Anybody that is a “gun rights activist” is by definition, an idiot.
Olivia Booth
April 14 at 4:25pm
Comment to Gun Rights Activist Calls VA Tech Shooting Survivor a Coward
[For a bunch of idiots all the gun rights activists I know do pretty well for themselves.—Joe]
The iPhone (and cousins) storing of location information and similar activity by Android is turning out to be a pretty big scandal. Some people are saying, “I’ve got nothing to hide.” but most people I associate with don’t think that way. And since that guy writes for the NYT he doesn’t really count with most of the country anyway.
Brian X. Chen and Mike Isaac explain the issue better than I could:
Having a data file with over a year’s worth of your location information stored on your iPhone is a security risk.
So if a thief got his hands on your iPhone, he can figure out where you live and loot you there, too. Same goes for a hacker who gains remote access to the consolidated.db file. But if a thief or hacker dug into an Android device, there isn’t going to be much geodata saved on the smartphone to digitally stalk you. (There’s plenty of other data on smartphones such as text messages, address books and so forth, but at least we have control over what data we store in this regard.)
Bottom line, this data shouldn’t stick around on your iOS device, because it does nothing but put you at risk. And you should care about that, because this problem can be and should be fixed by Apple, and you should demand that.
I’m not at liberty to say much but I will say that I spent some time explaining the security of Windows Phone 7 location services to our Program Manager and Dev Manager this afternoon. Both seems satisfied with the status. It’s not as good as I would like it to be when I put on my utopian privacy hat but I think the tradeoffs made were within acceptable bounds. I’m also pleased that at every stage through the location service development process privacy was taken seriously by everyone I worked with. I had expected I would have to fight hard at times to protect location information but that was not the case. I only got pushback on some relatively minor issues, for legitimate needs, and the compromises made were acceptable to me.
WP7 location service does a much better job of protecting your privacy and giving you control over your data than the iPhone currently does and probably better than Android. And as long as I am working on location services I will do my best to make sure it stays that way.
Just as we have been saying for decades the anti-gun movement (is it still a movement when they have been constipated for several years?) doesn’t have the data so they go with what they have—feelings:
I believe the open carry movement is very intimidating,” said Suzanne Verge of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “I think as a citizen I should be able to go along Colorado Boulevard and shop where I want to shop and not have to worry about running into somebody with a loaded weapon.”
I believe anti-gun activists are a threat to a free society. I think as a citizen I should be able to spend my time more productively than fighting them on a daily basis. And I want to have enough money in the bank that I never have to work again even if I were to buy all the ammo, guns, and explosives I wanted to shoot.
Just because someone wants something is not justification for the government to attempt providing it.
Update: John Richardson has things to say about Verge too.
When we practice the privileges granted to us by our governing documents, in this case, the Bill of Rights and bearing arms, we enter into an implicit agreement with the Union to recognize and act according to the State’s rules and regulations for the use and ownership of arms. And as we agree to those rules, so does the government agree to act responsibly on behalf of our collective well-being.
In this manner, our relationship with our nation mirrors our relationship with our parents; both our parents and our nation raise us; both provide for our welfare; both teach us values and ethics; both act on our behalf for our well-being. And thus should we regard our nation; as a parental figure to be a moral example, an ideal to respect and to obey. For, if the dynamics of our relationship with our parents are mirrored functionally by the dynamics of our relationship with our country, so too should the convictions and loyalties that characterize the former persist in the latter.
Kevin Lelonek
April 12, 2011
Taking a shot at gun control
[Overall the opinion piece is benign toward the 2nd Amendment but Lelonek doesn’t even begin to get the concept of liberty.
The Bill of Rights doesn’t grant privileges. It guarantees rights. The only granting is that of certain enumerated powers to the government. The government is not a parent. The government is not an ideal. It is a necessary evil. The government is not to be obeyed by the people. The government must obey the people. The people must respect the laws which fall within the enumerated powers of the government.
