The ones we had were sort of like this [link] (not exactly -- they were bigger and shaped a bit differently -- but the same general idea.)

sj, you could do squirt gun like thingys rather than actual guns. Like you can get these at Target (2 for $10): [link]

Thanks, GC and Hil. I'm not actually looking for an alternative right now, I was just curious what the consensus is, but I did get the impression that even those kind of things would be unacceptable.

sj, those are fun.

hell, I want one.

How have I spent 33 years on this earth without discovering Neil Gaiman?

I'm terribly sorry. I just assume that everyone I know already knows about Neil Gaiman.

All right, then. Who ELSE doesn't know about Neil Gaiman? Now I'm suspicious.

it's raining in Southern California

Send it south! We're still just in the low clouds, muggy phase. I'd really like the moisture to condense into droplets rather than just...clinging.

...and back to work...we had an employee appreciation lunch today - very fun, but weirdly, nobody did the rest of my job while I was out there working on the event.

Next you should read Neverwhere.

All right then.

I just assume that everyone I know already knows about Neil Gaiman.

I knew he writes stuff and that people like it. I really liked his Doctor Who episode. I think I just thought I'd get to reading him one day. Which, y'know, I have. More please.

my brother and I had squirt guns. Not ones that look like real guns(my mom read a Joseph Wambaugh story where a cop freaked and shot a kid with a realistic squirt gun.) but we had blue and green water pistols and stuff. I liked American Gods...I'm just not sure I really, you know, got it. I'm sure it was me, though.

Emmett is still not a homicidal maniac.

He's hell with a Louisville Slugger, though. As is right and proper.

my brother and I had squirt guns.

We had squirt guns and Nerf guns and those guns that shoot the discs you find behind the furniture FOREVER, and cap guns and a Nintendo system (it was the early 90s) with the guns to play Duck Hunt. And my dad had a BB gun we shot tin cans off the fence with.

And yet, to date, I'm not overly fond of guns, and have not gone all Scarface on anyone. My brother has a lot of guns, but he's a Vermonter. And so far all he's shot is a lot of clay pigeons that had it coming.

t edit None of which is to say parents must let their kids play with toy guns of any sort. That's not a parenting decision I have any quarrel with. (As long as they give their kids crossbows.)

We had the guns with the discs. But we never had enough discs to stack, and it wasn't like you could buy toys in Jamaica during our childhood--it was one and done with everything, bringing it in from foreign. Ah, well.

A light story from a heavy political battle. As you may or may not know the main Presbyterian denomination was considering at their main meeting (Held every two years) divesting from Caterpillar because they make military bulldozers that are sold to the West Bank to bulldoze Palestinian homes and businesses. [link] (Ultimately they decided against this very limited divestment.) But, as you would guess there was huge Jewish attendance at the meeting in Florida. The Jewish organizations with younger members, such as Jewish Voices For Peace were there urging support. The Jewish groups with older members were there opposing it.

And security was, of course, hired locally in Miami. One person from the more liberal Jewish side got into a conversation with a very bored security guard. (Not a ton for a security guard to do in a Presbyterian meeting.) So the security guard asked the attendee a question that had been puzzling him: "What are Presbyterians anyway? Is that some kind of Jewish sect?"