With apologies to Shaquille O'Neal. the real Big Aristotle is my buddy Matt G. of Better and Better. It's an odd juxtaposition to find a man so intimidatingly large, and yet so thoughtful and well-spoken. You sit and drink a beer with him and swap stories, and you expect what comes from his mouth to sound like Bull Shannon, and when it comes out sounding more like Ben Steyn, you can't help but blink. And in these days of the ever-increasing police state and cops behaving badly, he is one of the peace officers whom I hold up as worthy of emulation. He is a credit to his profession, and what more cops should strive to be.

His tag line says it all:

I think that there's bound to be a way to serve myself, serve my community, and not take freedom away from good people.

He's a cop, a shooter and hunter, a libertarian, and one of my dearest friends. You can support him with donations to the Prostate Cancer Foundation here. Drop by his blog and let him know you appreciate what he's doing, and drop a few dollars in the pot to support male-specific cancer research. If even 20 of you donate $5 each, that's $100 closer to a very worthy goal.

He's Matt G. of Better and Better, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

When I first started blogging, I noticed that a bunch of the bloggers I followed were huge fans of Serenity and Firefly. I made a mental note to check it out, perhaps rent the DVD or watch the series on Hulu sometime, but ever really got around to it.

Then one day I followed a trackback from my blog to I Aim To Misbehave, and I noticed a quote Captain Tightpants had on his wall:

"This report is maybe 12-years-old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, 10, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people . . . better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave." ~ Captain Malcom Reynolds

For some reason it intrigued me, so I Googled it, and the next day I bought the Serenity DVD. So I guess you could say that he is the man responsible for making me a fan.

I figure any blogger with a Malcom Reynolds avatar and a Captain Mal quote on his wall is my kind of people, and that suspicion was confirmed when he signed on to raise funds for Kilted to Kick Cancer.

He's a cop, a libertarian, a former soldier, a shooter and Second Amendment advocate, and you can support his fundraising efforts for the LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and let him you know you appreciate what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the kitty for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 of you donated $5 each, that's $100 toward a very worthy cause.

He's Captain Tightpants of I Aim to Misbehave, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

Sean Eddy is the blogger behind Medic Madness and Droid Medic, the resource for all the best Android-based EMS apps on the intarwebz. He's a little late in joining the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising team, but he's got a good excuse; he moved to Texas on September 1.

Welcome to free America, Sean!

He's a medic, a programmer, a blogger, a shooter and Second Amendment advocate, and a proud new resident of the great state of Texas. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here. Drop by his blog and let him you know you appreciate what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the kitty for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 of you donated $5 each, that's $100 toward a very worthy cause.

He's Sean Eddy of Medic Madness, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

You don't have to have a Y chromosome to care about male-specific cancer, and Carrie of A Mile High and 45 Degrees North has accepted the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge on behalf of her friends and relatives who sport external plumbing. She also has my dream job of working in EMS at freakin' Yellowstone National Park. Seriously, with scenery like that, the National Park Service could buy AD's services very cheaply indeed.

She's a space-age cartographer, an EMT, a blogger, a grad student, and a cancer survivor in her own right. You can support her fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here, and LiveStrong here. Drop by her blog and let her you know you appreciate what she's doing, and drop a few bucks in the kitty for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 of you donated $5 each, that's $100 toward a very worthy cause.

She blogs at A Mile High and 45 Degrees North, and she's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

Before he was an up-and-coming competitive shooter, Top Shot Season I contestant and gunblogger extraordinare, Caleb Giddings was an insurance agent who wrote a blog called "What Would John Wayne Do?" and even before that, "Call Me Ahab." In fact, I had the honor of penning the tagline to his second blog: "Where John Wayne meets Emily Post."

He's come a long way since then, not only as a shooter of formidable skill, but as a writer who has proven himself adept at branding and navigating the seas of social media. Caleb's a big name now in the gun blogosphere, and soon to be a bigger name in the shooting sports. His popularity is well deserved.

He's not going kilted, but he is marshalling his legion of readers to help raise money in the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge.

Nice slingshot, son. You know they make kilts in kid's sizes, right?

He's a competitive shooter, blogger and gun writer, Second Amendment advocate, former Coastie, wielder of the tactical coffee cup, and good guy. You can support his fundraising efforts for LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and let him you know you appreciate what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the kitty for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 of you donated $5 each, that's $100 toward a very worthy cause.

