Hickory Fire Department: Fill & Download for Free

I’m gonna be a little bias and say my own ethnic group of the Irish having the greatest impact on the United States.Irish in America from 17th to mid-19th centuryDuring the American Revolutionary War, one British major general testified at the House of Commons that "half the rebel Continental Army were from Ireland.”“Irish immigrants of this period participated in significant numbers in the American Revolution, leading one British major general to testify at the House of Commons that "half the rebel Continental Army were from Ireland." Irish Americans signed the foundational documents of the United States—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—and, beginning with Andrew Jackson, served as President.[1]Following the birth of the new nation in the expansion of the country the Irish have had a big impact on westward expansion by civilizing the west with railroads and the construction of new cities.“While many Irish did stay near large cities, countless others were part of westward expansion. They were enticed by tales of gold, and by the increasing opportunities for work and land. In 1854, the government opened Kansas Territory to settlers. While many people in general moved to take advantage of the unsettled land, Irish were an important part. Many Irish men were physical laborers. In order to civilize the west, many strong men were needed to build the towns and cities. Kansas City was one city that was built by Irish immigrants. Much of its population today is of Irish descent. Another reason for Irish migration west was the expansion of railroads. Railway work was a common occupation among immigrant men because workers were in such high demand. Many Irish men followed the expansion of railroads, and ended up settling in places that they built in. Since the Irish were a large part of those Americans moving west, much of their culture can still be found today.Irish immigration greatly increased as jobs were growing and many Irish were escaping oppression and famine from the British.“The Irish were having a huge impact on America as a whole. In 1910, there were more people in New York City of Irish ancestry than Dublin's whole population, and even today, many of these cities still retain a substantial Irish American community.Mill towns such as Lawrence, Lowell, and Pawtucket attracted many Irish women in particular. The anthracite Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania saw a massive influx of Irish during this time period; conditions in the mines eventually gave rise to groups such as the Molly Maguires. The best urban economic opportunities for unskilled Irish women and men included "factory and millwork, domestic service, and the physical labor of public work projects." The anthracite Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania saw a massive influx of Irish during this time period; conditions in the mines eventually gave rise to groups such as the Molly Maguires. The best urban economic opportunities for unskilled Irish women and men included "factory and millwork, domestic service, and the physical labor of public work projects."Irish in America from Civil War through early 20th centuryDuring the American Civil War, Irish Americans volunteered in high numbers for the Union Army with 38 Union regiments having the word "Irish" in their title. 145,000 union soldiers were Irish born with an unknown amount of Americans with Irish descent.“During the American Civil War, Irish Americans volunteered in high numbers for the Union Army, and at least 38 Union regiments had the word "Irish" in their title. 144,221 Union soldiers were born in Ireland; additionally, perhaps an equal number were of Irish descent. Many immigrant soldiers formed their own regiments, such as the Irish Brigade”After 1840, most Irish Catholic immigrants went directly to the cities, mill towns, and railroad or canal construction sites on the East Coast. In upstate New York, the Great Lakes area, the Midwest and the Far West, many became farmers or ranchers. In the East, male Irish laborers were hired by Irish contractors to work on canals, railroads, streets, sewers and other construction projects, particularly in New York state and New England. The Irish men also worked in these labor positions in the mid-west. They worked to construct towns where there had been none previously. Kansas city was one such town, and eventually became an important cattle town and railroad center. Labor positions weren't the only occupations for Irish though. Some moved to New England mill towns, such as Holyoke, Lowell, Taunton, Brockton, Fall River, and Milford, Massachusetts, where owners of textile mills welcomed the new low-wage workers.Following the Great Famine in Ireland, Irish Catholics came in droves to escape the oppression and famine they had faced but the natives they encountered were similar to the British by treating the Irish as non human.Nineteenth-century Protestant American "Nativist" discrimination against Irish Catholics reached a peak in the mid-1850s when the Know-Nothing Movement tried to oust Catholics from public office. Much of the opposition came from Irish Protestants, as in the 1831 riots in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the 1830s in the U.S., riots for control of job sites broke out in rural areas among rival labour teams from different parts of Ireland, and between Irish and local American work teams competing for construction jobs. Irish Catholics were isolated and marginalized by Protestant society, but the Irish gained control of the Catholic Church from English, French and Germans. Intermarriage between Catholics and Protestants was strongly discouraged by both Protestant ministers and Catholic priests. Catholics, led by the Irish, built a network of parochial schools and colleges, as well as orphanages and hospitals, typically using nuns as an inexpensive work force. They thereby avoided public institutions mostly controlled by Protestants”[2]An Irishman depicted as a gorillaWith the construction of cities like New York, jobs were distributed by politicians to their supporters and because the Irish were coming in high numbers they were a base for these politicians who were Irish themselves.