Massive Link Dump

This is one dump sitting in my browser that needed to be taken.

A video of Alan Gura's comments on 2A rights, post-Newtown.

6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person, a profanity-laced tirade that actually will make one a better person:

#6. The World Only Cares About What It Can Get from You (Skills, which lead to results, are everything)
#5. The Hippies Were Wrong ("If you want to work here, close"--your job is who you are)
#4. What You Produce Does Not Have to Make Money, But It Does Have to Benefit People
#3. You Hate Yourself Because You Don't Do Anything (Self-loathing originates from uselessness)
#2. What You Are Inside Only Matters Because of What It Makes You Do (History remembers deeds, not potential to do deeds)
#1. Everything Inside You Will Fight Improvement (Happiness takes effort)

In the comments of one forum thread was a stupid gun-control rant that did have one interesting point about having unrestricted weapons use at ranges.

In most discussions about gun control, the pro-gun advocates like to pretend a technical superiority, which they believe entitles them to decide the issue. They know the jargon, they understand the mechanical design, they're really into ballistics and product specifications, and they believe this somehow makes their opinion more informed, and therefore correct.

Hi. I'm a gun nerd, from a time when "nerd" meant something. I'm intensely interested in the history, design, and application of firearms. I spend an inordinate amount of my time going through formal and informal studies of various small arms and munitions. That includes their effects on society. I now firmly, irrevocably, believe in gun control.

These are some ideas for effective regulation and legislation based on technical and practical and psychological criteria, and refutations for common pro-gun arguments:

The most stupid pro-gun argument is that the press and gun control advocates mistake "automatic" with "semi-automatic." In gun-enthusiast jargon, "automatic" means the firearm will fire for as long as the trigger is pulled, like a machine gun, and "semi-automatic" means the gun will fie as fast as the trigger is pulled. So, when people describe a Glock as an automatic, the gun-nuts will scoff, as "automatic" firearms are already illegal save for those with very specialized licenses.

Well, they're wrong - the technical term for any self-loading weapon, that is, a weapon that ejects the spent round and loads a new round from a magazine or clip using energy from firing the weapon, is "automatic." Full automatic or semi automatic weapons are both automatic. Take this simple test - ask them if a Glock is a revolver or automatic. They will instinctually, without hesitation, tell you that a Glock is an automatic pistol… regardless of whether or not it has a full-auto mode or not. (It doesn't in the US.)

More, the real problem is semi-automatic weapons. You can't hit shit with a pistol or assault rifle set to full automatic.

The technology that enables mass murder, more than anything else, are high-capacity magazines. It allows the murderer to keep shooting and shooting and shooting and shooting. You can purchase a 33 round magazine for a 9mm Glock autopistol. You can point-and-shoot 33 times before needing to reload… and you reload by ejecting the spent magazine with a single button, and sliding in another 33 round magazine. Under heavy stress, maybe a 10 second operation, if you fumble a bit.

So. Here's a 5 point proposal that is simple, incremental, and respectful of hobbyists who spent thousands of dollars on murder/suicide machines instead of a bass boat or cruise on the Mediterranean or something.

1) Ban on the sale or manufacture of any magazine or clip larger than 6 rounds, for rifles and pistols. You can own them, you just can't buy or sell them anymore. This is enough, as the Amok in America prefer to buy new equipment at retail prices.

2) Ban the manufacture or sale of any other repeating firearm with a capacity larger than four rounds. If you can't take the turkey with four rounds, it wasn't meant to be.

3) Limit the sale of ammunition. You can buy four rounds a week, heavily taxed, and after a month, can only buy more when you bring back the brass. For those who like to load their own ammo, this means they're limited to 16 casings. This restriction is completely lifted for those shooting at registered and licensed gun ranges… shoot as much as you like. No taxes, either! Load as much as you like… so long as it stays at the range.

