GI Joe Codenames

This is fucking hilarious if you grew up with GI Joe.

"Common Sense" Politics

Rebuttal to a stooge in CNN commentary:

Moron! The President has to "battle" for his stated policies because a large percentage of the population thinks the policies are stupid! Certainly you're not in any position to comment on anyone else's intelligence. This administration spent more in 2009 ($1.6T) than any single year of any prior administration, and they want to spend even more? You're not even smart enough to realize that no one knows whether the varied proposed solutions will work or not -- in every piece of legislation there are unintended consequences (as well as a mountain of pork). I don't trust the stooges in Congress, Democrat or Republican, to get it right. The solution? Quit monkeying with the economy, passing so much stupid legislation, and spending money we don't have. Pretty simple, but so many "smart" people don't seem to get it!

"Climate Change" My Ass

A bit of a blurb on a CNN article on U.S. opinion of climate change going the other way:

The "need to educate the American people" ?! Please, spare me the arrogance and self-superiority complex. Educate the people when you have something worthwhile to teach other than half-baked theories. The jury is still out on "climate change" -- yeah, they had to change the name because "global warming" didn't fit the cooling that's been seen. The alarmists are insisting the problem is now now now when science takes time. Yes, we should reduce consumption. No, that doesn't mean that Al Gore and his cronies who are getting rich off of the "green" movement (sweet deal using politics to corral dollars into one's pockets) are right about what they're pushing.

NFA

On occasion of getting fingerprinted for the first time, I got to thinking about SBRs. Specifically, if it's possible to register an AR-15 lower in multiple calibers and have multiple short-barreled uppers. Of course that's a popular question, and the consensus seems to be that for each short upper, one needs to have either an SBR lower or a pistol lower, otherwise the ATF might find that one is in possession of an unregistered SBR. One forum post has a letter from the ATF expressing this opinion (which is hardly the letter of the law, but it might as well be):

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS
WASHINGTON, DC 20226

MAR 29 2000


903050:GKD
3311

Dear Mr. :

This refers to your letter of January 22, 1999, requesting information on the legality of possessing a registered full auto AR15 and also possessing one or more semiautomatic pre-1994 assembled AR15 rifles. You appended a number of specific questions relating to this subject which will be answered in the order received.

1. Is it legal to own both?

There are no provisions under the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) or the National Firearms Act (NFA) that prevent an individual from possessing an AR15 registered machinegun and one or more semiautomatic AR15 rifles at the same time.

2. If legal to own both, which spare parts for the registered gun can you also own?

Any weapon which shoots automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger meets the definition of a machinegun in section 5845(b) of the NFA. An AR15 rifle which is assembled with certain M16 machinegun fire control components, and which is capable of shooting automatically is a machinegun as defined.

The definition of a machinegun in section 5845(b) also includes any combination of parts from which a machinegun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person. Thus, an AR15 rifle possessed with separate M16 machinegun components can meet the definition of a machinegun, if the rifle shoots automatically when the components are installed.

The fact that a person lawfully possesses a registered NFA firearm does not grant authorization to possess additional non-registered firearms. A person who possesses a registered M16 machinegun and a semiautomatic AR15 and a separate quantity of M16 machinegun components could be in possession of two machineguns.

We advise any person who possesses an AR15 rifle not to possess M16 fire control components (trigger, hammer, disconnector, selector, and bolt carrier). If a person possessed only the M16 machinegun and spare M16 fire control components for that machinegun, the person would possess only one machinegun.

3. Is it legal to use the upper receiver off of the semi-auto AR's on the registered AR if they are different lengths and calibers than listed on the Form 4's?

Before changing the caliber of a registered machinegun you should notify the NFA Branch in writing of the proposed change.