“In the 19th century, jobs in local government were distributed by politicians to their supporters, and with significant strength in city hall the Irish became candidates for positions in all departments, such as police departments, fire departments, public schools and other public services of major cities. In 1897 New York City was formed by consolidating its five boroughs. That created 20,000 new patronage jobs. New York invested heavily in large-scale public works. This produced thousands of unskilled and semi-skilled jobs in subways, street railways, waterworks, and port facilities. Over half the Irish men employed by the city worked in utilities”PoliceBy 1855, according to New York Police Commissioner George W. Matsell (1811–1877), almost 17 percent of the police department's officers were Irish-born (compared to 28.2 percent of the city) in a report to the Board of Aldermen; of the NYPD's 1,149 men, Irish-born officers made up 304 of 431 foreign-born policemen. In the 1860s more than half of those arrested in New York City were Irish born or of Irish descent but nearly half of the city's law enforcement officers were also Irish. By the turn of the 20th century, five out of six NYPD officers were Irish born or of Irish descent. As late as the 1960s, 42% of the NYPD were Irish AmericansTeachersTowards the end of the 19th century, schoolteaching became the most desirable occupation for the second generation of female Irish immigrants. Teaching was similar to domestic work for the first generation of Irish immigrants in that it was a popular job and one that relied on a woman's decision to remain unmarried. The disproportionate number of Irish-American Catholic women who entered the job market as teachers in the late 19th century and early 20th century from Boston to San Francisco was a beneficial result of the Irish National school system. Irish schools prepared young single women to support themselves in a new country, which inspired them to instill the importance of education, college training, and a profession in their American-born daughters even more than in their sons. Evidence from schools in New York City illustrate the upward trend of Irish women as teachers: "as early as 1870, twenty percent of all schoolteachers were Irish women, and...by 1890 Irish females comprised two-thirds of those in the Sixth Ward schools." Irish women attained admirable reputations as schoolteachers, which enabled some to pursue professions of even higher statureNunsUpon arrival in the United States, many Irish women became Catholic nuns and participated in the many American sisterhoods, especially those in St. Louis in Missouri, St. Paul in Minnesota, and Troy in New York. Additionally, the women who settled in these communities were often sent back to Ireland to recruit. This kind of religious lifestyle appealed to Irish female immigrants because they outnumbered their male counterparts and the Irish cultural tendency to postpone marriage often promoted gender separation and celibacy. Furthermore, "the Catholic church, clergy, and women religious were highly respected in Ireland," making the sisterhoods particularly attractive to Irish immigrants. Nuns provided extensive support for Irish immigrants in large cities, especially in fields such as nursing and teaching but also through orphanages, widows' homes, and housing for young, single women in domestic work. Although many Irish communities built parish schools run by nuns, the majority of Irish parents in large cities in the East enrolled their children in the public school system, where daughters or granddaughters of Irish immigrants had already established themselves as teachers[3]American presidents with Irish ancestryA number of the presidents of the United States have Irish origins. The extent of Irish heritage varies. For example, Chester Arthur's father and both of Andrew Jackson's parents were Irish-born, while George W. Bush has a rather distant Irish ancestry. Ronald Reagan's father was of Irish ancestry, while his mother also had some Irish ancestors. John F. Kennedy had Irish lineage on both sides. Within this group, only Kennedy was raised as a practicing Roman Catholic. Barack Obama's Irish heritage originates from his Kansas-born mother, Ann Dunham, whose ancestry is Irish and English.Andrew Jackson (Ulster-Scots)7th President 1829–37: He was born in the predominantly Irish and Scotch Irish Waxhaws area of South Carolina two years after his parents left Boneybefore, near Carrickfergus in County Antrim. A heritage centre in the village pays tribute to the legacy of "Old Hickory", the People's President. Andrew Jackson then moved to Tennessee, where he served as governor.James Knox Polk (Ulster-Scots)11th President, 1845–49: His ancestors were among the first Ulster-Scots settlers, emigrating from Coleraine in 1680 to become a powerful political family in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He moved to Tennessee and became its governor before winning the presidency.James Buchanan (Ulster-Scots)15th President, 1857–61: Born in a log cabin, which has been relocated to his old school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. The Buchanans were originally from Deroran, near Omagh in County Tyrone, where the ancestral home still stands. Buchanan was also a descendant of the O'Kanes of County Londonderry.Andrew Johnson (Ulster-Scots)17th President, 1865–69: His Mother was a McDonough, His grandfather left Mounthill, near Larne in County Antrim around 1750 and settled in North Carolina. Johnson worked there as a tailor and ran a successful business in Greeneville, Tennessee, before being elected Vice President. He became President following Abraham Lincoln's assassination.Ulysses S. Grant (Ulster-Scots)18th President, 1869–77: The home of his maternal great-grandfather, John Simpson, at Dergenagh, County Tyrone, is the location for an exhibition on the eventful life of the victorious Civil War commander who later served two terms as President. Grant visited his ancestral homeland in 1878.Chester A. Arthur (Ulster-Scots)21st President, 1881–85: His election was the start of a quarter-century in which the White House was occupied by men of Ulster-Scots origins. His family left Dreen, near Cullybackey, County Antrim, in 1815. There is now an interpretive centre, alongside the Arthur Ancestral Home, devoted to his life and times.Grover Cleveland (Anglo-Irish and Ulster-Scots)22nd and 24th President, 1885–89 and 1893–97: Born in New Jersey, he was the maternal grandson of merchant Abner Neal, who emigrated from County Antrim in the 1790s. He is the only president to have served non-consecutive terms.Benjamin Harrison (Ulster-Scots)23rd President, 1889–93: His mother, Elizabeth Irwin, had Ulster-Scots roots through her two great-grandfathers, James Irwin and William McDowell. Harrison was born in Ohio and served as a brigadier general in the Union Army before embarking on a career in Indiana politics which led to the White House.William McKinley (Ulster-Scots)25th President, 1897–1901: Born in Ohio, the descendant of a farmer from Conagher, near Ballymoney, County Antrim, he was proud of his ancestry and addressed one of the national Scotch-Irish congresses held in the late 19th century. His second term as president was cut short by an assassin's bullet.Theodore Roosevelt (Ulster-Scots)26th President, 1901–09: His mother, Mittie Bulloch, had Ulster Scots ancestors who emigrated from Glenoe, County Antrim, in May 1729. Roosevelt praised "Irish Presbyterians" as "a bold and hardy race." However, he is also the man who said: "But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts 'native' before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen." (Roosevelt was referring to political nativists, not American Indians, in this context.)William Howard Taft (Ulster-Scots)27th President 1909–13: His great great great grandfather, Robert Taft was born in 1640 in Ireland and immigrated to America, during the mid 17th century. He died in Mendon, Worcester, Massachusetts.Woodrow Wilson (Ulster-Scots)28th President, 1913–21: Of Ulster-Scot descent on both sides of the family, his roots were very strong and dear to him. He was grandson of a printer from Dergalt, near Strabane, County Tyrone, whose former home is open to visitors.Warren G. Harding (Ulster-Scots)29th President 1921–23Harry S. Truman (Ulster-Scots)33rd President 1945–53John F. Kennedy (Irish Catholic)35th President 1961–63 (Limerick and County Wexford) First Catholic president, Irish CatholicRichard Nixon (Ulster-Scots)37th President, 1969–74: The Nixon ancestors left Ulster in the mid-18th century; the Quaker Milhous family ties were with County Antrim and County Kildare.Jimmy Carter (Ulster-Scots)39th President 1977–1981 (County Antrim and County Londonderry): One of his maternal ancestors, Brandon McCain, emigrated from County Londonderry to America in 1810.Ronald Reagan (Irish Catholic)40th President 1981–89: He was the great-grandson, on his father's side, of Irish migrants from County Tipperary who came to America via Canada and England in the 1840s. His mother was of Scottish and English ancestry.George H. W. Bush (Anglo-Irish)41st President 1989–93 (County Wexford): historians have found that his now apparent ancestor, Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, shunned by Henry II, offered his services as a mercenary in the 12th-century Norman invasion of Wexford in exchange for power and land. Strongbow married Aoife, daughter of Dermot MacMurrough, the Gaelic king of Leinster.Bill Clinton42nd President 1993–2001: He claims Irish ancestry despite there being no documentation of any of his ancestors coming from Ireland.George W. Bush (Anglo-Irish)43rd President 2001–09: One of his five times great-grandfathers, William Holliday (a British merchant living in Ireland), was born in Rathfriland, County Down, about 1755 and died in Kentuckyabout 1811–12. One of the President's seven times great-grandfathers, William Shannon, was apparently born somewhere in County Cork about 1730, and died in Pennsylvania in 1784.Barack Obama (Anglo-Irish and Irish Catholic)44th President 2009–2017: Some of his maternal ancestors came to America from a small village called Moneygall, in County Offaly. His ancestors lived in New England and the South and, by the 1800s, most were in the Midwest.