The Gun is Civilization

Borrowed from a friend's facebook post:

"The Gun Is Civilization" by Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception.

Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed.

People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.

People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.

The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation... and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret.)

My little work area

Got a little spot set up to work on books.

I know ... my time may have been better spent painting the wall behind it ... but that's SO much less fun. :)

 

Two books

One more day of the workshop. These two books are the finished product (well ... the one on the right has one more step to go, but it's very close.)

I have two small books started that I'll get to work on tomorrow, and we're also going to learn to make paper out of magazine scraps -- the results are quite lovely!

 

Look, A book!

Today we formed the hollow spine and shaped the pared leather to it. This book will have a partial leather spine, and our second one will be entirely leather covered.

While this one isn't finished yet (it will have paper covering the other part of the cover, leather hinges, and endpapers), it LOOKS like a book. That was exciting! Also, this was the first day of the class where I haven't had to rip out & re-do anything. This felt very good. :)

The two hour headband.

 

Today we learned to sew the headbands from scratch. The little white sticks are tiny rolls of paper, and the pattern is half woven, half-sewn around them. Getting it even, and neat is a real trick, but I enjoyed the process. You're looking at my third or fourth try. :)

Had a compliment that blessed me - one of the other ladies in the class said she appreciated that I didn't get discouraged and mopey when I had to keep ripping out things and re-doing them again and again and again and again ...

I guess, if nothing else, you can always serve as an example of how to deal with failure. :)

I've been thinking today about Psalm 18. God's gentleness makes us great. Interesting, isn't it? We don't think often about gentleness being associated with greatness, do we? But in God's definition, it is.

Tonight should prove interesting

There's a U of M football game tomorrow, and the hotel I'm in is about 2 miles from the stadium.

As a sample ... I awoke to this classy site this morning. A rented RV parked behind the motel, with a lovely view of the dumpster ... surrounded by beverage containers, with a guy sleeping on the roof.

 

Gonna be an interesing evening. :)

Thursday

First, since my computer appears to be cooperating tonight, I thought I'd show you some pictures that will show a little of how my book will look eventually.

The red material is the leather I'm using, and the patterned paper will be the outside of one book that has a leather spine and corners, and the inside endpapers for the book that will have a full leather binding.

Then the other picture shows the edge decoration I've done so far. I've never had any success with anything remotely artistic, but I had a BALL painting these pages. I used a technique the teacher used in her demonstration -- mixing watercolor paint to match the color you wanted, and painting it on the surface, and then using saran wrap to dab other colors of water color on top to make designs.

Then there was a technique you used to burnish the paint, so it was glossy and so pretty. The picture doesn't show it well, but I'm just thrilled. When I got discouraged, I just kept going back and looking at it. :)

And for the discouraging aspect ...

The rounding and backing process I discussed yesterday? Well I had tried doing my second book on my own ... and I bungled it royally. I had a very gracious man step in and undo the damage I'd done, but it was an all day process, and took a great deal of his time. I'm thankful the book was salvageable, but it was certainly a knock to my confidence!

I got to the studio at 6:30 this morning, and got home at 6:00, and I was just worn out. Today and tomorrow are our "weekend" so we had the choice of either going in to work on our own, or taking some time off. I think tomorrow I'm going to take a bit of a break!

Saturday is a U of M football game, and I'm told it will be a zoo both around the hotel and the area of the studio. Should be an interesting (if not entirely pleasant) experience!

We'll see if I end up back at the studio tomorrow after all. While I AM tired, I also LOVE working on this stuff, and I might end up being drawn back tomorrow despite my thoughts tonight. :)

 

 

Wednesday report

Class today was very interesting. We worked on paring leather and creating spines and corners for books, and also the little headband at the top of the spine.

I also did the edge decoration on my book, and started on the second. I'm surprised how much I enjoy that! I'm a very non-artsy person, but I liked mixing the colors I wanted, and doing some little splatter effects. After the edges were painted, the teacher loaned us an agate burnishing tool that shined the surface up like crazy - it's SO neat looking!

The schedule has gotten changed some. The teacher needs to leave town for a couple days for a family emergency, so we're taking our 'weekend' tomorrow and Friday. Then we'll have class straight through Satuday-Friday of next week.

I'm a little disappointed that I won't be able to get to church Sunday. There was one here in town that I was looking forward to visiting. But I trust God was superintending the schedule!

I haven't mentioned the makeup of the class.

There are 8 students, including me.

One is from Hong Kong
One from Alaska
Two from Wisconsin
One from Kentucky
and 3 of us from Michigan.

It's quite a neat group of folks, thought quite opposite from me politically. That has made for some interesting discussions! Four of us are staying here at the same motel, and able to ride to class together, so that's created an almost summer-camp-like atmosphere that I'm enjoying.

Computer started blue-screening again tonight. So the problem is obviously NOT fixed. But I was too weary to call tech support back again. Maybe tomorrow. :)

So ... no pictures, though I took plenty!