Remember what Dwight Eisenhower and George Washington said about government.—Joe]
These two guys in black coats walked into Bartell’s Drug store tonight. They went to the aisle with the hair straightener equipment and carefully studied all the options. Finally the bald guy went to checkout with one that had a temperature setting that went all the way to 25 (presumably because 11 wasn’t enough). He just knew the clerk was going to ask what he was going to do with a flat iron.
“Pubic hair” was going to be answer because sealing plastic boxes filled with explosives just wouldn’t have worked out very well.
But no one asked.
Ry hints at what happened in the next hour or so.
Update: I have been informed that “hair straightener” is the term used for the chemicals that straighten hair and the heating tool is called a “flat iron”. It’s fixed now. Sorry, but what do you expect from a guy that almost doesn’t have any hair on his head?
Sometimes you have to die for something I believe in.
A liberal
Gun Control explained
April 18, 2011
By Battlefield315
Funny stuff.
Via email from Jason.—Joe]
It seems that every time the NRA comes to town the bigots come out of the woodwork:
Though gun sales to females increased significantly in recent years, Piendl said, “Sales to women remain the largest untapped growth market in the industry.”
The industry is unlikely to successfully tap that market until it conquers the pesky preconceived notions that likely turn off many females to the idea of gun ownership. Women likely won’t consider packing pistols if they are concerned that:
— Spending several hundred dollars on a serviceable handgun might leave them without enough money to get the full treatment at that next visit to the day spa.
— Carrying a gun in a small purse would leave less room for more important items, such as lipstick or compact.
— The baggy clothing required to successfully conceal most holsters would make them appear frumpy.
— Gunpowder residue might stain the new Karen Scott blouse they just bought at Macy’s.
— The gunpowder smell when the weapon is fired could totally overwhelm the Chanel they’re wearing.
— Most firearm accessories come only in one boring color: black.
— Target practice earplugs simply aren’t sexy.
This isn’t the first time Eric Heyl has expressed his disdain for gun owners.
The wolves have been devastating both private livestock and wildlife in Idaho for many years now. At the local level people have been taking things into their own hands for quite some time with the consent of the local law enforcement. We now have support at the state and national level to deal with the problem:
Gov. Butch Otter signed a bill that declares a disaster emergency due to the number of wolves in the state — even though he disputes that the Legislature should have the authority to declare such an emergency.
“The uncontrolled proliferation of imported wolves on private land has produced a clear and present danger to humans, their pets and livestock, and has altered and hindered historical uses of private and public land, dramatically inhibiting previously safe activities such as walking, picnicking, biking, berry picking, hunting and fishing,” the bill says. “…it is the intent of the legislature to regulate the presence of Canadian gray wolves in Idaho in order to safeguard the public, wildlife, economy and private property against additional devastation.”
Thanks must also be given to the NRA as well for all the effort they put into protecting our families, our livestock and the wildlife of Idaho.
Barron has pictures of what “entertainingly close” really means. Near the end of the video here is what I think is the same explosion.
Don’t do this at home kids. I don’t even do this.
I just finished up the target distribution plan for Boomershoot 2011. I didn’t get to it this weekend and it is after 4:00 AM as I finish this up.
Tree line (375 yards):
| Target Type | Crates | Targets | Pounds |
| 4″ Cardboard Targets: | 4 | 72 | 61.2 |
| 4″ Plastic Targets: | 10 | 480 | 211.5 |
| 5″ Plastic Targets: | 10 | 160 | 299.6 |
| Total: | 24 | 712 | 572 |
Hillside (550 to 700 yards):
| Target Type | Crates | Targets | Pounds |
| 7″ Cardboard Targets: | 8 | 96 | 190.7 |
| 4″ Plastic Targets: | 2 | 96 | 42.3 |
| 5″ Plastic Targets: | 10 | 160 | 299.6 |
| 6″ Plastic Targets | 1 | 10 | 28.1 |
| Total: | 21 | 362 | 561 |
This is more at the tree line than last year (~550) and fewer on the hillside (~500 last year) with the total number being greater this year.
