わらしべ長者

話のなかで谷口さんが使って、説明してくれた、わらしべ長者。

Silver

I don't even remember where I found this, but I came across an article claiming that in the afternoon on 2012.02.24, major dumping of silver contracts occurred.  I've not been able to verify this claim from a reputable source, however.  It's not clear where to get charts with that kind of detail.  Perhaps the silver ETFs' volumes would reflect this?

In trying to locate a source, I found a page noting gold-to-silver ratios (GSR).  The strategy noted is quite interesting: look at the average ratio, and when it's less than 1 sigma low convert silver to gold, and when greater than 1 sigma high convert gold to silver, with the idea to play the ratio to increase holdings.  Perhaps I should try this with paper holdings to make conversions easier.

Link Dump

Some links that have been sitting in my tabs since last November....

• An opinion piece regarding the decision to bomb Japan in WWII.
• Detail on presidential candidate spending.
• How to browse securely on public WiFi.
• An opinion piece on why Ron Paul can't win; I don't agree, but the perceptions about his foreign policy seem to be a real issue with people who would otherwise support him.
• Harvey Golub's response to Obama's and Buffet's tax the "rich" stupidity.
• The "Jews in the Attic" Test for public policy.  (This one is actually very important, even though it sounds silly or perhaps even racist.  It's not either of those.)
• Supposed Libertarian Bob Barr is a dickhead, I mean, is anti-gun.
• The Secret Panel that can put Americans on a kill list.
• Democrats introduce a bill to seal up Obama's presidential records?!  No shame at all.
• Are we losing the grassroots vote to anti-gunners?
• "Learned Hand" is a screwed up name for anyone, must less a judge.  He should've had a son and named him "Hired".  He was mentioned in an intro to law book I was reading.  Sounds like he has some innovative ideas, but from his Wikipedia bio, he sounds like a statist.

Blades & Spray

I was looking for information on whether pepper spray is legal in Japan or not.  According to Wikipedia Japan (「日本の法規制」の下に「所持や販売は特に規制されていない。」という）, there isn't really a legal restriction to selling or carrying it.

As far as blades go, a 2009 article from a military-related news site claims that double-edged blades greater than 2.2 inches and single-edged blades greater than 6 inches are prohibited.  The article words this as "possession", as in ownership, not just carrying.  And it's not legal to carry a knife for defense purposes.  In that regard, it makes sense to have pepper spray.

What's not clear is if pepper spray with tear gas, i.e. the "3-in-1" sprays, are legal in Japan.  Obviously that's more effective since some bad guys develop an immunity to pepper spray.

Can't Wait, Eh?

So the President is using his executive powers to get around Congress?  He's supposed to carry out the laws made by Congress, not to act on his own.  I'm curious what the actual mechanism is.  These aren't all Executive Orders. How are these being funded?

I dunno, to me it smacks of treason.

Stacy Schiff

Listening to MPR Mid-Morning on my way in to work, they had an interview with the author of a new book on Cleopatra.  I never had much interest, but the author sounded pretty cool.  She had a funny but not overstated sense of humor and quoted E.B. White regarding how she manages to stay objective: "strong curiosity, weak affiliation".  I also identified with her comment about her poor recollection that serves to further remove her biases, which is an interesting way to think about that attribute in a positive way.

You know, I'd be so much more inclined to donate to MPR if there wasn't such liberal bias in a lot of their content.  Kerri Miller certainly slants that way when talking about the need for government to "help", but randomly tuning in over lunch yesterday there were antagonistic pricks spouting off liberal rhetoric that made me think "screw these bastards, they can get their funding from FedGov if they think that way".

My commentary on Robb Allen's blog post on top 5 guns to own if price were no object:

1. Anzio Ironworks mag-fed 20mm rifle with suppressor: the coolest two-stamp gun around...the only way it could be cooler is if it were semi-auto!
2. Solothurn S-18/1000 20mm rifle: classic
3. Browning M2: well, make it four of 'em in an anti-aircraft mount
4. MP5SD: the 2nd coolest two-stamp gun; well, if you had a Fleming auto sear then you could just get a clone HK91 and a clone MP5SD and swap the sear between the two...
5. McBros 95 chambered in .950 JDJ: just because it's a monster and would break you in half if you tried to shoot it from the shoulder

The AA12 is a close 6th place, but you really need the little mini grenades to push that into the top 5.

By the way, Robb, I'd favor a Ferret-50 or ALS over a Tactilite, because you should have a firing pin safety to prevent OOBD. (Tactilite doesn't have a cam, only a spring. Supposedly ALS fixed their bolt after the reported OOBD.) A Barret M82A1 (NOT the A2--I don't care if the A1's 5 ft long, having a .50 going off on your cheek is not cool) or AR-50 would be even better.

FFLs in Rochester

By chance, I found a list of FFLs in Minnesota, by way of Google linking to the ATF website.  Actually, the search result was for October 2011, but by substituting January 2012 I got the latest list.

See, this is a big part of why I don't have a Type 01 FFL yet.  If my licensed premises were my home address, then it'd be listed for any random miscreant to find.  While ostensibly an FFL would be well-armed, that still means a higher likelihood of being accosted when least expecting it.  Plus, the ATF has free reign to search licensed premises, which, if one's house, frees them from a need for a search warrant.  Not like the government pays attention to those anymore, anyway....