Furry Weekend, snipers , Burnings and other things!
Sorry about the long hiatus. This weekend I attended a Furry Convention as a vendor . My family has a Celtic Store in the Northern Suburbs and one of the lines we carry is Folkmanis Puppets. (The Large and Small Sea Serpent puppets are great Nessies) Anyway, We were set up as merchants in the Dealers room selling Folkmanis Puppets and Celtic Jewelry.
The Convention participants had some wonderful costumes, it was fantastic to see! The most interesting person that we meet there was someone I will call the tiger man. He has been featured on Riply's Believe It or Not a number of times. He has his body tattooed to look like a cat and his face surgically altered also. At first glance he looks a bit scary, but after talking to him abit, he seems like a really nice person.
I got some great photos of the costumes, if I ever learn how to post pictures I will try to post them. The weekend sales were good and the event was fun although I really did not get a chance to see anything outside of the sales area. I really think that this group of Sci- Fi fans are misunderstood and have gotten some unfair press . This was a very nice group with lots of different people and families.
On another note , I just read about a family that found a burning cross on their front yard , somewhere on the East Coast. Apparently some idiot disapproved of the couple living there being interracial. It's hard to believe that even now their are some narrow minded idiots out there that do this kind of sh_t! I hope they catch whoever did it, lock them up and throw away the keys! Who cares about the couples skin color, get over it folks!
I've put up a link to an interesting site called Adopt a Sniper http://www.adoptasniper.org/index.html An article By Lisa Burgess, of Stars and Stripes http://www.stripesonline.com/ Pacific edition, Monday, May 17, 2004 states:
A group of police and military snipers has started Adopt a Sniper to donate equipment to deployed military members. It's the brainchild of Brian Sain, a police SWAT member for 15 years who works as a detective in the Port Arthur (Texas) Police Department.
Sain said he was inspired by the close-knit sniper fraternity, whose military and civilian police members are unusually interwoven. A lot of SWAT [members] are former military, and a lot of them are reservists who are now going over to Iraq and Afghanistan, Sain said. And even if you're not military, getting shot at is getting shot at, no matter where you are.
Sain said he knows what it's like not to have the equipment you need. In 1994, Sain said, I watched a guy hold a baby out a door through my sniper scope. I couldn't see [well enough to shoot the man]; it was dark and I didn't have night-vision equipment. As Sain watched helplessly, the man shot the baby in the back.
Sain said he is determined to make sure no deployed military sniper will ever be in that spot unable to do his mission or worse yet, in danger, because he doesn't have the right gear. In the six months since he started, Sain estimates that he's sent at least $10,000 worth of sniper supplies to troops overseas.
Sains rules for who gets the goods are simple: deployed American servicemembers with a sniper military occupational specialty, regardless of branch of service. If they need [anything], they don't have to do nothing but e-mail me. It takes about two weeks for me to get it to them in the mail.
E-mails requesting equipment have come from all over Iraq, Afghanistan and places Sain won't name for security reasons.
Gear requests range from long cotton-tipped swabs for cleaning weapons to ultra-high-tech electronics that only an expert could use. Among the most requested items are specialized batteries, any and all kinds of Surefire (a line of tactical flashlights), and S.T.R.I.K.E. (Soldier Tactical Retro Integrated Kit Enhanced) Commando Recon chest harnesses.
Almost all of the gear Sain ships has one thing in common, he said: It's specific to the very specialized sniper community and thus often very hard for civilian family and friends to supply to deployed servicemembers.
It's easy for [snipers] to write home and say, I want a can of shaving cream, Sain said. But trying to explain a Gen 4 Molle gear to Mom is a lot harder. She'd gladly spend the money, but she doesn't know where to get it.
There is one problem with getting gear to military snipers: They move around a lot, especially special forces, Sain said. In fact, he has six huge boxes of expensive gear, including spotting scopes and binoculars, packed and ready to ship at the request of a SEAL team whose last known address was Bahrain.
But the team appears to have moved on, and now the donation is just waiting for a mailing label and a customs stamp, Sain said.
So drop him a line, SEALs.
