdf/fearessay-20070404.pdf

THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF XENOPHOBIA AND OTHER-ISMS

ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/improving/docs/ser_racism_burns.pdf

An FTP site?!! I didn't know they still had those. Quell retro!

These are just the result of some rudimentary Google-fu. Haven’t even gone into the academic DBs yet.

Our role in moral panics can be unconscious, accidental, or deliberate. The choice is ours.

Fearmongering

Never gets old...

But I do so hate it when my peer professionals use it to forward the security agenda.

In an 11 April 2014 op-ed in The Epoch Times, Vincent J. Bove, CPP, told the American people:

Active shooter tragedies have reached staggering proportions in America and each company, school, facility, house of worship, agency, and community is a potential victim. Law enforcement and private security must exercise leadership, vigilance, and collaboration to protect those entrusted to their care...

If only that leadership took the form of telling and retelling an irrationally frightened U.S. populace some important facts.

Misuse of the term "active shooter" has become problematic. In most cities across America violent (as well as property) crime has been falling since the 1990s. Workplace homicide is at its lowest since tracking began in 1992. The rate of mass murder has not changed in decades. Less than 2% of all homicides of children ages 5-18 occur in school. Our children are safer at school than they are at home.

Mr. Bove is not alone in shaping the message to suit his narrative. His op-ed also told us:

Addressing police chiefs in Philadelphia on Oct. 21, 2013, Attorney General Eric Holder said the United States saw an average of five active shooting incidents a year between 2000 and 2008. “Alarmingly, since 2009, this annual average has tripled. We’ve seen at least 12 active shooter situations so far in 2013,” Holder said.

The crisis we face is one of perception, perceptions fed by a 24 hour news cycle that frantically grasps at our eyeballs with lurid crime coverage, perceptions encouraged in the craven pursuit of political and institutional agendas. Too often thought leaders choose to contribute to the moral panic of the day rather than engaging in a productive public discussion of the facts.

We can do better, if only we summon the will to examine the facts and tell the truth.

Until that day, pay very careful attention to politicians, talking heads, and other persons described as experts. Remember: Workplace Violence ≠ Targeted School Shooting ≠ Mass Murder ≠ Active Shooter ≠ Mass Shooting. Anyone who does not care about the differences is selling something. What is it they want to do? What is it they want you to do?

Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_panic

Been Reading...

...more that I care to on targeted school shootings at institutions of higher education.

I suppose it's a good thing such exotic violence is so rare. If early detection, intervention, and treatment fail, the policy, training, and equipment needed for mitigation are daunting. Here's the bibliography for a report we've been working on:

Aveni, T. (2003) Officer-Involved Shootings: What We Didn’t Know Has Hurt Us. The Police Policy Studies Council, August 2003. http://www.theppsc.org/Staff_Views/Aveni/OIS.pdf   

Blair, J. and Martaindale, M. (2013) United States Active Shooter Events from 2000 to 2010: Training and Equipment Applications.  Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, Texas State University, 2013 http://alerrt.org/files/research/ActiveShooterEvents.pdf  

Counterterrorism Bureau of the New York City Police Department. (2012) Active Shooter Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation. NYPD Printing Section, 2012 http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/counterterrorism/ActiveShooter2012Edition.pdf

Drysdale, D., Modzeleski, W., and Simons, A. (2010). Campus Attacks: Targeted Violence Affecting Institutions of Higher Education. U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, U.S. Department of Education, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice. Washington, D.C., 2010. http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/CampusAttacks041610.pdf

Farren, K. (2013) Justifying Weapon Mounted Lights. IALEFI, Control 13-11 www.ialefi.com/2013editorial/13-11%20Farren.doc

Good. J. (2014) The Deployment of Illumination Tools: Law Enforcement Primer. Night Reaper Systems, 2014.  http://www.shastadefense.com/NR-lowlight-manual-2014.pdf

IACP National Law Enforcement Policy Center Board. (2007) The Patrol Rifle: Considerations for Adoption and Use. The Police Chief, February 2007. http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/issues/22007/pdfs/ThePatrolRifle.pdf

List of School Shootings in the United States. (n.d.)  In Wikipedia.  Accessed April 10, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States 

Paparazzo, J., Eith C., and Tocco, J. (2013) Strategic Approaches to Preventing Multiple Casualty Violence: Report on the National Summit on Multiple Casualty Shootings. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2013.. http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-w0707-pub.pdf

Schweit, K. (2013) Addressing the Problem of the Active Shooter. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, May 2013. http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/2013/May/active-shooter

Smith, L and Supiano, B. (2008) Major Shootings on American College Campuses. Chronicle of Higher Education. Februay 18, 2008. http://chronicle.com/article/Major-Shootings-on-American/22373/

Timeline of Worldwide School and Mass Shootings: Gun-related tragedies in the U.S. and around the world. (n.d.) Information Please Database, Pearson Education, Inc. Accessed April 10, 2014.  http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html#ixzz2H0tChjfr

United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation.  (2013).  Crime in the United States, September 2013.  Retrieved April 10, 2014, from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012  

Vossekuil, B., Fein, R., Reddy, M., Borum, R., and Modzeleski, W. (2002) The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States. United States Secret Service and United States Department of Education, May 2002. http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf

Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman

Violent Death in the Workplace

The trend persists...

