MatthewMaynard.net

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Previous lion stories on MM.Net

{{link http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=112704a6_mountainlion State biologist kills lion on Catalinas trail}}
{{link http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=2618922 KOLD coverage}} (local CBS)

Some friendly advice from the Tucson Citizen (with commentary):

• Walk or hike in groups and make noise to reduce the chance of surprising a lion. Keep children close (and your firearms closer).

• Don’t run if you encounter a mountain lion. It may trigger the cat’s instinct to chase and attack. Instead, face the lion and try to appear as large and intimidating as possible and slowly back away (and the best way to appear threatening is to aim your sidearm at the cat).
• If the lion acts aggressively, throw objects at it to scare it off (like 185-230 grains of copper-jacketed lead).
• If a lion attacks, fight back with whatever is available. People have successfully fought off lions with rocks, sticks, tools, caps, jackets and even bare fists (and most successfully of all, hot lead).

The only bad thing about this is that the animal’s pelt will likey be destroyed. It should become a rug in the home of the biologist who shot it. Also unfortunate is the possibility that people will think the threat is gone and will still go out into nature unprepared for its assaults against them.

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Fusillade

• noun – A discharge from a number of firearms, fired simultaneously or in rapid succession.

• noun – A rapid outburst or barrage: a fusillade of insults.
• transitive verb -To attack with a fusillade.

Usage: The bullets whined and whistled, my companions fell, and death was in the air, but at last we made them give way, only to receive a mighty fusillade from a third regiment, flanking us on the left and right, and firing as they went. – John Ritland, The John Ritland Memoirs

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In case you’re wondering, I received a Home Depot gift certificate, a grill, a DVD of It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Hornblower Companion by C.S. Forester, and The Naval War of 1812, by Theodore Roosevelt. Thank you all.

Working backwards through the weekend, Jen & I went shooting on Saturday, working towards our {{link http://www.nrahq.org/education/training/marksmanship/Handgun.asp Pistol Qualification NRA rating}}. We both earned four targets towards the Pro Marksman rating (ten are needed). It would have been more, but I wasn’t reading the requirements as closely as I should have been. Oh well. Ammo is relatively cheap.

We went to the UA-ASU football game this weekend, which was exciting, for once in the season. Mike Stoops gets to keep his job because the Cats defeated the Devils, which knocked them out of one particular bowl game opportunity, so I’m told. We saw the marching band perform their Talking Heads show for the last time, which was enjoyable. Erin (Jen’s sister) and Marybeth (my sister) are in the band, as well as a guy we know from church. An excellent show, all around.

Thanksgiving was perfect, in every sense of the word. We frosted the turkey in butter and roasted it in the oven. It came out marvelously. Next year, we fry. The potatoes were garlicy, just the way I like them, and the pumpkin pie was excellent. Jennifer introduced me to her family’s Thanksgiving comfort food, cream cheeze+walnuts+green jello. I didn’t partake, given my vehement hatred of cream cheeze. The football game (Dallas vs. Chicago) was a bonus, given how the Cowboys have been doing as of late.

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I love {{link http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/04/1104/112904.html Lileks}}. Who else can write the “word” griswalded and have instant comprehension?

For those of you reading some Internet Archive in the vast, far-off future, who have no instant comprehension, let me elaborate.

Read more…