[4]Finally throughout the generations most presidents are of Irish descent from Andrew Johnson to former president Barack Obama and the Irish community is a huge voting group that most presidents need the support of to win.Contributions to American cultureThe annual celebration of Saint Patrick's Day is a widely recognized symbol of the Irish presence in America. The largest celebration of the holiday takes place in New York, where the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade draws an average of two million people. The second-largest celebration is held in Boston. The South Boston Parade is one the nation's oldest, dating back to 1737. Savannah, Georgia, also holds one of the largest parades in the United States.Since the arrival of nearly two million Irish immigrants in the 1840s, the urban Irish police officer and firefighter have become virtual icons of American popular culture. In many large cities, the police and fire departments have been dominated by the Irish for over 100 years, even after the ethnic Irish residential populations in those cities dwindled to small minorities. Many police and fire departments maintain large and active "Emerald Societies", bagpipe marching groups, or other similar units demonstrating their members' pride in their Irish heritage.While these archetypal images are especially well known, Irish Americans have contributed to U.S. culture in a wide variety of fields: the fine and performing arts, film, literature, politics, sports, and religion. The Irish-American contribution to popular entertainment is reflected in the careers of figures such as James Cagney, Bing Crosby, Walt Disney, John Ford, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Grace Kelly, Tyrone Power, Chuck Conners, Ada Rehan, Jena Malone, and Spencer Tracy. Irish-born actress Maureen O'Hara, who became an American citizen, defined for U.S. audiences the archetypal, feisty Irish "colleen" in popular films such as The Quiet Man and The Long Gray Line. More recently, the Irish-born Pierce Brosnan gained screen celebrity as James Bond. During the early years of television, popular figures with Irish roots included Gracie Allen, Art Carney, Joe Flynn, Jackie Gleason, Luke Gordon and Ed Sullivan.Prominent Irish-American literary figures include Pulitzer and Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, Jazz Age novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, author and poet Edgar Allan Poe, social realist James T. Farrell, and Southern Gothic writer Flannery O'Connor. The 19th-century novelist Henry James was also of partly Irish descent. While Irish Americans have been underrepresented in the plastic arts, two well-known American painters claim Irish roots. 20th-century painter Georgia O'Keeffe was born to an Irish-American father, and 19th-century trompe-l'œil painter William Harnett emigrated from Ireland to the United States. The Irish-American contribution to politics spans the entire ideological spectrum. Two prominent American socialists, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, were Irish Americans. In the 1960s, Irish-American writer Michael Harrington became an influential advocate of social welfare programs. Harrington's views profoundly influenced President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, Irish-American political writer William F. Buckley emerged as a major intellectual force in American conservative politics in the latter half of the 20th century. Buckley's magazine, National Review, proved an effective advocate of successful Republican candidates such as Ronald Reagan. Colorful Irish Americans also include Margaret Tobin of RMS Titanic fame, scandalous model Evelyn Nesbit, dancer Isadora Duncan, San Francisco madam Tessie Wall, and Nellie Cashman, nurse and gold prospector in the American West.[5]The Irish community in America has had a huge impact on the United States and this is just some of the amazing thing the Irish community has brought to the United States. The Irish currently make 10.5%of the total population which is about 33 million Americans.Footnotes[1] Irish Americans - Wikipedia[2] Anti-Irish sentiment - Wikipedia[3] Irish Americans - Wikipedia[4] Irish Americans - Wikipedia[5] Irish Americans - Wikipedia

Steak is something of a life quest for me. I do not do it like the “experts”, but an unscientific study of the taste buds relevant to my life concludes that I can cook a great steak.A perfect steak is poetry on the palate.Melt in your mouth, eyes dilated, out of body, ecstatic poetry.A great steak ranks on the bucket list right there with unraveling the meaning of life and assembling IKEA furniture using only the directions. So, these beefy words are important. If I'm really honest, I have no special tricks to share unless you consider attention to detail a trick.And it all starts with the right cow.Now, you and I don't often get to choose our cow. If we did, I'd tell you about pasture raising and finishing our hooved morsel’s corporeal existence with corn feed. If you have access to such things, you really do not need my words of instruction. But urban palates such as ours deserve transcendental experiences too.For city dwellers, the key is a great butcher. As discernment increasingly leads to the abandoning of the Acme grocery meat department, old-fashioned butchers are making a comeback. If the butcher shop is too much effort for you, just quit reading now: you just aren’t going to make it where the rest of us are going.This is the most critical step where most would be steak impresarios go wrong. Just like in any other life-changing decision, you have to be prepared to walk away if you really want to get the best deal. I learned this in contract negotiation, but it applies double to picking a great steak.First, you have to understand cuts of beef, but I will make it simple: you want a ribeye or a strip steak. Now, if you read that sentence and asked yourself why this idiot didn’t include tenderloin on the short list, you have just learned a critical lesson: you have never ate a great steak. Tenderloin just doesn’t bring the taste. And it isn’t even close. If you want tender, make a hamburger–if you want a great steak, get a ribeye or strip. I prefer the texture and heft of the strip steak, but either cut can get you to nirvana.So, next, you want to look at marbling. Now the ugly truth in the United States is that steakhouses get most of the great beef, but mere consumers do have options. This means USDA Prime beef. Relative to grocery store crap, Prime beef is expensive. And delicious. But the butcher will charge you less than half whatever that