4. Can you have several short barrel uppers (less than 16 inches) for the registered AR and still own semi-auto AR's?

The definition of a firearm in section 5845 of the NFA includes a rifle having a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length. An individual possessing more than one short (less than 16 inches) barreled upper receiver for a registered AR15 machinegun along with one or more semiautomatic AR15 rifles would have under their possession of control an unregistered short barreled rifle, a violation of the NFA.

5. If you change the barrel length or caliber do I need to notify your office if the change is not a permanent one?

This question was answered under Question 3.

We trust that the foregoing has been responsive to your inquiry.
If we can be of any further assistance, please contact us.


Sincerely yours,


[signed]
Edward M. Owen, Jr.
Chief, Firearms Technology Branch

The one pistol lower per SBR upper is a pretty ingenious solution.

I also found an SBR FAQ arfcom and an NFA FAQ on mdshooters.com. The latter has a bit on Pre-May dealer samples which was enlightening:

PreDealer guns are different. A Class III (SOT holder) can buy PreDealer guns, while these are cheaper but, they are not much cheaper. They are normally 2/3 the price of a transferable version. But once a SOT gives up thier license he/she may keep the Pre Dealer samples. They can not be sold to anyone other then a dealer or manufacturer when the owner is ready to sell them. People jumping through the hoops & paying the $500 yearly, to get thier SOT to buy these guns. It's worth the effort and cost, you can easily save thousands quickly on a couple guns.

Apparently the source of the Pre-May samples are MGs that were imported after 1968. Guns that were imported as semi-auto after '68 and then remanufactured in the U.S. and registered in the NFA are fully transferrable.

This NFA shit is tricky.

Haiti Violence & Pittsburgh Racism

Commentary on a CNN article:

Who's talking about Africans? Haitians may've descended from African slaves, but it's been a while now. Were you being racist, or do you just not know where Haiti is?

This street justice seems fine to me. A judge and jury may look more formal and take longer to get the job done, but you get the same result. Think of it this way: In that situation, losing your limited supplies of food and water may mean that you perish. Maybe that guy didn't have a choice because he had nothing, but that's what happens when resources are in contention. That's why people will never stop fighting.

And yet another article on racist cops on a power trip:

If the cops didn't identify themselves verbally and pull out their badges, which I highly doubt they did, then they were 100% in the wrong. I dislike pinning things on race, but how do you chalk this one up? Lucky for the cops that the guy didn't have a CCW. It's a lot harder to be a racist psycho when your victims are packing heat.

Bye-Bye FEC

Commentary on comments in this article:

Supporters of universal health care advocate mandatory use of individual income to fund a cause that many of those individuals object to. In other words, it's theft. If UHC is such a critical issue, why not create a mandatory venue for providing care for people who can't afford it? In other words (in case you have trouble with reading comprehension), make UHC a charity that people can contribute to according to their conscience and their cash flow. Most people would agree that it's more important to take care of their own families with their incomes first. So there's a solution for you, and one that doesn't involve stealing from the public.

Also:

Who's the brilliant person in the White House, the Presidential chef?

Seriously, though, you should be happy about this. It means that Hollywood and the bevy of liberal tech CEOs (Steve Jobs of Apple and Eric Schmidt of Google come to mind) can spend their billions on their causes. Who specifically were you thinking of?

The fewer unnecessary laws, the better. We'll see how things go. SCOTUS can always reverse the decision in review of a later court case.

Also:

Hey, remember, the USA is a democratic republic, as in *Republic*an, and not a direct democracy. Hah! Also, your opinion doesn't represent that of everyone else, so keep your blanket pronouncements of disgracefulness to yourself unless you can provide a cogent reason as to why you think that is.

Festering Articles

Some stuff that's been stuck in my browser lately....

• Solar plant to store energy in molten salt [c|net]
• A review of the weirdest shoe ever [barefootrunner]
• Scientists create artificial meat [/.]
• Lotus Omnivore engine [autoblog] (so...can I piss in the gas tank for fuel?)

