Monthly Archives: November 2010

Windows Phone 7 sales are good

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Microsoft is being closed mouthed about the sales numbers for Windows Phone 7 but the indications are that it is doing well:



Early reports hint that Windows Phone 7 has been selling strongly in international markets, with DigiTimes reporting in a Nov. 3 article that sales of HTC-build Windows Phone 7 smartphones are better than expected in Europe and Australia. In the U.K., news outlets reported a lack of available phones through carrier Orange.


“Early supporters of the new operating system such as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are also experiencing rising demand from carriers,” suggested the DigiTimes article, which sourced its information as unnamed “Taiwan-based handset makers.”


TheStreet.com, citing an unnamed “market research source,” reported some 40,000 Windows Phone 7 devices sold in the United States on the first day of release. Neither Microsoft nor AT&T offered exact figures when contacted by eWEEK, although an AT&T spokesperson said the carrier was “encouraged by early demand from customers in stores and online.”


Microsoft employees (such as myself) were asked to not purchase new WP7 phones for a few days so the local stores would have phones in stock for the general public.


I haven’t decided which one I will get yet and I don’t really have a strong recommendation at this time. I have three “engineering units” in hand which I have been using for quite some time and will get my personal phone within the next few weeks.

Nigerian bomb request

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I get the most unusual email:



From: timi top [mailto:timitop_007@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2010 9:12 AM
To: joeh@boomershoot.org
Subject: how can i build a bomb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Hello sir,


                                    My name is temitope and I recite in Nigerian, it’s being a long time have been searching in other to know about how I can build bomb, it not just for fun, but for people in my area to know me that am one of the researcher, I will like you to put me through so people in my area will be doing that in my memory when I grow old and die, and I will be able to generate money from there, please sir I love it if you can help me through and also help me to buy some materials that can be use for it  because am not in usa and I will need someone to help me in other to purchase this items and send it to Nigerian, you can reach me by my mobile number or my e-mail address, am on timitop_007@yahoo.com or call me on +2348169640844 I will be looking for to read from you soon bye and do have a lovely weekend aheard


TEMITOPE


I’m not sure I could find law enforcement in Nigeria but I may not need to because all the IP addresses in the email header are from New York. So I might as well play the fish for a while:



From: Joe Huffman [mailto:joeh@boomershoot.org]
Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2010 10:21 AM
To: ‘timi top’
Subject: RE: how can i build a bomb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


What do you want to do with the bomb? What does it need to be able to destroy? How big does it need to be?


-joe-


Update (11/15/2010 05:16): I received a response.



From: timi top [mailto:timitop_007@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 5:09 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: RE: thanks for your reply sir


hello sir
            thanks for your respond , i want to generate money from there, by selling to my country military people, not that i want to use it for harm or for any dirty game, is just to know know that am one of the people that develop technology in Nigerian please help me out sir, cos we have already have people that is building guns and bullet, but i want to be first  person in Nigerian  to build bomb and one of the people that develop Nigerian technology…… i will be looking forward to read from you again bye


TEMITOPE


I replied:



From: Joe Huffman [mailto:joeh@boomershoot.org]
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 5:16 AM
To: ‘timi top’
Subject: RE: thanks for your reply sir


I am sorry but I don’t have any experience in building those types of bombs. The difficulties are as much or more about the accurate delivery of the bomb than about the explosives which is where I have a little bit of expertise.


-joe-

Quote of the day—Samuel Adams

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It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty and virtue.

Samuel Adams
[There was a time when the defenders of the Second Amendment were in the minority. We fought on, even those many believed it was a losing battle, in part because we believed it was the honorable thing to do. We are now winning.

This quote reminds me of the famous Barry Goldwater quote which is also quite good.—Joe]

Quote of the day—MikeB302000

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I couldn’t care less about truth and falsity or causation and correlation, or all that other double talk the pro-gun crowd like so much.

MikeB302000
November 12, 2010
Austin, Texas Murders Way Up
[We’ve known this for a long time but it’s nice for him to admit it. If only all the anti-gun people would do so it would make things a lot easier.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Robert Farago

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How about we subsidize the gun safe business instead of pissing money down the ATFE-shaped rathole? If the VPC really wants to stop gun violence, offering low-cost gun safes would have more impact than supporting the Agency that Can’t Shoot Straight and/or introducing or tightening gun control legislation.

Robert Farago
November 12, 2010
Violence Policy Center: Great Landing, Wrong Airport
[The reason this approach is not taken is because the people that support the Brady Campaign and/or the VPC have a solution in search of supporting evidence. They are not searching for a solution to a problem.

It’s like someone looked at the crime rate among people with non-white skin compared to white-skin and used that as justification for laws such as curfews, registration, tracking, and even preemptive imprisonment of non-whites all the while claiming they were intended to “prevent colored violence”. Hence the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence would have a sister organization called “The Brady Campaign to Prevent Black Violence.” They don’t seem to understand that “preventing crime” in this manner is akin to claiming someone is “guilty until proven innocent” as well as infringing on a host of other guaranteed rights.—Joe]

Quote of the day—John Adams

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There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

John Adams
[The only way to accomplish this is to have very strict limits on the power of government. Hence a constitution of enumerated powers. Now we just need a way to enforce those constitutional limits to power.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Bill

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Medicine only works when those in the job WANT to work harder to help people, and that happens most consistently when both those served and the server receive benefit from the service. Medical providers aren’t mercenary per se, but when almost every decision you make gets parsed by multiple, NON-Involved people, the only compensatory mechanism is financial reward.