You know who you are, Sain said.
So there you are folks, go ahead , check out the link, and if you can please donate to this group. Our Men in uniform could realy use your suport.
Have a great Monday,
Baltic Waves
The Convention participants had some wonderful costumes, it was fantastic to see! The most interesting person that we meet there was someone I will call the tiger man. He has been featured on Riply's Believe It or Not a number of times. He has his body tattooed to look like a cat and his face surgically altered also. At first glance he looks a bit scary, but after talking to him abit, he seems like a really nice person.
I got some great photos of the costumes, if I ever learn how to post pictures I will try to post them. The weekend sales were good and the event was fun although I really did not get a chance to see anything outside of the sales area. I really think that this group of Sci- Fi fans are misunderstood and have gotten some unfair press . This was a very nice group with lots of different people and families.
On another note , I just read about a family that found a burning cross on their front yard , somewhere on the East Coast. Apparently some idiot disapproved of the couple living there being interracial. It's hard to believe that even now their are some narrow minded idiots out there that do this kind of sh_t! I hope they catch whoever did it, lock them up and throw away the keys! Who cares about the couples skin color, get over it folks!
I've put up a link to an interesting site called Adopt a Sniper http://www.adoptasniper.org/index.html An article By Lisa Burgess, of Stars and Stripes http://www.stripesonline.com/ Pacific edition, Monday, May 17, 2004 states:
A group of police and military snipers has started Adopt a Sniper to donate equipment to deployed military members. It's the brainchild of Brian Sain, a police SWAT member for 15 years who works as a detective in the Port Arthur (Texas) Police Department.
Sain said he was inspired by the close-knit sniper fraternity, whose military and civilian police members are unusually interwoven. A lot of SWAT [members] are former military, and a lot of them are reservists who are now going over to Iraq and Afghanistan, Sain said. And even if you're not military, getting shot at is getting shot at, no matter where you are.
Sain said he knows what it's like not to have the equipment you need. In 1994, Sain said, I watched a guy hold a baby out a door through my sniper scope. I couldn't see [well enough to shoot the man]; it was dark and I didn't have night-vision equipment. As Sain watched helplessly, the man shot the baby in the back.
Sain said he is determined to make sure no deployed military sniper will ever be in that spot unable to do his mission or worse yet, in danger, because he doesn't have the right gear. In the six months since he started, Sain estimates that he's sent at least $10,000 worth of sniper supplies to troops overseas.
Sains rules for who gets the goods are simple: deployed American servicemembers with a sniper military occupational specialty, regardless of branch of service. If they need [anything], they don't have to do nothing but e-mail me. It takes about two weeks for me to get it to them in the mail.
E-mails requesting equipment have come from all over Iraq, Afghanistan and places Sain won't name for security reasons.
Gear requests range from long cotton-tipped swabs for cleaning weapons to ultra-high-tech electronics that only an expert could use. Among the most requested items are specialized batteries, any and all kinds of Surefire (a line of tactical flashlights), and S.T.R.I.K.E. (Soldier Tactical Retro Integrated Kit Enhanced) Commando Recon chest harnesses.
Almost all of the gear Sain ships has one thing in common, he said: It's specific to the very specialized sniper community and thus often very hard for civilian family and friends to supply to deployed servicemembers.
It's easy for [snipers] to write home and say, I want a can of shaving cream, Sain said. But trying to explain a Gen 4 Molle gear to Mom is a lot harder. She'd gladly spend the money, but she doesn't know where to get it.
There is one problem with getting gear to military snipers: They move around a lot, especially special forces, Sain said. In fact, he has six huge boxes of expensive gear, including spotting scopes and binoculars, packed and ready to ship at the request of a SEAL team whose last known address was Bahrain.
But the team appears to have moved on, and now the donation is just waiting for a mailing label and a customs stamp, Sain said.
So drop him a line, SEALs.
You know who you are, Sain said.
So there you are folks, go ahead , check out the link, and if you can please donate to this group. Our Men in uniform could realy use your suport.
Have a great Monday,
Baltic Waves
posted by Baltic Waves at 1:32 PM
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