ACM Queue ICPC Challenge

The game is Capture. Looks like fun...too bad I don't have time to spend on it *sigh*

FIJA

A blog I read aperiodically had a link to an article at The Examiner regarding police harassing an activist who was passing out pamphlets. Not just any pamphlets, they were "A Primer for Prospective Jurors", from the Fully Informed Jury Association, ostensibly making mention of jury nullification. People really need to know about that, but judges certainly don't like it. Why would a former legislator want citizen juries invalidating unjust laws?

bile's treatment at the hands of the cops is reprehensible, too. Mala prohibita, indeed.

4A & The Cloud

How does the 4th Amendment apply to cloud computing? The law ought to err on the side of privacy. And I just had to make a comment:

@Demerit

Re automatic weapons v. the 2nd Amendment, it is very cut and dried. The people were intended to have access to the same weapons as the military, because the people themselves were intended to be the country's defense. The only fuzzy category of weapons is of the nuclear type -- most people couldn't afford those anyway, though. Hell, I don't trust the government to have military weapons! They have a monopoly of force. Things would be much better off if the thugs in charge couldn't muscle the people around so much.

Re Roe v. Wade: the issue is if the unborn infant is a full-fledged human or not, with all the rights and privileges thereof, because if it were, terminating it is malum in se. And since there's no practical difference between a child just before and just after birth, nor is there a logical and consistent way to delineate a clear point in gestation where one's humanity begins, it must in fact be at conception. However, as a society we make trade-offs: for example, we execute criminals who are a quantifiable threat to society (for non-supporters of capital punishment, an executed life sentence is virtually the same effect). Most of us do not consider that malum in se. If there's any argument for abortion it must be a rationale for trading an infant's life for a comparable objective (such as saving the life of the mother).

TED

I saw reference to this device called TED on c|net, and it looks pretty interesting. The Google PowerMeter software may or may not be good: if they're logging my consumption patterns, that could be unpleasant. ("At 2 AM power demand at his house spikes 150W, so he must be in the bathroom taking a whiz before he goes to sleep.") I'd rather keep some information off the Net, thank you very much. Still, it's an intriguing product.

News Dump

• Google hacked, may leave China [Google, CNN, c|net]
• Wi-Fi powered gadget charger @CES [c|net] - I had an idea a few years back on how to monetize wireless power...this is getting too close for comfort
• LPD displays [xconomy linked from /.] - seems like the phosphor-zapping technology found in CRTs just won't die?
• Genetically modified corn is bad for you [International Journal of Biological Sciences] - the paleos say plain corn ain't good for you, but then again the good stuff made from corn, bourbon whiskey, ain't good for you either

Full-Body Scanners

Of course the scumbags would have a way to store and forward the images from the full-body scanners. It's evidence, right? Plus, the TSA mofos need something to jack off to when they get bored. I mean, they even have a little room to do it in! Anyone who doesn't think that the body scanners are an outrageous violation of civil rights deserves to be decapitated with a dull knife.

A link on /. points out an issue in the UK that scanning kids violates child porn laws. Especially if the images can be stored!

As typical, some idiot from a repressed 2nd-world country (the UK) posted that guns are the problem in the U.S. An interesting viewpoint followed.

Oh please! can we just cut through the bullshit? You are probably from Europe, yes? Well let me explain how things are here in the USA: Here if you have a single dope bust the rest of your life is pretty much "deal or steal" since nobody will hire you for shit and many aid programs won't do jack for your junkie ass, so you have this HUGE underclass, that can't get any legitimate work, yet have their dope habit to pay for. How do you think they are gonna do that, hmmm?

By robbing your dumb ass, that's how!!! You wanna know what would happen if you magically made all guns disappear from the USA tomorrow? I'll tell you what would happen, you would have machete slaughters all over the news like you get in Africa, that's what. Here the middle class is all but extinct, the underclass is growing by the day, and many have no jobs, no future, and no reason to give a fuck about you and your ideals. Do you HONESTLY think making all the guns disappear if gonna make Johnny Junkie gonna forget about the pain gnawing in his guts because he ain't had his fix? Get fucking real pal. There are places in every major city here where even the cops are afraid to go after dark. You think no guns is gonna make those into happy places?