Bill
November 8, 2010
Comment to Following the U.K. medical model.
[Wife Barb works in the medical field as well and what Bill says both here and in the rest of his comment matches her experience as well. Government involvement in health care does not improve it. It subjects it to review by people that weren’t there and don’t have near the training that you do. It makes it time consuming and frustrating dealing with the bureaucrats rather than working with the patients. This increases the cost. This drives away those that are passionate about improving peoples lives. This retains people who can tolerate pushing paper and drives away those that find providing good quality medical treatment rewarding.—Joe]

If You Have to Ask…

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…you clearly haven’t been paying attention.


The Political Insider (requires registration for e-mail alerts) is fielding a poll, trying to find out who we want for the next Republican presidential candidate.  It’s all multiple choice, with the usual suspects.  There are some general opinion questions too.  The one that really got me is; “Do you think the tea party represents the Republican Party?”


Oh boy.  First; No, or I sure hope not.  But that’s not the proper question.  The proper question would be; “Do you think the Republican Party represents the tea party?”  The answer is; “Hell No, that’s why the tea party exists.  Get it?”


That, you Insiders, is the problem, and so the tea party is trying to overrun the Republican Party, co opt it, and bring it into line.  The other question I did not see is; “What should be the primary goal of the Republican Party over the next several years?”


The one, simple answer is; “Get rid of socialism and purge the socialists from American government payrolls.  All of it.  All of them.”  We’ve had enough.


They didn’t give us the opportunity to answer in our own words, so I deleted the message.

Quote of the day–Mahatma Gandhi

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I would tell the Hindus to face death cheerfully if the Muslims are out to kill them. I would be a real sinner if after being stabbed I wished in my last moment that my son should seek revenge. I must die without rancour. You may turn round and ask whether all Hindus and all Sikhs should die. Yes, I would say. Such martyrdom will not be in vain.


Mahatma Gandhi
Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol.LXXXVII, p.394-5
[This was brought to you via email from Ry who was reminded of it via my Philosophy Questions.


The pacifist, or anyone, who claims, “Violence never solves anything.” Or, “Violence is never the answer” enables the murder or enslavement of themselves and/or their followers. Gandhi was smart enough to realize the principles he adhered necessitated this outcome.


The principles of Gandhi do have application in many situations but not in all. The consequence of not having a viable “Plan B” if non-violence fails in the face of violent oppression is the extinction of your society and perhaps your species. In the long run the pure pacifist guarantees the occupation of their place in history and the elimination of their existence in the future.


I am of the opinion there exist certain conditions which trigger a more Heinlein like approach to the situation. The Second Amendment guarantees we have the option available when it is needed.—Joe]

Quote of the Day – Bill Whittle

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…just because something is fun, and scares away weenies, doesn’t mean that it’s stupid.


Bill Whittle
November 4, 2010
What We Believe, Part 5: Gun Rights
[Freedom is scary for a lot of people, and it means that people who hate you can’t tell you what to do or how to do it, just because they hate you.  It sucks for them, and it makes them angry.  Hence, freedom pisses people off.  Hence, if you love freedom, you have to come to grips with the fact that people are going to hate you.  Embrace it, Little Grasshopper.  Or as Zaphod Beeblebrox said after having a nuclear missile attack launched against his ship; “Man, This is Great!  It means we’re really on to something if they’re trying kill us!”–Lyle]

Following the U.K. medical model

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The U.K. didn’t always have socialized medicine. The slide into the abyss started out by a requirement shortly after WW II that everyone purchase insurance. Does that sound familiar?


Here’s what we have to look forward to:



Tens of thousands of lung cancer patients are being denied life-saving surgery on the NHS, a shocking report reveals.


Fewer than one in ten sufferers is being given an operation to remove tumours that is routinely offered in most other countries in the Western world.


Experts say the disease is being spotted far too late so by the time it is diagnosed, it is inoperable.

Quote of the day—George Will

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I firmly believe the most important decision taken anywhere in the twentieth century was the decision taken as to where to locate the Princeton graduate college.

President of Princeton Woodrow Wilson wanted it located down on the campus. Other people wanted to located where it in fact is, up on the golf course away from the campus. When Wilson lost that, he had one of his characteristic tantrums, went into politics and ruined the twentieth century.

George Will
May 18, 2010
”2010 Milton Friedman Prize Dinner Keynote Address” featuring George F. Will
[Via Kevin. Please read the transcript at Kevin’s or listen to the podcast. This is a lot good stuff in there.