4) If you want to keep a gun at home, even a .22LR bolt action, a police officer will come to inspect how you're keeping it twice a year, and you will pay the police for this service. If you're being stupid about gun safety, you will be fined, and your license to own a gun revoked. If you want to keep a M2 heavy machine gun or any other firearm at the range… this is permitted, and cheaply. No tax, and the range deals with all of the inspections. Also, you need to pay a tax on the guns at home that covers the social cost of gun ownership in your community... no tax if you keep the gun at the range. The range needs to immediately report to the police if someone takes a gun off-site for any reason, legal or not.

5) Private gun sales need to be registered, just like auto sales. If you sell your gun to someone, and you don't register the sale after a background check, you get to keep paying the gun tax on it, and when the cops show up to see how you're storing it, and it's not there, you will go to jail. If your gun was stolen and used in a crime, and you were negligent in its storage, you will go to jail, and be on the hook for civil damages.

These points allow enthusiasts to keep shooting and hunting, and the living to keep breathing.

I don't believe for a second that this jackass actually knows much about guns.  He fails to notice the obvious point that it's not impossible to manufacture guns or ammunition at home, none of which would be registered.  But Big Government liberals are fucking stupid and don't think things through.  If I had a place to shoot it, though, it'd be neat to have a Ma Deuce....

From Jen, an article on where the GOP goes from here.

A blurb from the Republican Liberty Caucus of Minnesota about DMC.

Comparisons by "Food Babe" of junk food in the U.S. versus the version overseas--the U.S. versions have more crap in them!

Some composting tips...I need 'em....

Comparison of cross-platform VMs on Wikipedia (?!)

Danny Choo

I'd never heard of Danny Choo before, but saw him in a photo on Facebook with Alodia Gosiengfiao.  Turns out that the dude is bad-ass.  He has a post on his site, "How I started to build my career in Japan", that writes about the experience I perhaps could've had in Japan had I not been such a short-sighted introvert.  This bit was particularly salient:

Its always important to understand what your skill set is and how much they are valued at. Keep your options open all the time and speak to folks in the industry who can advise you on job opportunities and your market value. You know whether a carton of milk is expensive or not because you know the market value - do you know your market value? If not you must find out today - not tomorrow.

Yeah.  I have no idea what my market value is.  Certainly less than I'm paid now!

How to Save an Unproductive Day in 25 Minutes

Another interesting article from the WSJ.  The bullet points:

1. Carve out a time-oasis. (20 minutes) If possible, move something off your schedule for the remainder of the day, protecting just 20 minutes to focus – uninterrupted – on that meaningful project. More time is better if you can manage it, but 20 minutes can still make a difference.
If you have to, leave a non-essential meeting 20 minutes early, or stay at the office 20 minutes later. (You would use tactics like this if you had an urgent business call, right? Well, getting to your most important work is an urgent business issue.) Turn off your email and phone. Find an unoccupied conference room or cubicle where no one can find you.
2. Note your progress for the day. (Two minutes) Use a work diary to keep track of the progress you made that day.
It's natural to focus on what you didn't get done and what tasks remain; but, to get the boost of happiness and engagement, you should spend a minute taking stock of what you did accomplish. Even if you simply outlined next steps on that creative project, make note. And, if you weren't able to carve out that 20-minute time-oasis, then make note of any achievement you had during the day, however small. It may not have been work you planned, and it may have been solving someone else's problem, but – if you got anywhere on anything useful, that really is meaningful progress, so write it down.
Allow yourself to savor the sense of accomplishment, and recognize that you made a difference.
3. Set up for progress tomorrow. (Three minutes) Use a trick that Ernest Hemingway and other writers have relied on: Leave off in the middle. When you have to stop work for the day on your most important project, end in mid-paragraph, mid-sentence, mid-routine, whatever – as long as you have a pretty good sense of how you will finish that paragraph. That way, you'll be able to just slide back into the task the next day – even if all you get tomorrow is your 20-minute oasis.

How to Win Political Arguments

I haven't watched this video yet, but it sounds interesting.  Also from AJE.

Rejection Therapy

Twittered by Ray G.:

"We are all stopping ourselves from great opportunities when we're too afraid to ask for what we want." http://ow.ly/37W2y

I could've used "rejection therapy" way back in high school! [article] [site]