As long as you have huge masses of poor and drug addicts with no future and no reason to give a fuck you're gonna have violence, I don't give a crap if you ban guns or not. BTW drugs are illegal too, but I can score anything I want in under 30 minutes, you think I wouldn't be able to do the same with a gun?

Prepaid Smartphone

While researching alternatives to paying exorbitant fees for smartphones, I came across an article that notes a method for doing this on a GSM carrier. To wit: obtain a sim card from a prepaid service like T-Mobile or AT&T, purchase an unlocked phone like the Nexus One, and go. The downside is not having a data plan, but most smartphones can use Wi-Fi for that. It's another option, anyway.

RAS

Not Knight's Armament's "Rail Adapter System", but "Reasonable, Articulable Suspicion".

LAAW has an interesting seizure chart that summarizes the classes of police encounters. There's a standard encounter where they can talk to you like a normal citizen (although ignoring or refusing to talk to the cop would probably be construed as RAS). Then there are two types of "Fourth Amendment seizures": detention/frisk, as per Terry v. Ohio (aka the "Terry frisk"), and arrest. The former is based on RAS, the latter based on probable cause (PC).

The word "articulable" bothers me, as it seems like it should be "articulatable", as in a noun form of the verb "articulate". Of course, that's hard to say, so the lawyers had to make it "articulable". Apparently I'm not the only one that this bothers.

The Caring Tree

Behold all the good that the Hitachi Group does.

Government Intrusion

The difficulty with being a libertarian is that it's really neither traditional conservative nor liberal. Case in point, I find myself having to agree with ACLU types regarding government intrusion, which is more often than I'd care to based on some of their other positions.

From a c|net article:

"Who wants to live in a world where the government can listen in on every communication without any evidence of crime?" he said. "The consequences of that are that people won't communicate freely and the country would be very different as a result. Imagine how your conversation with a close personal friend would change if you knew someone else was listening. That's what is at stake. That's what needs to be protected."

The Decade From Hell?

A Cato Institute VP posits that 2000-2009 wasn't the "decade from hell". He does have a few convincing arguments. But what about things like intrusive full-body scanners in airports, irrational health care legislation, and arbitrary "hate crime" legislation, forcing the U.S. economy a leap further toward a socialist police state?

I for one am not counting on the country to remain stable. With all the insanity going on, it can't. Perhaps stability was only an illusion to begin with, though.

NHK World

Supposedly we could get NHK World in high-definition for free with a dish and HD tuner. Hmm.

Requirements: an LNB ("low noise block") converter, a satellite dish (2.5m-6m diameter), and a digital tuner.

IS-9 satellite, 4040 MHz, 26.59 Mbaud, FEC=1/2, polarization H. Azimuth and elevation are given, but for locations in South America. I suppose there're probably some ways to get more information about how to tune IS-9.

Speaking of which, there's some information on IS-9 itself on SatBeams as well as a channel list there and on LyngSat also.

Daren's Links

From Daren, dated 9/17:
BedBunker - a way overpriced box-spring replacement gun safe
TheReadyStore - emergency foodstuffs, etc.

Exploding Pyrex

So my wife is obsessed with "Old Pyrex", which seems perverse at first blush. The older Pyrex kitchenware has patterns and designs that appeal to some folks. But the main reason I think collecting Old Pyrex isn't a total waste is that apparently the newer Pyrex isn't "real"—it's licensed by Corning to World Kitchen and doesn't have the same composition. There have been cases of it exploding when used in the oven or microwave, even if labeled safe for those applications, and that's very uncool.

2010

I resolve to link blog more in 2010. Yeah, right!