high-falutin steak place down the road charges, so just accept this reality. Once attaining expert steak gladiator bad-assery, you can experiment with USDA choice steaks. But for now, you can't handle the truth.So, you want a well “marbled” steak. Marbling is the fat that resides between the muscle fibers of meat. In grocery store meat, it is non-existent or in big chunks that are not evenly distributed. What you are looking for is a nice regular distribution of fat in small pockets. Here is some more contrarian advice: more fat is not automatically better. I’ve invested in expensive highly marbled Wagyu and Kobe steaks which were superficially beautifully marbled, only to find the flavor one-dimensional.Over-marbled Wagyu beefA2 Grade Wagyu Beef Steak - SirloinYou want a little less fat than this. The perfect taste comes in the steaks that are a little more irregular and have some streaks and irregular marble flecks.This steak has the look of the marbling you should seekUSDA Prime Dry-Aged Boneless Double Strip Steak for TwoNow, be sure to watch out for gristle…that translucent thin layer running through the center. I’ve seen that in some otherwise good-looking meat and while it may not hurt the flavor, it will definitely hurt the texture and likely your teeth. But, look for something about like this picture, and you will be very happy.Often when you go for the butcher’s best meat, it will not yet be cut into individual steaks. So, ask the butcher to take it out of the counter and show you the ends of the slab. Choose the best end, but trust your eyes and if the meat does not have the right marbling, do not compromise.Which brings up the thickness of the cut. My butcher’s counter cut is 1½ inches, but you can go thicker if you are feeling bold. Whatever you do, do not go down from 1½ inches. It’s a rule.The great news is that now that you have your steaks in hand, the critical part is all over. But then, you should not skip on the rest of this beefy wisdom out of respect for these fine steaks. So, before you cook, let’s talk tools.I am extraordinarily narrow-minded on tools. I know what works for me and I am too old to change. You need seven things to achieve greatness.A Weber Kettle. I am not paid by Weber, but I should be: I’ve probably bought more of their products than sales produced by some of their ads. Their standard issue 22” kettle grills are the perfect grill. No qualification there–nothing else even matters. Other brands need not apply. And if you are thinking you will make some poor, misguided, milquetoast attempt to cook your steak on a gas grill, just know what kind of grill it is: it will not respect you in the morning.Tongs. Nothing fancy here. Just get a good, run of the mill, long clamshell type. This one is perfect: https://www.amazon.com/Winco-UT-16-Heavyweight-Stainless-Utility/dp/B001VZAMME/Chimney starter. I’ve had good luck with the Weber starters, but off-brand starters work fine. Electric starters are a good option too, but the chimney is the easiest choice except for……needing newspaper to wad up in the bottom of the chimney starter. Now, I get my news online these days, so I actually have to go to the trouble to buy a paper from time to time. It goes a long ways, so I stay stocked by occasionally buying a discount day-old Sunday paper.A lighter to ignite the paper. Good old-fashioned matches work fine, but I like those long snout lighters just for the convenience.Kingsford charcoal. Brand X just isn’t as consistent. Lump charcoal burns too hot for the Weber Kettle. And the Kingsford will give you some good oak smoke flavor if you follow the rapidly approaching lighting instruction.Big chunks of hickory wood. You can get chips and soak them if you want, but I just use a big piece–something like a 1½ inch cube–and toss it in right after I throw the meat on the grill.Next: meat preparation.There are two aspects of getting your meat ready to go. Now, you can read all kinds of advice on dry aging in the refrigerator and I would encourage you to try that once you earn your steak gladiator wings, but these are advanced skills. You will do well if you simply season your meat well in advance and allow it to warm to room temperature prior to cooking.Ideally season your steaks the day before you cook, though as long as you season it a few hours before, you are in great shape. I only use three seasonings on my steak and you should not vary until you try it my way: fresh cracked pepper, kosher salt, and garlic powder. The key here is to be generous with the salt and pepper, but delicate with the garlic powder.Lay the steaks out and cautiously sprinkle a light dusting of garlic powder over them. Then grab your pepper grinder and throw said caution to the wind. Set your pepper mill on its coarsest grind and laugh in the face of carpal tunnel syndrome–this needs a lot of pepper. Finish the steak with a generous dusting of kosher salt. More salt than you think it needs. Now, flip your precious meaty morsels over and repeat on side B.But, don’t stop there. Stand the steaks on their edges and give each edge the same treatment. The edges benefit from an even heavier dose of pepper and salt. This step is really important so do not wimp out.If you are cooking within about six hours, you are ready to just leave these heavenly delights on the counter to come up to room temperature. If it is going to be longer, just transfer them to a big ziplock bag and refrigerate them till a few hours before cooking time.Now, if you worry about leaving the meat out so long, just think about our ancestors prior to the invention of commercial refrigeration. If a few hours at room temperature were problematic for the species, Homo Sapiens would have lost out to Neanderthals enjoying their Aurochs meat. Cooking steaks from room temperature yields a more consistent