Rounding & Backing, Trimming the Top, Edge decoration

These are the things that were dealt with today. Rounding is getting a round shape to the spine of the book. Backing is where the roundness is firmed up, and the "shoulders" are created, where the hinges fit. If you look at the books from the profile, with the spine up, it looks like a mushroom shape.

Then we trim the top edge of the book & coverboards, so it's very even, and put it in a press, where it's finished to a smooth surface, and then the edge is decorated with paint.

That's the step I'm in now -- I'll be decorating the top edge of my first book tomorrow. We'll also be starting to work with leather.

Didn't get too many pictures of this process, but here is my book in the press following the rounding & backing process. You can KIND of see the shape of the spine.

 

Sewing

This is the process of sewing teh book on the frame.

My biggest discouragement was here. When I got it all completed Monday, I was behind all the others because my book is quite large.

the instructor was displeased with it -- the sewing was quite loose, and she said that it was workable, but not good.

I asked if it should be re-done, and she said, "no". However this morning, while preparing for the next step, she changed her mind, and said it really needed to be re-sewn. So I tore it down and started over.

I did learn a lot, and the practice was good ... but now I'm still behind, and taking in information for steps quite a long way ahead of where I'm at in practice.

Definately feels like trying to drink from a fire hose!

 

 

 

 

The studio where we're working

The blue toolbox is on my bench. (Found out later that coffee on the benches is forbidden ... oops!)

 

 

report on Monday

First thing: I discovered I'm by far the least educated, least experienced, person in the class. Though I'm thankful that the others seem willing to wait for me as I lag behind. :)

There are 7 or 8 students. (the ambiguity not because a person keeps appearing and disappearing, but rather because I can't remember whether the "7" included myself or not). :)

Two are from VERY far away - one lady from Alaska, and another from Hong Kong.

Three are staying in the same hotel I am. This is a blessing for another reason - I discovered parking is $10 per day. GULP!

OK - on to the class.

We sewed the first book, and worked on learning the rounding and backing of the spine. This is what creates the shape you see when you hold a book, spine-up, and look at it from the top or bottom -- almost a mushroom shape, with indents where the covers hinge. I'll be doing this on my first book today.

I'm disappointed that I didn't get the sewing on my first book as tight as it should have been. The teacher said it was borderline, and she'd recommend I go ahead with it. I hate borderline. Hoping to do better with the second one.

Since the computer has been crashing so consistently, I decided to get this post out there while I could, and hopefully follow up with pictures next.

****

Crashed on me right there. Glad I was saving. Grrrr!!!!

I did open a trouble ticket w/HP, and hope they'll have some answers for me. I need to google the problem too, but haven't taken time yet.

One little mercy from God. Another student and I were eating lunch outside a few blocks from the class location, and when we walked back, I was carrying my leftovrs, and ... nothing ELSE. Realized I'd left my purse sitting there, right on the sidewalk in downtown Ann Arbor. idiot!!!

Went tearing back 3 or 4 blocks, and thankfully it was still there, untouched. Yikes!

If anyone wants to google some error codes for me today, here they are:

0000000000000008
0000000080050033
00000000000006F8
FFFFF8000308AEC0

Bookbinding class

For those who find the idea of spending two weeks of one's vacation studying bookbinding dreadfully dull ... I'll warn you that the next series of posts are going to bore you silly. :)

Today we arrived in Ann Arbor, and checked in at Hollanders to put our text blocks in the presses, and put our supplies in the building. Tomorrow morning we'll start at 8:30.

There was a book fair going on next to Hollanders all afternoon -- lots of interesting things to look at. A few that stood out: someone had made spiral bound blank notebooks out of the covers of old books. SUCH a clever idea for a book that wasn't good anymore.

Another lady had made jewelry out of teeny tiny books. SO lovely. I was tempted to take pictures, but since I'm planning to use the ideas, I felt guilty doing so.

Here are a couple pictures of the book fair, and one of the place where the class will be meeting. I meant to take a few shots of the classroom, but I got distracted by actually ... well ... trying to learn stuff. :)

The Adorable Nephew

 

the white cat love bomb

You may ask, "Trinka, why are you awake at 4:45 on a Sunday morning?"

This would be an excellent question.

I have discovered a method of persuasion more powerful than any I have heretofore experienced.

The white cat? SHE is a manipulator of the highest order.

The white cat KNOWS that she gets fed first thing in the morning. And in order to be fed, someone with thumbs must be vertical, and moving about the house.

Now the inelegant solution would be to whine, and pitch a fit. But the white cat? She is WAY smarter than that.

About 4:00, white cat unleashes the greatest display of affection one has ever seen. She loves, Loves, LOVES me. She needs to display that affection ... NOW.

She purrs, she demands to be petted, she looks deeply into my (closed) eyes, from 2 inches away. Then she starts it over again.

THIS is an excellent strategy. How can you be irritated by this much affection? Now, that I'm awake, and the food dish has been filled ... white cat is nowhere to be found. But I'm awake, and trying to decide whether to go for coffee, or a nap!