Sunday, July 27, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Another reason I love the Internet
My music modus operandi is a little different than most people's. I like listening to my music collection on random, discovering and re-discovering songs I haven't heard or haven't heard in forever. I just recently ripped my entire collection (a week long undertaking that resulted in a final count of over 23,000 songs and 176 gigabytes of music all backed up across two drives).
Just now the song "Be Happy" by mansbestfriend popped up in iTunes. Among the noise in the early part of the track I recognized a bit of mournful wailing from my youth, when most of the music I adored was played on Dr. Demento. I couldn't recall the name or source of the song so I Googled the lyric "and there I stood with an arrow in my back" to learn that the song was "Mr. Custer" by Larry Verne. I'd heard the songs millions of times listening to the old K-Tel records compilation Goofy Gold. The same label is selling the song on Amazon via their compilation Dumb Ditties. Instant access to the track was totally worth the .89$
Just now the song "Be Happy" by mansbestfriend popped up in iTunes. Among the noise in the early part of the track I recognized a bit of mournful wailing from my youth, when most of the music I adored was played on Dr. Demento. I couldn't recall the name or source of the song so I Googled the lyric "and there I stood with an arrow in my back" to learn that the song was "Mr. Custer" by Larry Verne. I'd heard the songs millions of times listening to the old K-Tel records compilation Goofy Gold. The same label is selling the song on Amazon via their compilation Dumb Ditties. Instant access to the track was totally worth the .89$
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Special Edition Game Packages are Such Rip- (*gasp*) MUST HAVE LUNCHBOX!
So don't buy this:
I can't promise I won't break a potted plant over your head and abscond with your metal Vault-Tec lunchbox so that I may un-ironically carry my lunch in it.
I can't promise I won't break a potted plant over your head and abscond with your metal Vault-Tec lunchbox so that I may un-ironically carry my lunch in it.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
And it continues...
When the Supreme Court of the United States makes a ruling, it sticks. When they say jump, you say 'how high?'
I can believe how incredibly happy DC has been to take the bait laid out for them.
Heller walked in to register his Colt 1911A1 semi-automatic handgun (which requires you to pull the trigger once for every round fired...just like, say, a revolver) capable of holding 7 rounds in a magazine, plus one in the chamber for a total of 8. It is a handgun, and that specific model, the 1911, is the MOST common model of handgun in the USA.
It was the very common nature of the handgun's use in being kept for self defense that was a key part of the court's ruling. But it didn't need to be, simply because this is their finding
“We hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense. Assuming that Heller is not disqualified from the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the District must permit him to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.”
It is a handgun. In the most narrow view, they could possibly deny someone other than Heller. It would be struck down, but they'd at least have a leg to stand on. SCOTUS specifically ordered that Heller be allowed to register a handgun. Not a rifle, not a shotgun, but a handgun. Maybe they could possibly deny him if he was trying to register TWO handguns, but again, that isn't the case here.
DC says they will only allow revolvers to be registered. DC goes further. DC says because it has a bottom loading clip, it is a machine gun. Are they actually co-operating with the NRA? SCOTUS revokes laws, it does not write them. Hand DC 'stuck to their guns' and said 'revolvers only, that is a semi-auto' they'd have only a little bit to loose, but by redefining a semi-auto handgun as a machine gun (a class allowed to be highly restricted) they run the real risk opening up the entire machine gun can of worms. Do they really want SCOTUS to say 'Fine, you play word games and declare a semi-auto handgun as a machine gun, we'll simply rule he can register a machine gun'
The first page of the Washington Post article makes it sound like that all he needed to do was show up with his gun, but later they reveal
"Newsham said if anyone shows up to register a semi-automatic pistol that fits the city's definition of a machine gun, police will confiscate the illegal gun but will not immediately arrest the owner. He said police reserve the right to investigate and eventually charge such an owner with violating the machine-gun ban."
The amnesty period and the official 'okay' to proceed directly to the police station with your revolver is only going to be for revolvers that end up getting registered. While they don't come out and say it is any reason they can come up with for denying registration, that amnesty is now defunct. "What's that? Your vision test came back as 20/19 not 20/20? Handcuff time!"