result.Setting up the grill properly is probably the second most important thing after choosing meat that is worthy. You will have to learn your grill and how your climate affects it, but start with about a half chimney of charcoal as your first attempt. Wad up two pieces of newspaper in the bottom of the chimney and set it in the center of the charcoal grate (bottom grate) of your kettle. Light the newspaper and the chimney will do the rest of the work.Unlike every instruction you have ever read on charcoal grilling, the goal here is not to wait until all the charcoal is white. When you start cooking, you want a cooler fire than that of mere grilling mortals. The goal is about half white with the balance in various stages of ignition. This means it is ready when you see a little flaming coming off the chimney, but not a lot. When it is ready, dump the charcoal on one side of the grill in a small pile.My grill showing fire pile and the look after the first turnIf you don’t have a hinged cooking grate, throw your big chunk of hickory on now, but ideally, hold that back till you are about to place the lid on. Keep in mind that once you dump the charcoal, you want to move quickly. Get the cooking grate on, place your steaks in the center, but not touching, toss in your wood, and get that lid on.WAIT.Before you actually put the lid on, while the lid is still in your hand like a gladiator shield, you need to use your finger to poke the steaks. The idea is that you are feeling how soft the steak is raw. As it cooks, it will get firmer. This is your reference point for knowing when it is time to sear your steak. Now put the lid on.A word about the kettle vents. Leave the bottom vents mostly open at about 75-100%. It is rare that you would change the bottom vents: any air flow adjustments can be made through the vents in the lid. Start with the top vents at about 30% open to choke the fire a bit and generate smoke. Luscious, salivating smoke.Your meat is now into the warming phase. If you have a thermometer in the lid, you are shooting for a temperature of about 275 degrees. The goal is to get a little heat and a lot of smoky goodness into the meat. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can use the finger test. After the lid is on for a couple of minutes, quickly touch the lid with your fingers. If your finger feels warm when you pull it off, then you have it about right. If your fingers feel hot like they might burn if you left them for a couple of seconds, then your fire is too hot and you need to close that upper vent completely for a while.Your steaks will need about 10 minutes before you will want to turn them. You want to be quick when you take the lid off and hold it in your hand like the meat gladiator you are becoming. Quickly flip them over with your tongs, inspect them for color, and give them another finger poke. Get the lid back on before you start contemplating your next move.This is the hardest part to get the hang of, but a little common sense is really all you need. On your first turn, you want to see them about the color in that picture from my grill above: just starting to get a bit brown. When you poke them, they should still have that squishy soft rare feeling that you experienced in your first poke. If the meat is firming up at all, your temperature is probably too high and you should choke the fire off completely.Your steaks will probably need about another 10 minutes at this point, but it varies a great deal. Ambient temperature, humidity, and imprecision in the fire itself all contribute to the need to not follow strict rules. Rookie meat gladiators should peek in whenever they have doubts about how their meat is cooking. Better the cooking process takes longer than overcooking a steak that could have been perfect.We should probably talk doneness. I was putting this off, but the topic can be avoided no longer.Anything beyond medium rare is an insult to the cow who died to give you this meal, the butcher who provided such fine meat, whatever deity you worship or natural process that created cow, and your mother. If you do not want an excellent steak, save yourself a lot of time and money by visiting Golden Corral rather than the butcher.Face it: not everyone is cut out for this.What you are looking for is a steak that is just starting to feel less firm than it was when you put it on. If it is distinctly firmer, then you have failed. The good news is that your penance is eating a ho-hum steak. In other words, First World Problems. But assuming that your meat is a light brown with just a bit of newfound firmness, it is time for the sear phase.Searing is the easy part. Set your kettle top aside and give the fire about three minutes to breath in a lot of oxygen. You can blow on it a bit or fan some papers at it, but it is easiest to just wait till you can discern the temperature coming up. Place your steaks on the grilling grate right over the coals. I suggest counting about sixty seconds and then turning them end to end. You should see the meat darken quickly and a slight crustiness will form. If it is not browning as quickly, give them one or two more turns at about thirty seconds a side.There is no one turn rule here–more than a bit of Zen mastery is involved in a perfect steak. Be sure and keep poking when you turn. As they brown, you will feel more firmness setting in. Whether you think they appear seared enough or not, do not let them firm up more than a bit. Keep in mind, they will cook more during the rest phase after you take them off the fire.Now the rest phase. The rest begins as soon as you pull your steaks back from their position over the coals to the other side of the grill. Now you can go more slowly because your work is done. Place your beautiful, perfect steaks on a platter and get ready to serve. They need about five minutes of resting but more will not hurt.What you are about to eat is magnificent.I am jealous.

So you believe that you can stop a criminal who as a gun with a bats, knives and high-powered flashlight,… hehe,… not unless you get up close and you strike first, and even then there is still no guarantee of success.“Gun regulations and laws, do not stop crime. ““Gun regulations and laws, do not stop crime. ““Gun regulations and laws, do not stop crime. “Gun regulations and laws are retroactive they tell you what you are not supposed to do and what might happen to you if you get caught.“Criminals do not comply with the law.”“Criminals do not comply with the law.”“Criminals do not comply with the law.”Here are some (but not all the times where a guy guy/gal with a gun, not a baseball bat, knife, high-powered flashlight saved them selves and/or others.On January 4, a 65-year-old Manchester, New Hampshire, grandmother used a gun for self-defense after being followed home from the gas station around 11:30 pm. The grandmother was on her way home from work when she stopped at the station, and she noticed a car following her. When she pulled into her parking garage, the car pulled in behind her, and a tall male exited the vehicle then stood between the grandmother and the only path she had to her apartment. He allegedly demanded her purse then reached out to grab her arm. At that point, she shot him. WFEA Radio quoted the grandmother saying her gun is “always locked and loaded.”On January 22, a barber and a barbershop customer opened fire on two armed menwho allegedly entered the Columbia, South Carolina, Next Up Barber and Beauty shop to rob customers. One of the permit holders was Master Barber Elmurray Bookman and the other was a customer sitting in a barber chair. Bookman told WLTX that one of the masked men asked the unidentified customer for money, and the customer told him it was over by another chair. When the men moved toward the other chair to retrieve the money, the customer opened fire and Bookman opened fire as well. The Columbia Police Department reported that one of the two masked men fled the business after being shot “multiple times.” Police discovered his body outside.On February 14, an Ontario, California, homeowner shot and killed an alleged intruder “during a short struggle” in the entryway of the home. The incident occurred about 5 a.m., and the Los Angeles Times reported that the homeowner’s wife called 911 to say “her husband opened fire on a man who was trying to forcibly enter their home.” When police arrived, they found the suspect — a 26-year-old Los Angeles man — dead in the home’s entryway.On February 22, a 71-year-old homeowner fired three rounds at an alleged home intruder, striking the suspect twice in the chest. The homeowner, Tony Pitts, is a disabled gentleman who lives in Hickory, North Carolina. WSOC TV reported that Pitts was lying in bed when he heard knocks at the front door. He did not answer because it was so late, but he was soon drawn out of bed by the sound of shattering glass. Pitts said, “I’m disabled and somebody kicks the door in, I got to do something.” He allegedly saw the suspect coming through the door and he fired three rounds, striking the would-be intruder twice and ending the incident. The suspect survived and was arrested.On March 8, a 65-year-old homeowner on a dialysis machine pulled a gun to prevent a would-be home invader from entering his apartment. Fox 35 quoted deputies who said the suspect allegedly “cut open a screen door and entered the [would-be] victim’s place through a patio.” At that point, the resident picked up his dialysis machine and his gun, walked over to the window, and tapped on the glass with gun. The resident said, “Just wanted to let him know, I’ve got a gun.” The would-be intruder got the message and fled the scene.On March 12, a concealed carry permit holder shot and killed a man who was allegedly swinging a hatchet at customers and a store clerk in a Seattle-area 7-Eleven. According to Q13 Fox, the “store clerk says the masked man entered the store and immediately started swinging a hatchet toward a customer — then he turned his sights on the clerk.” The clerk was struck in the stomach and suffered “minor injuries” before the attack was stopped by an armed customer who shot the suspect. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.On March 17, a man eating a sandwich in a Whataburger parking lot opened fire on two suspects who allegedly tried to rob him. The San Antonio Express reported that one of the suspects was killed and police confirmed that the deceased suspect “did have a pistol.”On March 31, an elderly man on oxygen opened fire on two suspects who allegedly invaded his home to steal narcotics. According to the Daily Journal, two men came to the elderly man’s home in Washington County, Missouri. One of the two was known to the elderly man, the second of the two was wearing a mask. The two men allegedly accosted the elderly man and threw him across the couch, and he landed very near the place where he keeps his gun. He was able to grab it and open fire, critically wounding one of the two suspects. Both suspects fled the scene after shots were fired.On April 20, a Stanton, Kentucky, man violated a protective order to confront his girlfriend and died when she opened fire with a shotgun. WKYT quoted Kentucky State Police who said 32-year-old “Steven Strange confronted 32-year-old Melissa Roberts inside her Stanton home.” Roberts responded by shooting Strange in the chest with a 12-gauge shotgun. Roberts faced no charges for the shooting.On April 27, an 11-year-old homeschool student opened fire on a burglary suspect, striking him in the leg. The incident occurred in Talladega, Alabama. According to WVTM 13, the boy said the robbery