Click on chart to enlarge

The 2012 BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) CFOI (Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries) shows the downward trend in the number of violent deaths in the workplace continues.  "Violence and other injuries by persons or animals" accounted for 17% (as in 2011) of an slightly smaller quantity of occupational fatalities.

Click on chart to enlarge

As in years past Type I - Criminal offenders and Suicide account for the bulk of the tragedies.  Type II, III, and IV continue to garner most of the headlines.  

Where in the World is Eclectic Breakfast?

Waldo is right here...

At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, in Prescott, Arizona, USA.

Michael Brady, MA, CPP
Director of Campus Safety & Security
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
3700 Willow Creek Road
Prescott, AZ 86301
928-777-3333 dispatch
928-777-3738 desk
928-442-6867 cell
bradym3@erau.edu 

How I got here and what I saw on the road between Minneapolis and Prescott will be detailed in a series of future posts.  In the mean time I still have unpacking to do...

What Better Day

To remember we usually get risk wrong...

click on image to enlarginate

As a society - perhaps 21st century Americans especially - we’re strongly inclined to get risk wrong. We worry about different things for different reasons, depending on our temperaments.  We worry about rare events we cannot control and ignore mundane hazards we can avoid.  As individuals - especially those of us in the resilience trade - we need to resist all the cognitive short cuts that make that possible.  I am reminded of a funny and challenging 2008 Op-Ed by Lenore Skenazy, the silly media firestorm that followed, and her refreshingly sensible blog.

Image credit: http://www.yalescientific.org/2011/05/cultural-cognition-and-scientific-consensus/

Mourn The Past Or Prepare For The Future?

I much prefer the company of those who dedicate themselves to prepare for the future... 

The 11th Annual Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance has arrived.  The flag is lowered, we bow our heads, and are inclined to look back to mourn the past.  Arnold Bogis, a writer at the excellent Homeland Security Watch blog, recommends rather that we honor our heroes by training new ones.  I agree with him.  

As the most social of all primates, humans will follow the group, for good and for ill.  The herd, the troop, the tribe will choose compassion or cruelty.  Leadership creates the direction.  The able response mounted by emergency services at the Boston Marathon modeled appropriate action and made it easy for witnesses to become rescuers.  Like most all animals, we have three responses to threat: flight,fight, or freeze.  As individuals we do not rise to the occasion, we default to our level of training.  Effective training and frequent drill can create the difference between evacuation or rout, resistance or riot, a moment of evaluation or mindless panic.  As leaders we instill in our team members, communities, and families the habits they present to the world and the reflexes they will apply under stress.  Whether we model habits mindfully or carelessly is up to each of us, every day.

 

 

Homegrown Violent Extremism by Erroll Southers

Brought to our attention by Arnold Bogis at Homeland Security Watch...

Thanks for bringing our attention to Erroll Southers’ new book Homegrown Violent Extremism

Coincidentally, Mr. Southers is currently working for Johnathan Tal, of TAL Global, an associate of mine from the Silicon Valley days.  Southers has a blog where he discussed his book in a recent post in which he reminds us:

Absent a set of specific criteria, we will continue to direct the vast majority of our national security efforts against only one violent ideology (i.e., Muslim extremism).

The federal government has had a legal definition of terrorism for quite some time.

Title 22 of the U.S. Code, Section 2656f(d) defines terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

 
By that measure most (almost all) of the terrorism we have experienced in the U.S. since 1865 has been the work of angry white men, not transnational Islamist extremists. There was a time when the federal government aggressively investigated the bombing of churches and the assassination of civil rights workers without regard to the skin color of the perpetrators or victims. Unfortunately, these days our frightened neighbors and their political representatives are not much interested in chasing anti-government extremists, white supremacists, anti-semites, tax protesters, violent homophobes, or “right to life” bombers and assassins, especially, it seems, if they happen to be white and nominally Christian. There is some tolerance for tracking down the tree-hugging arsonists, animal-loving vandals, balaclava-clad anarchists, but they’re radical lefties and probably atheists after all. I suppose it all depends on whose ox is gored, or what sort of news coverage sells the most advertising.

I look forward to reading Mr. Southers’ book.

If The NSA Was Cable TV

Unintended consequences or inscrutable public policy...?

When you fire 90% of your system administrators your system crashes.

When your system crashes you can't spy on anyone.

When you can't spy on anyone there's no sensitive information to leak...

You know, this just might work.

"Don't have a grandson with a dog collar" image courtesy of DirectTV