I'm a chemist, not a lawyer, but I've done some reading on this kind of stuff. The reason video surveillance cameras don't come with sound is because it is okay everywhere I know of to take the picture without consent but not okay to listen to or record the voice in most places. One of many web sites that detail this kind of stuff is
formatting link
which says, among other stuff: "Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2933.52: Intercepting, recording or disclosing the contents of a wire, oral or electronic communication if a person is a participant, or has obtained the consent of at least one participant, is legal unless it is accompanied by a criminal or tortious intent."
Which basically means Ohio is a "one party" state and it would be okay for Tom to record the conversation.
-- Regards, Carl Ijames carl.ijames at verizon.net
Several years ago, a friend and I got the idea to make walking sticks/staffs. Our best were 1-inch to 1.25 X 5' hexagonal ash for light walking and hiking. (Not that _I_ can do any serious hiking anymore, but I can still walk a little, slowly.)
My friend, Kim, and I are Artist Blacksmiths and the sort who would, and did, hand forge and hand finish a new connecting rod for a defunct 5 hp Briggs and Stratton just to see if it could be done. It worked -- ummmm, for a while -- about half a small lawn's worth. Mild steel really isn't very good for such high stress applications.
The next best are 1.5" X 6' hexagonal ash. Those are for rough country
-- or rough neighborhoods. Somehow few people recognize someone is taking a quarterstaff stance since it looks like one is just shifting his weight a little and leaning a bit more lightly on the stick.
No shit, there I was......
I've only used a staff with earnest intent once: An attempt by a dirt bike rider in a parking lot to kick me as he passed, (several times) ended with him on the ground with a broken helmet, a scratched up bike, and a couple of laughing cops. They were laughing at the little
16-year-old brat's mother because she wanted wanted me arrested, but a passer-by witnessed the event and had the grace and guts to stand up for me. Oh, he was barely able to speak for a while: He was laughing too hard too.
One good stroke took the brat off the bike backward. the rebound was pretty impressive, but it didn't knock _me_ down too, the fear of which made me hold off on the first three passes he made.
Sometimes it ain't too smart to mess with some "old cripple" and his stick.
Was 10-12 years ago and I haven't been sued yet. Of course, our town is small enough everybody knew the little twerp, including most of the lawyers, who had defended him in Juvenile Court a few times.
Maybe the 5-footer was adequate after all, eh? The big six-footer might have really hurt the kid.
(He actually grew up to be a very decent and kind man. I still see him now and then and he makes it a point to duck down and turn as though to run away sometimes. We both get a laugh out of it now.)
I left the bright orange paint smear and the scratches on the staff until it was stolen some time ago. Anybody sees a 5' hexagonal ash staff with inlaid American Black Walnut plaques spelling out JPH in Morse Code, let me know, please?
Oh, and there might still be a smear of bright orange paint about a foot above the bottom.:)
Folks in the Technological Age seem to forget our ancestors managed to fight off all manner of two and four legged varmints with simple sticks for several hundred thousand years..and be good at it.
I once witnessed an old curmudgen of a vet with a simple wooden cane kick the living dog shit out of 3 young wannabe toughs in a bar, and stand there over their moaning bodies drinking a Pepsi as the cops came in to collect them. They pushed the wrong old man a smidge past To Far.
"If I'm going to reach out to the the Democrats then I need a third hand.There's no way I'm letting go of my wallet or my gun while they're around."
"Democrat. In the dictionary it's right after demobilize and right before demode` (out of fashion).
Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but Gunner wrote on Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:05:16 GMT in rec.crafts.metalworking :
I know it was a movie, but ... in Blind Fury, the protagonists manages to beat the crap out of a number of assailants in a bar, all while fumbling with his "cane" because he was blind. Okay, so he'd mastered the secret Ninja tricks of echo location, but still, a good man with a cane, or staff, should be able to "oops, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there..." and whack some one into better manners.
And not just the 'old geezers'. I recall Aryls, who was on the inner seat of the bus, and when the man on the aisle wouldn't get up for a lady, place her cane on his foot and hoisted herself upright. Now she was not a petite flower, so I'm sure she made an impression on him. (She doesn't think she broke anything. That wouldn't be Lady like)
Oh yeah, watch out for those little old (and not so old) ladies with the Lucite canes.
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