suspect was “crying like a baby” after being shot.On April 28, an 80-year-old woman shot and killed a man who allegedly stabbed her husband and invaded their home. The incident occurred in Sultan, Washington, around 8:30 pm. The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office told Fox 8 that the 25-year-old intruder entered the home and stabbed the husband “multiple times in the abdomen.” The wife shot the intruder, who died on scene. The husband was in stable condition.On June 25, a mother in Portland, Oregon, opened fire on a suspect she discovered in one of her children’s bedrooms. The incident occurred around 2 a.m., and CBS News reported that the mother “shot the man… with her personal handgun after a confrontation.” The children were not harmed.On June 27, a concealed carry permit holder stopped an attempted mass shootingoutside Playoffz nightclub in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. According to WISTV, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office says it was about 3:30 a.m. when “32-year-old Jody Ray Thompson pulled out a gun after getting into an argument with another man.” He reportedly “fired several rounds toward a crowd that had gathered out in front of the club.” Thompson shot and wounded three people when he opened fire. The individual who would have been his fourth target, an unnamed concealed permit holder, ended the incident by pulling his own gun and shooting Thompson.On July 12, a Flagler County, Florida, homeowner shot and killed one of two alleged armed men who had “unlawfully” entered his home. The Daytona Beach News-Journal quoted the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) report that said, “Five adults and a 2-year-old were inside the home when the incident unfolded.” One of the residents, 21-year-old Darien Corbett, said that “he and his roommates were vacuuming a new rug” when he heard someone trying to kick in the front door. Corbett retrieved his handgun and opened the door, only to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun. Corbett “closed [his] eyes and shot twice,” striking one of the suspects. The wounded suspect died at the scene.On July 12, a robbery suspect with an AK-47 entered a DeSoto, Texas, Waffle House and was shot and critically wounded by a concealed carry permit holder. The Dallas Morning News reported that the permit holder “called out” to distract the robber and prevent him from targeting the permit holder’s wife. The robber then turned toward the permit holder, pointing the AK-47 at him, and the permit holder “shot the robber several times.” The alleged robber — 26-year-old Antione Devon Cooper — was taken to a hospital and placed on life support. No charges were filed against the concealed permit holder.On August 2, a 15-year-old in Coos County, Oregon, used a shotgun to stop and alleged home invader. The incident occurred just after 8:20 a.m. According to KCBY, the burglar entered the home and began rummaging around for things to steal. As he did, the 15-year-old made his way toward a shotgun and armed himself. The teen was then “in fear of his safety and shot the burglar in the leg with the shotgun.” The suspect was hospitalized in serious “but not life-threatening” condition.On September 15, a woman in Gwinnett County, Georgia, opened fire on three home invasion suspects who allegedly kicked in her door around 4 a.m. WSBTV reported that the woman and a man were in bed when they heard the sound of people kicking their way into the home. The woman grabbed her gun, confronted the invasion suspects, and gunfire was exchanged. Police said 28-year-old Antonia Leeks was shot and killed in the gun battle. The other two suspects fled the scene.On November 14, a customer in Porfirio’s II Pizza used a Glock handgun to shoot and kill one robbery suspect while leaving a second suspect in “serious condition.” Levittown Now quoted police, saying, “Two employees were inside Porfirio’s II Pizza and the customer was standing inside when the two robbers, both of whom were armed with handguns, entered the shop around 10 p.m.” The suspects ordered everyone to the ground and allegedly “began pistol-whipping the customer.” The customer then pulled his Glock and opened fire, striking both suspects. The armed citizen was not seriously injured.On November 14, an armed passerby intervened and saved a sheriff’s deputy who was under attack on the side of the road. According to WZVN, a Lee County sheriff’s deputy tried to pull a suspect over shortly after 9:30 a.m. in Estero, Florida. The suspect accelerated — “reaching speeds of up to 100 miles per hour” — and the deputy gave chase. At an off-ramp near Corkscrew Road the suspect got out of his car, walked back to the deputy’s car, and began to beat him. An armed passerby intervened and ordered the suspect to stop, but he refused. The deputy could be heard yelling, “Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him.” The passerby fired three shots, and the suspect collapsed on top of the deputy. The deputy was treated at a hospital and released.On December 26, a Mableton, Georgia, gun store owner shot and killed one of two suspects who allegedly tried to rob his business. According to Action News 5, store owner Jimmy Groover said that “two men wearing masks came in with guns drawn, demanding that he get on the floor, while shouting they were going to kill him.” But Groover was wearing a handgun on his hip and, according to Fox 13 Memphis, “Police said [Groover] pulled out his gun and fired, hitting one of the gunmen.” Police arrived to find shattered glass and the body of one of the suspects on the floor. The second suspect escaped.There are many many many many other stories like these,…I know for at fact that disarming the public will lead to increased crime and a more vulnerable public.