He's Caleb Giddings, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

Fellow EMS blogger Divermedic, of A Look at EMS From 120 Feet Below, took up the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge early, pulling out all the stops at raising as much money as he can, including convincing his employer to match employee contributions to the designated charities. This is likely to a) dramatically increase the total funds raised, which I applaud wholeheartedly, and b) vault Divermedic to first place in the standings, which will make AD a sad clown indeed if I don't win that gun. Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to console myself by thinking of all the money we raised. 

I'd say that Divermedic really, really wants that Ruger .22/45, but that wouldn't be true. The truth is, this is a personal cause for him, just as it is for so many of the participating bloggers.

Cancer took his Dad.

He's an EMT-B, diver med tech, a shooter, Second Amendment advocate, and all around great guy. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here, and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and let him you know you appreciate what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the kitty for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 of you donated $5 each, that's $100 toward a very worthy cause.

He's Divermedic, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

One of the first people I contacted for prizes for the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge was Michael Hast of Michael's Custom Holsters. All too many gun owners will shell out serious money for a sidearm and then stick it in a cheaply made $15 nylon holster. Well, Michael's holsters are affordable, but they are anything but cheaply made. Not only was he happy to donate a holster and gun belt combo for the prize package (a set worth hundreds of dollars), he also collaborated with me on a concealed carry sporran I'll be reviewing on the blog in the next few days. While he was at it, he also joined the fundraising challenge, and he's been going kilted every day he can.

He's a shooter, Second Amendment advocate, maker of quality leather holsters, and good friend. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here, and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and let him you know you appreciate what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the kitty for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 of you donated $5 each, that's $100 toward a very worthy cause.

He's Michael Hast, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

McThag was one of the first gun bloggers to take me upon the Kilted to Kick Cancer blog challenge. I hadn't realized he read my stuff, and after reading his blog a bit, I realize I'm going to be following him more closely. We share a number of interests.

See? Chicks DO dig a guy in a kilt!

He's a liberty loving American gun owner, and you can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, we'd be $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's Angus McThag, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

Ron Davis, the guy many of you know as the EMS Newbie, is actually an IT professional and quite a talented professional photographer. I found his blog, Reactuate, through a back link one day, and we found we had a mutual interest in guns.

Turns out, I had his dream job of being a paramedic, and he had my dream job of taking pictures of beautiful women and guns all day long. Thus, a good friendship and a successful podcast was born. At EMS World Expo in Las Vegas, we kicked off the kilted festivities a day early:

He's a social media maven, shooter and Second Amendment advocate, IT wizard, EMT and professional photographer. He doesn't always drink malted beverages,but when he does, he drinks Ovaltine. He's the Whitest Man In The World. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, we'd be $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.
 

He's Ron Davis of Reactuate, Confessions of an EMS Newbie, and Photographer and Model, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

Jay G. of MArooned and I have been reading each other since way back when I actually got more daily hits than he did. Now he's one of the Big Boys of the gun blogosphere, even if he does refer to himself as "a retarded chimp banging away at the keys of an IBM Selectric." He's been kind enough to host a couple of blogmeets and range trips on the occasions I've visited the grave of liberty Massachusetts, and he's never shy about lending a hand to a good cause. 

Nice picnic blanket you're wearing there, Jay. Now where's your kilt?

He's also diabolical about getting donations, offering to wear a real, feminine skirt if his readers put him atop the donation standings. He's got an arsenal sufficient to outfit a small army, and in his own words, he's "a dad, gun nut, motorhead, shaved-head biker with a foul mouth and a bad attitude, foolishly clinging to the notions of self-reliance and free will in the land of the perpetual nanny." You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here, and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, we'd be $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's Jay G. of MArooned, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

John Richardson of No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money is a prolific blogger who posts, as the blog name would suggest, about economics, personal finances and gun rights, with a fair bit of political opinion. Aside from the uncommon good taste to name his blog after a line from a Warren Zevon song, he was also quick to accept the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge. Like a number of the bloggers who have participated in this campaign, prostate cancer has touched someone in his life; he lost his father-in-law to prostate cancer in 2002.

He's a financial planner, a shooter and a passionate Second Amendment advocate. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, we'd be $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's John Richardson of No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

John MXL of Not Firing On All Cylinders has been a faithful blog reader and Facebook friend for a couple of years. He needs to post to his blog more often (Of course I'll resort to public shaming, John!), but he was brave enough to accept the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge early on, and as far as I'm concerned, that makes up for infrequency of posting.