To understand this quote requires knowing more than a little about Woodrow Wilson’s “contribution” to the politics of this country. One might give Wilson a little bit of slack because of World War I. But it is probably better explained that WW I gave him the excuse to implement his agenda rather than WWI required the implementation of an oppressive government.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Ry Jones

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That was the best thing about turning 16 years old. I could drive a car by myself and buy dynamite without my parents knowing about it.

Ry Jones
November 6, 2010
[A bunch of us were talking about how things used to be back when our country was a little freer. The quote above was one of Ry’s contribution to the conversation. This was said while making explosives to blow up some pumpkins.—Joe]

Philosophy questions

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I moved some pages I had on a different web site to this blog for better visibility and archival. These posts were from 1997 and 1998 which was long before my first blog post (February 3, 2004) and I have given the posts their approximate original date.

 

The pages moved are:

 

 

 

If you want to comment on one or more of those posts you will have to do it on this post as the comments are disable for posts that old.

Boomershoot 2011 slogan search

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I’m trying to come up with a slogan for the Boomershoot 2011 t-shirts, hats, etc..

My current list of possibilities are:

  • A wholesome alternative to a practical day at work.
  • Famous potatoes explosives
  • Freedom smells like gunpowder
  • Get a big BANG for your buck.
  • Good marksmanship has EXPLOSIVE rewards!
  • Guns, Explosives, and the Pursuit of Happiness
  • Life, liberty, and the pursuit of kaboom.
  • Peace Through Superior Marksmanship [I think I would change this to “Freedom Through Superior Marksmanship”—Joe]
  • Prometheus suffered so you could do stuff like this. Don’t be ungrateful.
  • Too early to shoot the bastards but not too soon to practice.
  • The smell of cordite. The sound of thunder.
  • This is my target. There are many like it.  But this one explodes! [based on the Rifleman’s Creed]
  • Turning money into smoke, heat, and NOISE!

I’m open to suggestions and voting in the comments. If someone suggests one that I really like and end up using I’ll send them a free Boomershoot 2011 t-shirt, hat, or (or even thong) with the winning slogan on it.

Quote of the day–Patrick Smith

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Somebody, somewhere, needs to shake us from this stupor of blind policy and blind obedience. I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t some test — a test of just how stupid Americans are. If TSA said that from now on we had to hop on one foot while humming “God Bless America,” would we do that too?

That’d be ludicrous, certainly, but how much more ludicrous is it, really, than asking people to remove their belts for purposes of walking through a nonexistent body scanner?

Patrick Smith
November 4, 2010
Airport security reaches new levels of absurdity–Here’s what happens when you refuse to comply with TSA’s “new rule.” Blue-glove groping, anyone?
[Smith, a pilot, attempts to go through A Security Theater. They tell him he must take off his belt. The following then occurred:

“But … What if I don’t?”

“Then you’ll have to go through secondary screening and a full pat-down.”

And so I opted for the secondary screening. Not that a pat-down is reasonable, either, but I did not want to submit to something that I felt was excessive and ridiculous without a reason or explanation.

I was asked to stand in a cordoned-off area, where I waited for several minutes as guards stood around looking at me. Finally a supervisor came over, wearing disposable blue gloves, to administer my secondary screening.

“Sir,” he said, “um, you still need to remove your belt.”

“What do you mean? I chose this so I could leave the belt on.”

“No, either way the belt has to come off.”

“What? And if it doesn’t come off?”

“Then I cannot let you through.”

So, it would seem, secondary screening isn’t really “secondary” at all. Instead of simply taking off my belt, I get a full, blue-glove groping and I have to take off my belt. Either that or I’m not allowed to fly the plane.

I could be wrong but I’m sensing that A Security Theater has almost reached the point where they are going to get slapped down a notch or two. They should be wiped off the face of the planet but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.—Joe]

People are ‘really’ interested in lingerie

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My previous post on the Windows Phone 7 advertisement posting generating lots of search hits on my blog for information about the woman in lingerie generated still more traffic on the topic.


On November 2, the day before yesterday, searches about the woman wearing lingerie in the Windows Phone 7 advertisement constituted over 91% of all searches on my blog. 984 (actually this is a little low because my spreadsheet doesn’t account for some misspellings) out of 1078 search engine hits were with searches containing (“window” OR “phone” OR “lingerie”). A visual scan of those searches confirmed all those hits were because of an interest in “girl”, “woman”, “brunette”, or “hot chick”.


I guess it must be true that sex sells.

Quote of the day—Laurel

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We have the belief that, through voting, our voice is being heard. How is my voice being heard if the ideas I cherish are defeated, and those I abhor prevail? How have I accomplished anything other than giving my consent to being ruled, potentially by someone my ideological opposite?

Well, I do not consent, and that is my vote.

Laurel
November 2, 2010
Check your premises.
[There is more than a little bit of truth to this but at the current time I’m not seeing “I do not consent” making a big impact or even the potential of a big impact. What are you going to do instead? Vote from the roof top on the day after? The last I heard that hasn’t started yet. Until it does voting seems to me to be the better alternative. And even if you do start applying “Second Amendment remedies” I don’t see voting with paper yesterday being a blocking issue for voting with copper jacketed lead today.—Joe]