Again, SCOTUS said 'Let Heller register his handgun' NOT 'let Heller carry guns about the city as he pleases.' This seems to me to be a ploy to throw a guy in jail for 48 hours minimum, maybe longer. (6 years as this next case winds it's way through the courts?) Room him with a real abusive inmate, as a way to retaliate against a 'troublemaker'. But then SCOTUS never said Heller had to bring his gun in for inspection, DC simply has to register it.
Besides, Heller is strategically choosing his colt 1911, a gun that holds 1 more round than standard revolvers, a gun that holds exactly 1 round less than the revolver he tried to register in 2002. No way he was going to walk in with it on his person and allow the headlines to read "Heller arrested for possession of illegal machine gun!"
I think this is called 'setting up the check-mate'.
Washington Post Article
I can believe how incredibly happy DC has been to take the bait laid out for them.
Heller walked in to register his Colt 1911A1 semi-automatic handgun (which requires you to pull the trigger once for every round fired...just like, say, a revolver) capable of holding 7 rounds in a magazine, plus one in the chamber for a total of 8. It is a handgun, and that specific model, the 1911, is the MOST common model of handgun in the USA.
It was the very common nature of the handgun's use in being kept for self defense that was a key part of the court's ruling. But it didn't need to be, simply because this is their finding
“We hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense. Assuming that Heller is not disqualified from the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the District must permit him to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.”
It is a handgun. In the most narrow view, they could possibly deny someone other than Heller. It would be struck down, but they'd at least have a leg to stand on. SCOTUS specifically ordered that Heller be allowed to register a handgun. Not a rifle, not a shotgun, but a handgun. Maybe they could possibly deny him if he was trying to register TWO handguns, but again, that isn't the case here.
DC says they will only allow revolvers to be registered. DC goes further. DC says because it has a bottom loading clip, it is a machine gun. Are they actually co-operating with the NRA? SCOTUS revokes laws, it does not write them. Hand DC 'stuck to their guns' and said 'revolvers only, that is a semi-auto' they'd have only a little bit to loose, but by redefining a semi-auto handgun as a machine gun (a class allowed to be highly restricted) they run the real risk opening up the entire machine gun can of worms. Do they really want SCOTUS to say 'Fine, you play word games and declare a semi-auto handgun as a machine gun, we'll simply rule he can register a machine gun'
The first page of the Washington Post article makes it sound like that all he needed to do was show up with his gun, but later they reveal
"Newsham said if anyone shows up to register a semi-automatic pistol that fits the city's definition of a machine gun, police will confiscate the illegal gun but will not immediately arrest the owner. He said police reserve the right to investigate and eventually charge such an owner with violating the machine-gun ban."
The amnesty period and the official 'okay' to proceed directly to the police station with your revolver is only going to be for revolvers that end up getting registered. While they don't come out and say it is any reason they can come up with for denying registration, that amnesty is now defunct. "What's that? Your vision test came back as 20/19 not 20/20? Handcuff time!"
Again, SCOTUS said 'Let Heller register his handgun' NOT 'let Heller carry guns about the city as he pleases.' This seems to me to be a ploy to throw a guy in jail for 48 hours minimum, maybe longer. (6 years as this next case winds it's way through the courts?) Room him with a real abusive inmate, as a way to retaliate against a 'troublemaker'. But then SCOTUS never said Heller had to bring his gun in for inspection, DC simply has to register it.
Besides, Heller is strategically choosing his colt 1911, a gun that holds 1 more round than standard revolvers, a gun that holds exactly 1 round less than the revolver he tried to register in 2002. No way he was going to walk in with it on his person and allow the headlines to read "Heller arrested for possession of illegal machine gun!"
I think this is called 'setting up the check-mate'.
Washington Post Article
Monday, July 14, 2008
this makes me angry
TN man arrested for photographing a cop
If this doesn't scare you , then your blood is ice.
"Here's a guy who takes me out of the car and arrests me in front of my kids. For what? To take a picture of a police officer?" said Scott Conover.
A Johnson County sheriff's deputy arrested Scott Conover for unlawful photography.
"He says you took a picture of me. It's illegal to take a picture of a law enforcement officer," said Conover.
"Unlawful photography" in a public place? I don't think so. Memo to cop: Get a good civil attorney. Memo to the town of Mountain City: Are your liability premiums paid up?
