From the Orlando Sentinel: “God made me shoot my son, suicide note says”

Newly released notes and audio recordings left behind by a woman who shot her son and then took her own life leave little doubt that she planned the attack.

In rambling messages to family, friends, police and the owners of Shoot Straight, the Casselberry gun range she chose for Sunday’s fatal shooting, Marie Moore said the murder-suicide was the only way to save her son Mitchell Moore, her family and the world from violence and eternal damnation.

God decreed it, she wrote in documents released Tuesday.

“I’m so sorry,” Marie Moore, 44, wrote in one note. “I had to send my son to heaven and myself to Hell.”

The shooting was captured by security video at the gun range. Marie Moore walked behind her son, put a revolver to the back of his head and fired a single shot. Then she put the pistol in her mouth and fired.

Mitchell Moore, 20, died at the scene. His mother died a short time later at Florida Hospital Altamonte.

“The act appeared to be deliberate,” Casselberry police Officer Jeffrey Shumway wrote in his report.

The revolver was rented from the shooting range, Casselberry police Deputy Chief Bill McNeil said.

There are restrictions about gun ownership in some cases of mental incompetence, but they do not bar a person from renting a gun at a shooting range, McNeil said.

Late Monday, family members found three notes and two audio tapes and turned them over to police, McNeil said. Each note was addressed to “King,” a nickname for her boyfriend. Two were signed “Failed Queen.”

In these documents, Marie Moore described long struggles over whether to kill herself, stays at mental hospitals and attempts to make sense of the messages she said she received from God.

During a 2003 suicide attempt, her son stopped her from killing herself, she said in one recording. She thought God punished her for her failure by making her the “antichrist,” and that she must die to save the world from violence.

“You have a gun, you can do it,” she said God told her.

A prior suicide attempt at a gun range ended with her being thrown out.

This time, Marie Moore concealed her plans so she wouldn’t be hospitalized, she said in the recordings.

Why God chose Marie Moore for this fate made little sense to her.

“I don’t know how all this happened. It’s not in the Bible,” she said.

She wrote that she signed over the title to her truck, and left behind $7,900 cash and a check.

“I’m sorry King thats all thats left,” she wrote in one note.

Her jewelry would go to her boyfriend and others, she said in the recordings. She also left 65 journals explaining her ordeal.

“I’m a good person. But the Devil and God turned me into the worst person in the world. I’m so ashamed. And I’m so afraid,” she said. “And I’ll pay forever and ever.”

This type of thing can only happen with a person who chooses to accept revelation as a valid source of knowledge.

Because religion is based upon knowledge without evidence (faith), there is absolutely nothing anyone can say to discount this situation.  As far as anyone knows, this woman was in actual communication with a god, and was absolutely directed to take the actions she did.  Stating that she was “mentally unstable”, or anything similar, cannot be done without applying the same term equally to all religious people.

Religion is just so awesome.

Well?

This t-shirt will get you started in the right direction.  It’s not perfect, but it’s a heck of a start.  The section on Flight is rather weak, and probably should be replaced with something more useful.  What do you think?

Time Travel Survival T-Shirt

That’s what you get with the hottest new web toy.  Simply plug in your web cam and go to chatroulette.com.  Click the Play button and you will be connected a random person on the web.  Face to face via video.  They may be nice, they may be weird, they may be naked.  What the heck are you supposed to chat about?

I was only able to “try” it by covering up my webcam with a small piece of cloth.  I cycled through about 5 random web cams before I had to turn it off.  The entire experiment lasted about 30 seconds.

I saw two laughing guys who looked pretty funny.  I saw a group of teenage girls on a couch.  I saw a virtually black screen with a shadow of a face staring back at me.  And then I saw a guy naked from the waste down.  Yikes.  Disconnect.

Scary stuff, I tell you.

Combat ready bacon

Available at ThinkGeek.com and (most likely) other fine establishments.

Well, Apple revealed the iPad today.  Looks like a giant, grotesque iPhone.

iPad - photo from Engadget.com

Don’t get me wrong… I love Apple stuff in general, but I hate their insistence on making the most fragile pieces of equipment.  They absolutely FORCE a third party market in protective sleeves, pouches, skins, and other gear.

iPhonen Ginormen! - photo from Engadget.com

Why can’t they simply encase their products in a built-in rubberized case?  Or at least demonstrate some foresight with real world applications of their products?  Those iPad are going to be all scratched up in no time.  Is Apple’s solution really going to be screen repair?  Send back your iPad, pay $300 for a new screen that will get scratched up in another month?

I’d love to see Apple make rugged gear.

Are you wondering about the title of this post?  I chose this title today because I predict that it will become one of the most Googled Apple iPad phrases in the coming years.  Was I right?

This is what Launchy looks like

I have it configured to launch when I press ctrl-space. Just like QuickSilver, all you have to do is start typing and it finds the app you want to run. This is so much easier and faster than browsing folders or even placing icons on the Quick Launch Bar.

Check it out. So far I’m loving it.

Here, for your pleasure, is a fine example of a clever automaton. You’re welcome.

In WWI and WWI you had average people thrust into conflict with little training or preparation.  You had carpenters fighting next to plumbers next to lawyers.  They didn’t want to be there, but they knew they had to be there.  In these circumstances, it seems perfectly reasonable and honorable to “do our bit at home” to support the people reluctantly fighting overseas.

It’s just not like that today.  I’m actually embarrassed when people and organizations ask me to “support the troops”.  Huh?  They want to be there!  We maintain an all volunteer army that is made up of, from what I have been able to tell, young guys who want to play with expensive equipment and blow stuff up. These guys are not the best and the brightest, and they are not all inherently heroes for diving into conflict.

Certainly, specific instances of heroism and bravery will arise and should be recognized.  But calling a volunteer soldier a hero simply because they sign up to be paid to fight?  That’s too ridiculous for me.  And why should I feel obligated to send them socks and other supplies?  They CHOSE to be there, and I’m already supplying them with socks through taxes.

Witness the heroes at work, empowered to play by an unchecked freedom provided to them away from the homeland.

Soldiers Blow Up Tanker With Grenades – Watch more Funny Videos

Why is it that the most primal, basic, macho-speak results in full on Ebonics no matter what the skin color?

Blowing stuff up is fun, dude.  I wonder how much 9 sticks of C4 costs?

I’m bored, let’s waste some money and do things I wouldn’t be allowed to do back home.

Perhaps if video from the battlefield was available from WWII, I’d see the same sort of behavior, but somehow I doubt it.

And for the sake of balance, here’s snippet of the tough side of the job… and also the very thing that pumps up all the Army/Marine fan boys.

Unknown Windows API Function [131125]

I was constantly getting kicked from multiplayer Battlefield 2 with this error.  It took a bit of research, but I finally realized that this was the solution:

Uninstall ThreatFire software

Now you will be able to play without getting kicked!  Have fun!

UPDATE

For those who don’t know, Threatfire is a stand-alone piece of software that detects malware and/or virus activity on your system.  If you didn’t install this software, then it is most likely not on your system.  If so, then I suppose the error above will be referring to something else on your computer.

When I first saw wire hangers advertised I looked for them at the hardware store.  They wanted $8.00 for a package of 5 hooks.  Eight bucks for 5 short pieces of wire!

The shape of the wire is what is important, not the wire itself.  So I searched the aisles for picture hanging wire and was able to purchase a 25-foot roll of OOK 16-gauge wire for about $5.

16-gauge was the thickest wire I could find.  It works, but 14 or 12 gauge might be even better.

16-gauge wire to make hooks

I can form a length of wire into a hangar hook with a pair of needle-nosed pliers in about 5 seconds.  So essentially, I’ve purchased 75 hooks for $5.

The shape of your hooks should look something like this:

Approximate this shape

The shape I use is actually a little better than this one.  See the long blue arrow above?  Follow it backwards and continue through the wall.  Upon exiting the wall, I curve the wire straight down along the wall for about .5 cm and then straight back up… which results in a deeper hook.

I use them all over my house, except when I encounter a stud… then it’s a good old brad nail.