Standing next to the only sartorial ensemble more likely to draw stares than a kilt with suspenders

He's a biker, a shooter and Second Amendment adovcate, and a bit of a curmudgeon. Plus, he can't be doing this for the gun, because he already has a Ruger .22/45. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here, and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, we'll be $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's John MXL of Not Firing On All Cylinders, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

I'd like to point you to Former Action Guy, another blogger who accepted the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge. I blogrolled him shortly after he began blogging, but for the life of me, I can't explain why I never added him to my feed reader.

That oversight has been corrected, however. He's got some good stuff over there, particularly the stories of his military exploits. He's got added motivation for this challenge because his father is a prostate cancer survivor.

He's retired from U.S. Special Forces, an EMT, runner, security professional, competitive pistol shooter, reserve deputy sheriff, and high school sports official. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here, and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, we'd be $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's Former Action Guy, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

Stingray, the stoic male half of the Atomic Nerds, has some of the coolest ink you'll ever see on a person, but the reason he's doing the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge is because of the tattoo borne by a loved one – the radiation targeting symbol on his father, who fought and beat prostate cancer. A couple of years back, I vowed never to forgive him because of this picture (safe for work, but not for appetites), but it's hard to stay mad at a guy who brews beer as sublime as his various recipes.

Of course, Stingray got wind of the good-natured gamesmanship between Jay G., NJ Dive Medic and myself, and came up with something to trump us all.

If he wins the fundraising challenge, he's going to live blog his own prostate exam.

Straight from the horse's mouth:

Here’s the deal. Y’all send me to gun school or full first prize, and I’ll go full Couric on this bitch. That’s right, I will schedule and liveblog my own prostate exam. Well, not *live* live. I’m not going to put up a video stream, you weirdos. And the doctor’s office might not have wifi, but I’ll haul the laptop in and record the full blow by blow for posterity. I may be a little young to need the check regularly, but that’s kinda not the point now, is it?

That's evil, underhanded, diabolical, and fiendishly clever. I ike it. The only thing that could top it is if he live-blogs his own prostate exam while dressed as Katie Couric. That'd be… epic.

He's a scientist and IT professional, shooter, brewer of the finest beer in the southwest, and possessor of a sense of humor drier than the current Texas summer. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here, and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, we'd be $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's Stingray of Atomic Nerds, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

One of the first gun bloggers to take me up on this challenge was The Packetman. I've never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, but we share common sensibilities. We're both shooters, Second Amendment advocates, and libertarian curmudgeons.

This is also a personal cause for him, because his Dad fought prostate cancer and beat it. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, that's $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's The Packetman, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

Shortly after I began blogging, some guy from way up there on the Eastern seaboard started commenting on my blog, and I followed trackbacks to his blog, New Life Changes. Turns out we had a lot in common; we're both medics, we're both shooters and CCW permit holders, and we're both rakishly handsome and charming. I finally got to meet Medic Matthew in person at one of the dinners and blogshoots that Jay G. put together for my annual trips to Massachusetts, and we hit it off right away. 

Yeah, he drives a Jeep and shoots a Mini 14. This is one gay guy nobody's gonna bash!

He's a shooter and a medic, gay and proud, and a good friend. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, that's $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's Medic Matthew of New Life Changes, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

On my short list of Truly Good Guys in the blogosphere, Old NFO of Nobody Asked Me ranks near the top. Not only is the man kind and generous to a fault, he's got really sweet guns to play with, even if he does have this strange predilection for wheelguns with cylinders that turn the wrong way.

Those two sniper rifles are worth more than my truck.

I also have it on good authority that when Kevin Bacon has friends over to his house, they all play Six Degrees of Old NFO. Seriously, the guy knows everybody. When I put this Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge together, he was one of the first people I called. Within 48 hours, he had $650 worth of schwag donated, including the gun we're giving away as top prize. When I bashed in my Dakota by hitting a deer at Blogorado a couple of years ago, he's the guy who got me and KatyBeth back to Louisiana in time for me to catch my flight to Alaska the next day. Whenever a blog reader asks me to promote some charitable cause here on my blog, he's one of the first in line to kick in a few bucks. The guy has a heart bigger than Texas.

Plus, he's a pretty fair shot. Last year, I watched him dustroll a prairie dog at 850 yards with one of those .308 sniper rifles. I'd have congratulated him more at the time, but I was too busy staring in slack-jawed amazement.

He's a retired Naval Flight Officer, patriot, shooter, secret squirrel government consultant, philanthropist, and friend to many. You can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here, and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $10 each, you woudn't even touch half of what he's donated to other charities on this blog alone, and we'd be $200 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's Old NFO, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

Not long after I started blogging, I discovered SnarkyBytes. The guy that wrote it was witty, acerbic, sarcastic, and sometimes just plain damned funny. I met him in person the first time at Phlegmmy's Dallas blogmeet in 2009, when he pulled up behind me as I punched in the security passcode to Phlegmmy's gated apartment complex.

"You're Alan, the guy that writes SnarkyBytes," I told him as I shook his hand. "I read your blog all the time. Pleased to meet you."

At first I thought it shocked him that I knew who he was, but after I got to know him better, I realized it was because I invaded his personal space to introduce myself. Much like Somalia's definition of territorial waters, Alan's personal space extends 200 nautical miles in all directions. His friends joke that he's the most antisocial man in social media. In fact, if they ever come up with antisocial media, Alan would be the first blogger to refuse to adopt it, thus becoming the de facto King of Antisocial Media.

And his royal motto would be, "Front toward enemy."
 

Don't let that disarming smile fool you, folks. Right now, he's investing his money in canned food and weapons, and when the Zombo Apocalypse happens, he'll be safely encsonced in his fortified bunker in Secret Location, Idaho, sneering, "I told you so," as he takes down the shambling undead with head shots at 500 yards with his National Match AR15. I'm just happy to be one of the few friends he trusts with the password to get inside his perimeter of Claymores.

He's a shooter and Second Amendment advocate, an IT professional, HAM radio operator, erstwhile hog hunter, and all around good guy, and you can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here, and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, that's $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's Alan Andrews of SnarkyBytes, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.

Each day from now until the end of September, I'm going to feature one of the bloggers participating in the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraising challenge, so I suppose it's only fitting that I begin with the newest member of the blogosphere and the youngest KTKC spokesman out there – Husband In Law and Boy Spawn.

Those of you who read my blog are familiar with the exploits of Husband In Law, my ex-wife's current husband. Obviously, given the history between us, we haven't always been the best of friends, but as we (only half) jokingly inform people who raise an eyebrow at our relationship, it's been several years since I looked at his head through a rifle scope, and we're both grown enough men to let the past stay in the past. My ex and I both bear equal responsibility for the end of our marriage, but at the end of the day, she and I are still best friends, and what's important is that HIL treats her and KatyBeth well. 

Back when Angola State Penitentiary was looking for an EMS operations director and someone to teach a paramedic course, he recommended me for the job. When his colonel asked him how he knew me, HIL chuckled and replied, "Well, it's funny you should ask. He's my girlfriend's ex-husband. I'm the guy she left him for."

"And you'd take a paramedic class from this guy?" the colonel asked incredulously.

"He might still hate my guts," HIL replied, "but he's professional enough to leave that at the classroom door, and there's no one else I'd rather have as my paramedic instructor."

After that, his colonel jokingly dubbed us the "Husbands in Law," and the nickname stuck.

He started his blog solely for the purpose of supporting the cause of Kilted to Kick Cancer, and seriously doubting he'd have anything worthwhile to say in the blogosphere. He did it knowing he'd be starting with zero readership and a much smaller support network than the rest of us, and despite serious trepidation about wearing a kilt in public. He's endured quite a few stares and outright ridicule – this is redneck country, after all – and he has weathered the guffaws and raised eyebrows, and used the opportunity to raise awareness of prostate cancer. He endured me hanging around his house for several days, sewing kilts until the wee hours of the morning.

He did all that because he's a good guy, and he wanted to help out.

And in doing all that, he even got the Boy Spawn involved, because the kid wanted to rock a kilt just like his daddy. So, we sacrificed the material we were going to use for pockets to make matching kilts for the Boy Spawn.

Sadly, his mother forbade him wearing it regimental style. I think she had nightmares of him running around with easy access to his tweeter while wearing a garment that barely reached his knees. 

Knowing the Boy Spawn, that was probably a wise decision, even if it does deprive his daddy of a sure source of comedic blog fodder.

He's a husband, a father, an EMT, a corrections officer and a deputy sheriff, and you can support his fundraising efforts for the Prostate Cancer Foundation here, and LiveStrong here. Drop by his blog and tell him you support what he's doing, and drop a few bucks in the hat for cancer research while you're there. If even 20 people who read this donate only $5 each, that's $100 toward a very worthy cause. Every little bit helps.

He's the Husband In Law, and he's Kilted to Kick Cancer.