The High Intensity Events on Friday and Saturday will both have 210 targets (for 27 and 26 people) with 105 pounds of explosives.
I’m reserving 210 targets (about 125 pounds) for the Precision Rifle Clinic.
Time for some sleep.
No. that’s absolutely not true. I’ve been working on gun issues for the last 14 years, since I’ve been in Congress. This is something I’m passionate about, as much as they are passionate about say their Second Amendment rights.
We’re not dealing about guns here. We’re dealing about a piece of equipment that goes to the gun. I think when you think about just common sense here, large capacity clips that can basically, in my opinion, be weapons of mass destruction, should not be available to the average citizen. They will be available to our military. They will be available to our police officers.
Carolyn McCarthy
January 11, 2011
McCarthy To Propose Ban On High-Capacity Ammo
In response to the question, “What would you say to gun rights supporters who may be listening to you and feeling that you’re politicizing this rather extreme tragedy to push the bill that you’re describing?”
[Notice that she doesn’t answer the question other than, “No. That’s absolutely not true.” No evidence, no logic, just vigorous assertion.
Further notice that she apparently thinks “weapons of mass destruction” should be available to police officers. Or she is lying when she says, “large capacity clips that can basically, in my opinion, be weapons of mass destruction”. And/or she has crap for brains.
And of course the headline writer thinks there is such a thing as “High-Capacity Ammo”.—Joe]
The Windows Phone 7 update for the Samsung Focus (and I think all AT&T Windows Phone 7 phones) is now available.
Copy and Paste is just one of the many new features and bug fixes that come with the update.
Connect your phone to your computer to install the update.
This would not be acceptable to me:
The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations.
If a cop were to ask me to allow him to connect his device to my cell phone the answer would be, “No”. If that wouldn’t be allowed I would attempt to do a hard reset of the phone (know how to do this so you can do it quickly) or attempt to call someone who could remotely wipe it for me.
Via email from retired co-worker Chet.
It’s been nine long years since the anti-gun leadership in the Wisconsin Senate denied state residents their basic right to carry a firearm for self-defense.
…
The days of government-mandated victims in the Badger State need to end.
Chris W. Cox
April 17, 2011
Chris W. Cox: Wisconsin should join free America
[Well… at least more free America. We still have a lot of work to do before I would declare America “free”. But certainly getting rid of government-mandated victims would be a good start.—Joe]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States repealing the right to keep and bear arms.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid for all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States at any time after the date of its submission for ratification:
‘Article–
1. Any right to keep and bear arms, whether under the Second Amendment to this Constitution, or under some pre-existing doctrine of natural law or common law or otherwise, or under Constitution or laws of any State, is repealed.
2. The privilege to keep and bear arms throughout the United States shall be under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.’
Mike Barkley
Candidate for Congress
April 17, 2011
Repeal the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
[As if natural law can be “repealed”.
He also ignores the fact that the 2nd Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights and said Bill of Rights was a requirement for the agreement to enter into the Union. Hence if the 2nd Amendment were to be “repealed” would that mean that the states are no longer bound by the agreement to be a part of the union?
Of course he ignores the little problem of the majority of the people in this country support the existence of the 2nd Amendment. And finally he seems clueless that there are many states that would consider such an act sufficient grounds to have another civil war.
This is just a reminder that there are people out there that explicitly say they do want to destroy the 2nd Amendment.—Joe]
This started out as a comment at Tam’s post about target marketing fail while waiting for Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 but grew to the point I figured it should be a post of my own.
Son James made a very similar “target audience” fail remark during the previews about different movies at our location as well.
James has read the book three times and I read it once then listened to the unabridged audio version once (yes, Galt’s eight hour monologue actually takes eight hours). We both liked the movie but had some minor criticisms about the movie skipping over some points too rapidly for “newcomers” to really understand the points being made.