Northeast TN blogger DeMarCaTionVille: Refusing to delete pictures taken from a public area isn't disorderly. It's asserting one's rights. And while I understand the reasoning behind the "don't point big scary lasers at cops" law, the charge just doesn't fly in this case. If the officer asked Conover to delete the photos, he had obviously established this wasn't a laser.
What happened seems clear to me: Conover annoyed the cop by taking his picture. When Conover refused to delete them, the cop got angry and arrested him. (After all, the photos might have been taken with the intention of policing the police - and how dare a mere mortal citizen do this? ) After the arrest, the officer scrambled to find some law, any law which would back up his actions.
Conover heads to court on August 6th - and I imagine the charges will be dismissed. The department surely knows all Hell will break loose if they're not - but is this good enough?
This man was arrested on trumped up charges, hauled off to jail in front of his kids and had more rights violated than you can shake a stick at - I'll also bet Conover's photos were erased. Even if the whole thing is tossed out, who won?
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/silence/archives/2008/07/tn_man_arrested.shtml
power corrupts
If this doesn't scare you , then your blood is ice.
"Here's a guy who takes me out of the car and arrests me in front of my kids. For what? To take a picture of a police officer?" said Scott Conover.
A Johnson County sheriff's deputy arrested Scott Conover for unlawful photography.
"He says you took a picture of me. It's illegal to take a picture of a law enforcement officer," said Conover.
"Unlawful photography" in a public place? I don't think so. Memo to cop: Get a good civil attorney. Memo to the town of Mountain City: Are your liability premiums paid up?
Northeast TN blogger DeMarCaTionVille: Refusing to delete pictures taken from a public area isn't disorderly. It's asserting one's rights. And while I understand the reasoning behind the "don't point big scary lasers at cops" law, the charge just doesn't fly in this case. If the officer asked Conover to delete the photos, he had obviously established this wasn't a laser.
What happened seems clear to me: Conover annoyed the cop by taking his picture. When Conover refused to delete them, the cop got angry and arrested him. (After all, the photos might have been taken with the intention of policing the police - and how dare a mere mortal citizen do this? ) After the arrest, the officer scrambled to find some law, any law which would back up his actions.
Conover heads to court on August 6th - and I imagine the charges will be dismissed. The department surely knows all Hell will break loose if they're not - but is this good enough?
This man was arrested on trumped up charges, hauled off to jail in front of his kids and had more rights violated than you can shake a stick at - I'll also bet Conover's photos were erased. Even if the whole thing is tossed out, who won?
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/silence/archives/2008/07/tn_man_arrested.shtml
power corrupts
The Perils of the Game Reviewer
Danc from Lost Garden has written an interesting article about reviewing video games. He has some worthwhile insight into how the enjoyment people get from playing changes as they play more games. I think that it is applicable to boardgames as well.Your Chance to Settle It Once and for All
PC or Mac?
One is the pinnacle of personal computing. One is a ridiculous cult of personality. If only there were a way to figure out which is which!
Well, now you can. In the time-honored tradition of our forefathers:
a lightsaber duel.
One is the pinnacle of personal computing. One is a ridiculous cult of personality. If only there were a way to figure out which is which!
Well, now you can. In the time-honored tradition of our forefathers:
a lightsaber duel.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Outlander
Here's the pitch. An alien hunter crash-lands on earth in 709 and must team with Vikings to kill the deadly space monster that came with him.
Go here to see the trailer.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Star Wars Risk Mod
AMUSIX, a poster on NeoGAF got this awesome, custom-made Star Wars mod of Risk for his birthday. His friend made it so that it strictly adheres to the original layout of the classic board game.
Neal Stevenson on Vulcans
Here's Neal Stevenson on actors and they way their sci-fi careers bifurcate from their mundane careers. Much discussion of Hugo Weaving, Leonard Nimoy and Sigourney Weaver.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Panglish
We've had at least a couple debates on the inevitable changes to our language. Here's a butchering of the King's English I can get behind, if only in the name of global efficiency. After all, the Market wants it...
Daily Mail Article
Daily Mail Article
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Help A Bald Brother Out
See more funny videos at Funny or Die
Larry David on cancer. Not funny. Or is it?
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Dublab Live
Dublab is broadcasting live today from Noon to 8 PM PST.
Listen up!
If you're rocking iTunes you can find the station under the "electronica" heading.
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