I’ve never been to a Hooters but I think it’s time I visited. This is why:
Jason had a visit from…The Hooter’s girls (four) who delivered a calendar filled with pictures of girls and their bikinis. The calendar was signed by many of the models. Jason was impressed that the months were not in order. I was impressed that he noticed the months were not in order.
Jason is our nephew who was in Iraq and is now recuperating at Walter Reed.
Thanks Hooters girls for supporting our troops.
One of the hazards of being a scientist is allowing your personal biases enter into your work. It is exceedingly easy for people to believe what they want to believe. This can take many forms. It can be rejecting data that does not fit your conclusion. It can be using subjective measurements of your data (particularly easy when assessing mental conditions–“Are you happy today?”). One of the most common is forgetting/overlooking that correlation does not mean causation. Just because birds fly north (in the northern hemisphere) before summer does not mean birds flying north caused summer weather. Just because a most people die in hospitals does not mean hospitals cause most deaths. And just because guns are present in “unstable” countries or cities does not mean guns caused the instability. This is the mistake “expert” Wendy Cukier makes here:
Scholars fight arms flow, violent culture
Toronto has its work cut out, halting the gun run from the U.S., which owns one-third of the world’s 700 million guns
Jan. 3, 2006. 05:42 PM
OLIVIA WARD
STAFF REPORTERCanada needs tough gun control laws, says a Toronto expert, but lawmakers are up against a global arms “epidemic” that has circulated millions of weapons around the world, destabilizing countries and undermining cities.
And, says Wendy Cukier, professor of justice studies at Ryerson University, the latest Toronto police figures — obtained through a Freedom of Information request — show that 52 per cent of handguns seized as “potential crime weapons” in 2004 came from the United States.
“The majority of those guns come from over the border,” she says. “And the ones that are reported as legally registered in Canada may also be manufactured in the U.S.”
Now, it’s possible that Cukier view of a “stable” city or country is a iron fisted police state but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt on that. In areas of high crime or oppressive governments the people act in their own self interest and obtain weapons to defend themselves. The guns didn’t cause the crime rate or the oppressive government.
Cukier became involved in the ant-gun movement after several women were killed by a woman-hating Muslim extremist using a rifle in Montreal 1989. I suspect it was psychologically difficult for her to lay the blame where it really belonged–on a minority extremist. It was far more politically correct to blame the availability of the rifle. Once she took that step and pursued that path for several years it was even more difficult to back down from that position. She would have to admit she was wrong for all those years. That is an extremely difficult thing to do. This has been known and studied for decades. From this research we also know what comes when irrefutable proof for the error occurs–more proselytizing of her mistaken belief. It is psychologically easier for her to find more converts to her belief system, hence giving her psychological support, than it is to admit she was wrong. Read When Prophecy Fails–Cukier could be a case study. And given her first hand experience with it perhaps that should be the field where she is considered a scholar and an expert. She’s not an expert on guns or cause and effect.
There is no “scourge of illegal guns” in New York City.
Being a police officer is inherently dangerous, and it is wrong to pretend that infringing on the constitutional rights of citizens will eliminate all the dangers associated with the job.
This is nothing more than a disgraceful attempt by Bloomberg to use the tragic deaths of two police officers to advance his irrational political agenda.
If he really wants to help the city, he can start by ending the scourge of eminent-domain abuse.
James Harlacher
Brooklyn
New York Post January 4, 2006
I received a request for a license for Modern Ballistics to be used on a computer in the U.K. that wasn’t connected to the Internet. Because the license mechanism includes information such as the processor type and the number of processors I can’t just generate a license and send it to someone. Since the guy is a private citizen and living in the beginnings of a police state I gave him a version of the program that doesn’t require a connection to the net. Furthermore I pointed him to this post about giving free entry to Boomershoot 2006 to British subjects which lead him to my Jews In The Attic Test. He responded with:
Joe, Thank you for that. Love the Boomershoot. I’ll start applying the Jews in the Attic test. Might have some effect on those over here who can’t see the danger of more government controls.
Like I have said before, it’s better to stop this sort of danger to humanity in someone else’s country before it reaches ours. I wish him and his fellow subjects all the luck in the world and if there is anything I can do to help them in their fight I’m honored to provide the assistance.
Dale put up a picture of a pretty woman wearing a “Celebrate Diversity” t-shirt on his blog and the moonbats started barking at it. Amazing.
Our friend the Count Randaccio-Lodi informs us that this business of “politically correct” communication has begun to affect the Italian language too. The Italian word for such talk is sinistrese, indicating its origin on the political left.
“Certain words are replaced by others giving a bad thing a nice sounding appearance (like gay for sodomite or progressive for communist). Trouble is that this game never ends since sooner or later the meaning catches up with the sound and a new word must be issued.”
I know this curious affliction still afflicts the English-speaking world, despite its obvious foolishness, but I had not thought it had gone abroad just yet. We do not hear of it in German or French, but I suppose the time will come.
Jeff Cooper
From Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries
Vol. 4, No. 16
December 1996
[This is not something that originated in the U.S. It’s possible it has been around since humans had words. I do know that I guy I know who came from Russia in the mid-’90s talked about his grandfather living under Stalin and they used the exact same phrase, “political correct speech”, during that time. I really don’t have problem with it general as long as it doesn’t end up being a crime of some sort, which it has in this country, to use the derogatory version.–Joe]
“We’re from the government & we’re here to help you”. If you ever hear those words I hope you’ve already started your draw.
Publicola
http://publicola.mu.nu/archives/2005/12/10/another_case_of_government_internment_camps.html
[While succinct and insightful in the literal sense I must disagree. If they are at your door when you start your draw you started far too late. See Why Boomershoot for a more practical approach. At an absolute minimum you should engage from a block away. Preferable would be a different neighborhood, city, or state. And if possible a different country–which is part of why I support the war against the Islamic extremists.–Joe]
Tell me again why we didn’t open the ANWR for more oil production. Here is a important clue as to why we should:
PICTURE the families shivering in apartments without heating, factories grinding to a halt, frozen water pipes bursting in the depths of winter. Welcome to the new Cold War.
At 10am on Sunday, Russia is threatening to unleash the most powerful weapon in its post-Soviet arsenal: unless Ukraine agrees to a fourfold increase in the price it pays for gas, Russia will simply turn off the tap.
Nor is it just Ukraine under threat — the EU imports about half of its gas from Russia and 80 per cent of that comes through Ukrainian pipelines.
So when President Putin met Ivan Plachkov, the Ukrainian Energy Minister, in Moscow yesterday, there was more at stake than relations between the neighbouring states. Analysts fear the dispute could provide a foretaste of how Russia will use its massive oil and gas reserves as a foreign policy tool in future disputes with the West.
“Energy co-operation has replaced military might as the mainstay of Russia’s international credibility,” Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Alfa Bank in Moscow, said. “It is using its importance as an energy partner to pursue its geopolitical and foreign policy agenda.”
Radio Frequency ID–the chips they put in pets for identifcation (and some people want to put them in people) are everywhere. They used for inventory control, shoplifting detection, and ID cards. Here is how to make your own wallet that will block the remote reading of the devices in your pocket.
They should have taken care of this guy decades ago. Apparently he was overlooked. I’m of the opinion they should give serious consideration to correcting the oversight. In any case that he is outraged is not something anyone should loose any sleep over:
The Palestinian mastermind of the Munich Olympics terrorist attack, which killed 11 Israeli athletes, says he is outraged at not being consulted for the Steven Spielberg thriller Munich.
He also accused the director of pandering to the Jewish state and said the new film about the incident would not deliver reconciliation.
Mohammed Daoud planned the Munich attack on behalf of PLO splinter group Black September, but did not take part in, and does not feature in, the film.
…
“We did not target Israeli civilians,” he said.
“Some of them [the athletes] had taken part in wars and killed many Palestinians. Whether a pianist or an athlete, any Israeli is a soldier.”
They use the same sort of logic when they kill Israeli children–they would have grown up to be Israeli soldiers.
From the U.K. and the News.Telegraph:
Police are searching for the man responsible for a the suspected abduction and sexual assault of a six-year-old girl who was taken from her bath and left naked in a nearby street.
…
“From her account, somebody has been brazen enough to enter her house, take her away undressed and then assaulted her in a manner which is clearly sexually motivated, and then leave her in this lane, in the dark, on her own,” he said.
“I consider that individual to be extremely dangerous and that is why I am keen to trace that individual and arrest him.”
The detective, who is leading the Northumbria Police inquiry, said examination of the scene and the victim indicated her account was true.
“I am satisfied that the report, as it was given to us, is real and is credible and we are seeking to trace a male who is not known to the girl, who has entered the house and taken that girl out to conduct a sexually-motivated assault,” Mr Napier said.
Invasions of homes while the residents are home are rare in the U.S. but common in the U.K. Sociologists and criminologists researching the differences found that criminals feared getting shot by a resident more than being arrested by the police. This pond scum lowlife knew he would not get shot while committing this crime even though the residents were present and awake. The odds of surviving such a brazen crime in political jurisdictions where the right of ownership of firearms is recognized without being thoroughly ventilated by high velocity lead poisoning is about 50%. It is an exceedingly rare criminal that is so stupid that they will risk those odds of such a catastrophic failure of their victim selection process.
Modern totalitarianisms have been a stark reminder, but did not newly teach, that the kicked-in door is the symbol of a rule of fear and violence fatal to institutions founded on respect for the integrity of man.
Felix Frankfurter
Supreme Court of the United States
365 U.S. 167
Monroe v. Pape
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT
No. 39 Argued: November 8, 1960 — Decided: February 20, 1961
[This SCOTUS opinion was written before the “War on Drugs” began. Current politicians and judges should take this “stark reminder” to heart.–Joe]
He’s clearly nuts.
Ry Jones
December 27, 2005
[Referring to this guy thinking government regulation could prevent abuse of a mandatory Universal Biometric ID and such a system was inevitable. See also some of the on-line clashes I have had with him. He is also my number one suspect as to the person that gave PNNL the ‘tip’ to look at my blog and websites and if true is probably a conspirator in this felony. See about half way down on this page for more details.–Joe]
The offense always has the advantage in security. Defense only has to make one mistake. TSA is now appearing to go on the offense. It should result in a big improvement in security:
The Transportation Security Administration plans to train screeners at 40 major airports next year to pick out possible terrorists by engaging travelers in a casual conversation to detect whether a person appears nervous or evasive and needs extra scrutiny.
The new security technique, already in use at some airports, adds a psychological dimension to screening by trying to find high-risk passengers based on how they act at checkpoints or boarding gates.
Passengers who raise suspicions will undergo extra physical screening and could face police questioning.
…
State police Sgt. Peter DiDomenica called the program “an antidote to racial profiling” that focuses on “objective behavioral characteristics.” He said the program has curbed racial profiling “because we’ve educated people.”
Behavior detection is routine in security-conscious countries such as Israel, where air travelers routinely face aggressive questioning.
U.S. Customs officers have long asked arriving travelers questions, often in random order. If a person gives “stumbling answers,” that could indicate the person has fraudulent travel documents or plans to overstay a visa, Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Kelly Klundt said.
Now if they would just do the research that I have been suggesting be done.
Ever wonder if the NSA or some other “men in black” are reading your email? Via Bruce Schneier we have this simple test method from Richard M. Smith. Furthermore this same test can tell you if they break the decryption you are using.
Very clever. I like it a lot. It’s an additional, and extremely useful, twist on something I suggested at GRPC 2000.
Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratification’s, and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks on the contrary to keep them in perpetual childhood …it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns …Thus it everyday renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent …It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided …such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize; but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to be nothing but a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which government is the shepherd.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Democracy In America 1840
[The Nanny State concept has been around around for a long time.–Joe]
“Just because something is irrational doesn’t mean you don’t have to believe in it.” This single idea has a complete disregard for truth. It doesn’t matter that the world has been proven round, you can still believe it’s flat if you want to. It doesn’t matter if all evidence shows that people have the same genetic code no matter what their skin color is; you can still believe some are inferior if you want to. What this statement means is that you can believe whatever you want, it doesn’t have to be true. There are no right or wrong answers, everyone’s beliefs are equally valid.
Jaime Huffman
Speech for Comm 101
2001
From https://www.joehuffman.org/misc/LifeChange.htm
It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care how you got your money as long as you have got it.
Edmund Way Teale
Circle of the Seasons
[Thanks to James for pointing this one out to me. And just in case you didn’t make the connection this is about people that seek security at the expense of freedom such as those that favor gun control.–Joe]
Previously I announced half price entry for Boomershoot 2006 to Canadian entrants due to the proposed firearms ban in their country and the real reason for Boomershoot. Considering British subjects have already had their firearms taken away and the news from yesterday on how they are taking the next step toward a police state I’m offering all British subjects free entry. Furthermore if their current residence is the U.K. and they give me a month’s notice of their intent to participate I will provide the rifle and ammo. All anonymous of course. Send me an email, encrypted if desired (PGP key below), to reserve the position, show proof of citizenship and/or residency upon arrival and get in for free.
Arrive a couple days early and I’ll show you how to make reactive targets as well.
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