We both really liked that the sex scene with Dagny was not the way Rand always portrayed an ideal man/woman relationship.
The scene wife Barbara liked best was where the guy wanted Rearden’s money but asked Rearden’s name not associated with the donation.
I agree with the commenters who said the casting of James Taggert was a little off.
I was uncomfortable with a train going 250 MPH on those curves with the passengers standing up. Sorry, but I don’t think they ran the numbers through the physics equations before they filmed those scenes. And the curves had better have some appropriate slope to them to keep the train from rolling over or pushing the tracks off the railway bed.
The nightmares about Boomershoot are much rarer than they used to be but I had one this morning.
It was raining hard. Really hard. The visibility was only a couple hundred yards and the wind was strong and cold. But the worst was the sticky mud. My size 14 shoes must have had 20 pounds stuck to each of them. Vehicles couldn’t get out to the Taj Mahal and I was the only one to walk in to make the ton of explosives and many hundreds of targets.
The only thing a gun is good for is taking it out of the hand of the idiot owner and knocking some sense into him/her.
askwhynot
April 14, 2011 at 12:32PM
Comment to Ohio Senate passes bill allowing concealed weapons in bars and restaurants.
[Such a narrow mind in so many ways.—Joe]
Yesterday I received an email from Josh Horwitz at Coalition to Stop Gun Violence:
Recognize VA Tech Anniversary by Saying “NO GUNS ON CAMPUS!”
As many of you know, April 16 will mark the fourth anniversary of the mass shooting at Virginia Tech. This weekend will be a time for survivors to remember their lost loved ones and pay tribute to their lives, and for America to reflect on the causes and meaning behind this horrific tragedy.
While the Virginia Tech families have emerged as some of the strongest proponents of tougher gun control laws, the gun lobby has exploited the massacre to push extreme legislation that would force colleges and universities to allowing the carrying of loaded firearms on their campuses. Such NRA-drafted bills are now being considered in 18 different states.
Today, Friday, April 15, the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus is recognizing the fourth anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings by conducting a National Call-In Day.
Please call your governor today and ask him/her to oppose guns on campus legislation in your state. If you are in a state with no pending guns on campus legislation, please call and ask your governor to oppose any future attempts to force colleges and universities to allows guns on campus. To find the phone number for your governor, just click here.
Thank you in advance for participating in this important action. If we are to build a safer future for our children, keeping guns out of the classroom is a must.
What Horwitz doesn’t say is that Virginia Tech had rules against guns on campus and it didn’t stop the shooter. There were also laws against murder which didn’t stop the shooter either. The only thing that would have stopped the shooter was another person with a gun. This was, in fact, the response of the police dispatch when they got the call about an active shooter on campus. They sent people with guns to confront the shooter. But they took a few minutes to arrive and of course they were much too late to stop the carnage.
Yet Horwitz want to “build a safer future” by ensuring that all campuses have the same policy in place that enable the shooter at Virginia Tech to be “successful”. Had Virginia Tech not had such a policy and the shooting took place it would almost make sense (there would still have been the law against murder in force) for his call to action. But that wasn’t the case. He is advocating for the proliferation of a policy proven to fail and uses an instance of failure as a reason for a call to action. Huh?
I shouldn’t be surprised. Again (and again just today!) the anti-gun people demonstrate they have nothing but crap for brains.
Recently I’ve been very busy with work and Boomershoot 2011 prep. Here is a partial list of the Boomershoot stuff I have done in the last week:
This weekend I’m going to add some code to my Boomershoot management software to send email to people that have signed up for spectator announcements, order more staff t-shirts, compute the number of targets to be made, allocate targets to various target areas, and print the badges.
It seems like there was some other stuff too, but that is most of it. Ten days from now it gets really busy as many of those items and others are prepared for being reduced to their molecular components in rapidly expanding clouds of water vapor and CO2 amid yells of joy.
If you made it through all that boring stuff above here is a reward; Barron has been posting Boomershoot pictures every day on his blog: