Revenge of the Gamer

Last Tuesday I had the day off and decided I’d start it by hiking Sugarloaf mountain.  The day was perfect.  Warm, sunny and not a cloud in the sky.  I got there around eight and spent the next two hours crossing streams and climbing hills. 

After reaching the summit I started the long trek down, and right after I turned around I came to a stretch of path with a cliff on the right and the hillside on the left.  The trail was only about four feet wide, which ordinarily wouldn’t bother me.  It certainly hadn’t on the way up.

I was motoring down the trail at a brisk walk when I glanced down and froze.  Three feet ahead of me was a five foot rattlesnake stretched across the path.  It wasn’t moving, but as it hadn’t been there when I was coming up the mountain I was postive it was alive.

My heart fell out of my chest and I gaped at it in disbelief.  I’ve seen rattlesnakes before, but always behind a pane of glass at the San Diego Zoo.  The mottled scales were unmistakable, as was the rattle at the end of its tale.  I knew this thing could kill me, because if I got bit I was screwed.  I was alone at the top of a mountain and by the time anyone came to help I’d be dead.

So I slowly backed up to about thirty feet away.  The snake didn’t move.  I decided to wait it out, but ten minutes later it was still sitting there.  I decided to kill some time by getting out my camera and taking some pictures though they didn’t come out very well.  Here’s one of them and I’ll post the rest when I get home. 

 

The snake still didn’t move.  I wasn’t sure what to do.  The hillside was too steep to climb, so the only way down was the trail.  If I wanted to get back to my car I needed to get around the snake.  What the hell was I going to do?  I did what any self respecting geek would.  I got out my iPhone and Googled rattlesnakes.

The first link took me to the wikipedia page.  I spent a few minutes reading it and found some very important facts.  First, rattlesnakes will attempt to flee from humans unless cornered.  The snake should run away if I left it room to retreat.  I also checked the range of it’s strike.  It can cover roughly two thirds of its body length faster than the human eye can follow.  That meant this snake could jump about three feet.  A snake can hear a human speak in a normal tone of voice at about ten feet away.  Much further than that and their ears can’t pick you up.

Snakes are very instinctual creatures and follow very simple rules.  When a snake sees a person they think ‘oh crap this thing is too big for me to eat, and its big enough to eat me’.  That’s why a snake will always try to flee if it has the option.

When I nearly stepped on it the snake didn’t rattle and I wondered why.  According to this article (also viewed on my iPhone) the snake won’t rattle if it thinks its camoflague is working.  In other words if the snake thinks I don’t see it then it wants to avoid drawing attention to itself.

The second article confirmed that snakes can strike about two thirds of their body length, but recommended 15 feet as a safe distance.  I trippled that and retreated to about forty-five feet where I gathered a small pile of rocks.  From the reading I’d done the snake was barely aware of my presence at that distance, and would much rather flee back into the brush than come after me. 

I took a deep breath, steeled my nerve and started lobbing rocks at it.  The snake ignored the first few and I started to worry. What was I going to do if it refused to move?  Then one of the rocks struck it in the head, and it moved about a foot.  I reached down to pick up another rock, and when I straightened back up it was gone.

My heart started beating like a rabbit’s.  Where the hell did it go?  It was no longer on the path, but it blended perfectly with the grass so I had no idea where it was.  I froze.  Five very tense minutes passed but there was no sign of the snake.  

Finally I said screw it and took off at a full sprint.  When I passed the rocks I’d thrown I fully expected the rattlesnake to lunge out at me.  It didn’t.  In fact I didn’t see any sign of it so I kept right on running.  I didn’t stop for at least a hundred yards, where I paused to catch my breath.

I was elated that I’d avoided the snake, but I was terrified that there might be others.  The entire trip down the mountain had me jumping at lizards, birds and anything else that moved.  When I saw a garden snake I almost wet myself.

In the end I made it safely down the mountain, but I was shaking like a leaf from all the adrenaline.  I survived my first encounter with a rattlesnake, and I’m not in a hurry to have another one.  Hiking is definitely more dangerous than I ever expected!

I recently read an article by the accociated press which claims that over 1 trillion dollars was spent on the War on Drugs since it was first conceived by President Nixon in 1971.  How is that possible?  Have we really added over a trillion dollars to our national debt to prosecute the war on drugs?  What has that war gained us? 

The answer is shocking.  Despite over 1 trillion dollars spent drug use is exactly the same now as it was when the War on Drugs was declared.  Every year the amount of money we spend increases.  Back in 1971 Nixon funded the new war with $100 million.  In the decades since the annual budget has climbed to $15.1 billion.

Wait a second, you’re probably asking.  Adding up the annual budgets for the War on Drugs doesn’t even come close to a trillion dollars.  How did we spend that much money?  Here is a breakdown from the AP article:

• $20 billion to fight the drug gangs in their home countries. In Colombia, for example, the United States spent more than $6 billion, while coca cultivation increased and trafficking moved to Mexico – and the violence along with it
• $33 billion in marketing “Just Say No”-style messages to America’s youth and other prevention programs. High school students report the same rates of illegal drug use as they did in 1970, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drug overdoses have “risen steadily” since the early 1970s to more than 20,000 last year.
• $49 billion for law enforcement along America’s borders to cut off the flow of illegal drugs. This year, 25 million Americans will snort, swallow, inject and smoke illicit drugs, about 10 million more than in 1970, with the bulk of those drugs imported from Mexico.
• The Justice Department estimates the consequences of drug abuse – “an overburdened justice system, a strained health care system, lost productivity, and environmental destruction” – cost the United States $215 billion a year
• $121 billion to arrest more than 37 million nonviolent drug offenders, about 10 million of them for possession of marijuana. Studies show that jail time tends to increase drug abuse.
• $450 billion to lock those people up in federal prisons alone. Last year, half of all federal prisoners in the U.S. were serving sentences for drug offenses.

 

Take a good look at the last two items on that list.  Over $570 billion dollars has been spent to arrest and imprison nearly forty million of your fellow citizens.  Of those nearly ten million were arrested for possession of marijuana, a drug that has been decriminalized in much of the US and may be legal in California come November.

So if the levels of drug use are the same why are we still waging this war?  This quote from John P. Walters, the former director of Nationl Drug Control Policy, sums up the attitude of government and law enforcement:

“To say that all the things that have been done in the war on drugs haven’t made any difference is ridiculous,” Walters said. “It destroys everything we’ve done. It’s saying all the people involved in law enforcement, treatment and prevention have been wasting their time. It’s saying all these people’s work is misguided.”

News flash genius.  Your work is misguided.  You’ve spent a mountain of money, ruined lives and locked up nearly ten million people who’s only crime was lighting up a joint.  Yet proponents of the War on Drugs remain steadfast in their believe that legalizing drugs will destroy the fabric of our society.  They continue to pursue the same failed agenda consuming vast amounts of your tax dollars in the process.

When will the madness end?  We’re closing schools, laying off teachers and struggling to help millions of unemployed Americans.  Can we really afford to waste our money prosecuting a failed war on non-violent people who are hurting no one but themselves?

Critics of legalization say yes.  They warn that if we legalize drugs their use will skyrocket.  Ironically this is not the first time such an argument has been used in our history.  In 1920 a coalition of moralists led a grassroots movement to have alcolhol made illegal.  They believed that it was the root of evil in man, and that it’s removal would transform our society into a utopia.  This quote from minister and baseball hero Billy Sunday sums it up best:

“The reign of tears is over. The slums will soon be only a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses. Men will walk upright now, women will smile, and the children will laugh. Hell will be forever rent.”

Those familiar with history already know what came next.  In making alcolhol illegal we opened up one of the nation’s largest industries to organized crime.  Making it illegal did nothing to reduce the demand, and people were willing to go wherever they had to in search of a drink.  Distilleries and speak easies cropped up all over the nation, nearly all of which were controlled by organized crime.

Suddenly people like Al Capone had access to vast sums of money, which they used to bribe politicians and fund their own private criminal empires.  For the next twelve years gang activity flourished across the US.  Law enforcement was out gunned, out manned and out funded thanks to the ban on alcolhol.

In 1929 the stock market crashed giving way to the great depression.  Income tax revenue dropped by 60% over the next three years.  Suddenly state and local goverments found themselves out of money and with record unemployement.  They no longer had the money to prosecute their ridiculous war against alcolhol.  What’s more they deprived themselves the massive infusion of tax revenue that would come from taxing and regulating alcolhol.

By 1933 sanity prevailed and the 18th amendment was nullified making alcolhol legal once again.  Guess what happened next?  Gang activity dropped drastically.  The government saved millions of dollars that had previously been spent to prosecute and incarcerate those caught drinking.  Instead they collected millions of dollars which could be spent to help their flagging economies.

Does this sound at all familiar?  Gang warfare has devestated Mexico, and nearly all of it is funded by funneling illegal drugs into the US.  It has infested most of our larger cities, and nearly everyone has heard of the Bloods and Crypts in Los Angeles.  Crime is rampant and our beleagured law enforcement is not able to stop it.  Even when they do many of the people they arrest are those using drugs like marijuana, not those smuggling such drugs across the border.

Our state and local economies are out of money.  We’ve been spending beyond our means for decades, but the bill has finally come due.  We need another source of revenue, and we need to reduce spending.  If we are wise we’ll learn from history.  Ending prohibition solved many problems.  Legalizing drugs will accomplish the same.

Estimates claim we could collect as much as eight billion dollars from legalizing and taxing cannabis in the state of California.  At the same time we’ll save billions more by allowing law enforcement to deal with other issues.  We’ll deprive the gangs of the money they currently use to grow.  We’ll save billions more by releasing the inmates incarcerated for possession of marijuana.  Most importantly make it more difficult for children to gain access to drugs. 

Want proof?  Portugal legalized drugs in 2001.  A study by Glen Greenwald of the Cato Institute found the sudden legalization had almost no effect on drug use.  It even dropped a bit amongst teenagers.  Amsterdam has had legal marijuana for decades, but doesn’t suffer from rampant drug use either.

We know from our own history the dangers of outlawing something that millions of people want.  It’s a lost cause, one that cannot end successfully.  We saw the crime that washed over the US during Prohibition, and we see the current crime destabilzing our Mexican allies to the south.  Every day it spills into the border states, and is increasingly present in our larger cities. 

Our nation is suffering through the worst economic winter in living memory.  Isn’t it time to give up this failed war?  Legalize drugs today.  Tax them, regulate them and then use the proceeds to fund drug rehabilitation centers.  Instead of demonizing those who use drugs we should help those who abuse them.

It’s the only sane answer.  Unless you want to see another 40 years and trillion dollars wasted.

Life is good.  Damn good.  Everything seems to be going my way lately, though that’s partly because I’ve made some smart decisions and put in a lot of hard work.

If you’ve read recent entries you heard about my new truck Kermit.  Kermit and I have driven all over the place and are gretting along great.  I’ve taken him up to Chandelier Drive Thru tree, Jack London State Park and this weekend I’m aiming for Muir Woods.  I’ve taken some great pictures and can’t wait to explore more places.  Kermit allows me to take much longer trips to more remote places, and I definitely plan to take advantage of that!

I’m also doing great on the weight loss.  I’ve finally lost enough weight that I don’t look so much like the fat guy in the picture on my weight loss page.  At the end of June I’ll post a new one so you can see the difference.  I plan to take a new picture at the end of each quarter, and hopefully by the end of the year you’ll really see a transformation.

So what’s the secret of my success?  Hard work.  There are no shortcuts to losing weight.  I have to watch my diet closely and work out like a fiend.  If my diligence wavers at all I start gaining weight, or at the very least stop losing it.  It’s going to take a lot of willpower to hit my goals.  There’s no other way to do this, but I am prepared to buckle down and do it.

Both of my sisters have lost a ton of weight recently, which also helped to inspire me.  We’re eating healthier and it we can all lean on each other for support.  I can’t wait to do a before and after picture with the three of us (four if my brother in law wants in).

Relationship wise things couldn’t be better.  Amelia and I are spending more time together, and we’ve become very good friends in addition to boyfriend/girlfriend.  It’s so nice being able to hang out and joke around, just like I would with any other good friend.  I definitely believe we are a good fit, and it will be interesting to see how the relationship develops.

Writing is another bright spot.  All of the prep work for the fourth draft of The Bond of Jhordil has paid off.  I refined and re-refined the plot until I feel like I have a winner.  The characters are memorable, the plot is good and the world is unique and interesting.  Now that I’ve done my mountain of homework I’m very excited that I’m about to get back to my favorite part.  Fiction.

Instead of plot summaries I am finally ready to sit down and write the thing.  Using my previous performance as a benchmark I’m expecting to finish this draft by the end of August.  After that I need to edit and polish, but I believe that by the end of the year I’ll have an amazing novel ready to submit.

Even if I don’t I’ve made enormous strides in my writing.  I’ve learned so much in the last year and a half, and I know I’ll learn more in the years to come.  The important thing is to never stop writing.  Even if The Bond of Jhordil bombs there will be another book after.  Then another.  As many as it takes for me to become a professional author.

The writing has spawned some spin off projects as well.  I’m realizing that in order to successfully sell my novel I need to master advertising.  My first project is a preview movie I’m making using Anime Studio and Windows Movie Maker.  It will probably be fairly basic to start, but as I learn more about both programs I’m hoping to churn out something that will dazzle my audience.  A picture tells a thousand words, but a short movie will tell far more.

I’ll post the final product once I’ve finished it to get some feedback from my target audience.  If they like it I plan to use the movie as a sort of virtual business card to pimp the book when the time comes.  Cross your fingers for me, cause if all goes well this time next year I’ll have submitted a novel I am confident will succeed.

I realize this is a short entry, but there wasn’t much more going on this week.  I’ll be back again next week with a longer post!