Gunther is getting a grip!

OK - my guns (actually only pistols, since they have personalities) have names.
Gunther is my Ruger target pistol. A nice Mark II target model in stainless steel. Sharp-looking!
And Gunther will be receiving new Hogue grips real soon now. Rosewood, too, no less!
Pictures to follow, once I figure out how to do that.

Proles, Welfare, and Gambling

I realize this is not a new concept, but it occurred to me this afternoon (while observing the lower echelons of the species) that as humanity achieves more and more independence from "labour" in bulk - i.e. the masses labouring for their own survival - the less purpose the poorer examples of the species serve. And this is interestingly coupled with a greater and greater reliance, by them, on the public welfare system.
I see, every day, people whose only purpose in life is to utilize (read "abuse") the system of public wlefare for their own idleness and enjoyment. They make no attempt to be useful, either to themselves or to others. Ultimate egocentrism, and sponsored by the welfare system.
One obvious visual example of this is the huge iuncrease in obesity among the welfare classes. We now have the reverse of centuries ago, when girth was a visual manifestration of wealth and prosperity. Now it is the opposite - educated, well-to-do people are much more fit than the average.
A second example is the use of gambling facilities by the lower socio-economic classes. I se it, since I live in a city where we have a local "casino", and I live only a short walking distance away. It's pathetic, really - the gambling system serves as a type of regressive taxation system, where those least able to afford losses are the most attracted to gambling. And I fail to see any economic value to casinos. They do not generate wealth, they only redistribute money. And the truly pathetic comment is that governments are beginning, at least in Canada are starting to rely on the revenue generated by gambling.
Not good, I tell you. Not good.

Dreary Day and Flamin' Mamie

My, it is distinctly dreary outside. Rainy, windy, dull, overcast (of course). Generally blah.
And I cannot concentrate on arrangements for more than about 40-45 minutes at a sitting. My ears get fried, my head hurts, and I run dry. (Flamin' Mamie then begins to suffer badly.)
Doing 15-piece jazz-band arranging has given me immense respect for those arrangers who did it all in their heads. Half the ideas I have don't work, not even on paper - how did they fare when the band played the arangement the first time? Trepidation, I tell you.
The struggle (yes. that's the right word) to fill out parts, keep the players interested, provide the right mix and variety of sonorities, and stay within the style of the originals...wow.
Drives me crazy sometimes. OK - short trip. But sometimes, just sometimes, it works wonderfully.
And besides - we will probably have a concert next spring of the chorus and the 15-piece band, with MY ARRANGEMENTS of all the 1920's material. WOOHOO. (or maybe hoo-rah, if you get the reference)

Firsters

So - a first blog post. I presume nothing, and await the results, if any.