.000374% of guns in America used for crime

There's a post up at Sharp as a marble inwhich Robb endeavors to change some minds with facts, history, and numbers.

Worth sending to your anti friends to get the conversation started. Don't be afraid to engage in a battle of wits regarding gun control; gunnies have facts and history on their side. Be sure to do your homework so you know what your opponent will say.

When you divide the number of crimes or homicides by the sheer number of actual guns owned, you'll see that the percentage of firearms used in these instances are so minute to be almost statistical noise.

look up the numbers for yourself. Is .000374% really worth trampling on everyone's rights? And what for? To get that number to .000369%? In economic terms, the ROI simply isn't worth it. Besides, guns are used by the citizenry to prevent crimes in upwards of 2 million times a year

but what about this lady? How many times do you hear of jealous ex's who can't take "No" for an answer killing out of jealousy? That 24 hours could mean life and death for some people, and it's quite common. VT wasn't as much tragic as it was sensationalized. For every Cho, there are thousands of these types of stories. In your quixotic effort to combat .000374%, you harm the many that truly do need a gun right then and there.

There are also some great things in the comments.

Tyranny in Red Tights

A must read.

If you could only read one thing today, make it this.

Guns in Schools

Terrorists sneak into an Israeli high school, and attack two counselors. They are quickly put down as the counselors return fire.

Americans don't like the idea of teachers carrying guns, because they think it's icky.

They proudly support the Air Marshal program, and undercover security guards in malls; agreeing that a trained individual with a firearm can surprise and stop a determined killer. But when you ask them about schools they curl into a ball on the floor, suck their thumb, and paw angrily in your general direction until you leave.

They know shootings happen at schools, and that terrorists have made their plans to attack American schools known, but they just don't want guns in schools, because it makes them uncomfortable. It's not that they don't trust armed citizens in schools, because they're against armed security guards too.

They just don't like the idea of living in an America where anyone in a school would have any NEED to be armed.

When told about other countries that have had success arming their teachers they counter; "Well, that's not America." How many more children need to die before you realize America has changed, and we need to socially evolve.

All the wishing in the world isn't going to change reality.

I wish no one had ANY reason to carry or own guns other than for recreation. But there is plenty of reason, and so there are plenty of people who do. Loudly countering, "Yeah, but that couldn't happen here." is the same as when people watch the evening news and tell themselves, "That could never happen to me." These people need to be reminded that it's not THEIR lives at stake, it's the lives of their children.

It's really not that complicated...

Would you vote for a Democrat with an "R" in front of his name?

Yes

OR

No

Improved homemade oil lamp

I saw a simple oil lamp on MAKE blog today, and thought it was a neat idea. After reading more about it I saw that the oil level had to be maintained as best as possible to keep the wick from burning out, and it suggested adding marbles to compensate for dropping oil levels. I tried to think of a solution that wouldn't require monitoring, and wouldn't have trouble pulling oil up the wick as the oil level fell.

I came up with a floating wick holder


It's pretty simple


Simple coat hanger metal bent into a wick remover



The floating wick is three sections of cork cut 1/4" thick, strung together with some craft wire, with a short piece of wick shoved through the middle. Use a bit of foil with a hole in the middle for the wick to keep the cork from burning.


Should work for a long time, and be easily refilled without extinguishing the flame. The wick can be rolled up twine as recommended at the link, but I just used a rectangle of shirt cotton rolled up. For different flames experiment with thickness of wick, and how much the wick sticks out of the cork. Should work with most oils, but apparently olive oil burns cleanly. Dunk the wick in the oil and heat the wick for a while until it starts burning, it might take a bit the first time. Extinguish it smokelessly by dunking it in the oil with the wire wick remover.

Stock up on that veggie oil for reliable emergency lighting.

Consider adding some craft wires sticking horizontally out of the wick in three directions to keep it centered in the lamp.

Klötzchenbeförderer will kill your pets.

This is amazing. Keep your eye on the gray disks.



Via MAKE

Portal: A Day in the Life of a Turret

The insanity is strong in this one.

Banana Phone is played very frequently in the NOC. Usually for extended periods of time... Very extended.

Me: *Queues up Banana Phone*
Coworkers: *sing along a bit*

20 minutes later

Coworker: You know, I'm pretty sure that's slowly driving me mad.
Me: Really? It makes me stronger.

EPOCH FAIL!

Damn hilarious!

UPDATE: Hint to google searchers; It's a wordplay on "Epic Fail!" and Epoch time (Posix/Unix time).

Ow ow ow ow, OW!!!

Doesn't matter how trained you are.

Doesn't matter how skilled you have become.

Doesn't matter if your friend said it was unloaded.

Complacency in firearm safety leads to accidents.

In addition to double checking my chamber, I think I'll start septuple checking.

Open up; Police!

Would you open your door to a stranger? Probably not.

Would you open your door to a stranger in a police uniform? I hope not, because it just got you shot in the chest.

It's very simple, identify the people through a window or peephole, and when they indicate or imply they are law enforcement officers, ask them which department, and then call that department with 411 to confirm they are who they say they are. Ask for badge numbers and last names, and confirm with the station. Use 411 or your yellow pages, don't call a number they give.

It's not something a lot of people think about (myself included up until a few years ago), but it's a safety thing. If the cops get indignant, tell them to fuck off, and call 911. Seriously.

While we're talking about people in uniforms, you know what happened when a bunch of fed ex uniforms went up on ebay? They sold out instantly. This is why you should have a handgun on your person when answering the door when you are not expecting visitors.

DJ Tiesto sucks

Update 10/8/08: I'm full of shit! I had some wires crossed when I posted this, and posted that he made sandstorm. Well, as one of the commenters pointed out, Sandstorm was done by Da Rude, who really had a mediocre sound (save the original Sandstorm, of course). But that didn't stop me from playing his CD until it was no longer playable. My experience with Tiesto was from one of his earlier CDs, where he sounded just as I described. Uninspired, and underdeveloped. Shitty progression, overused sounds, basically simple shit trance. His newer stuff is MUCH better. In fact, I'd rate it as above average. (which says a bit coming from a snob like me) So, let the record show that DJ Tiesto doesn't suck. Anymore.

I posted the video because I thought it was amusing, but took minor issue with the fact that the video doesn't address the issues I had with his music; rather, it seems to take umbrage to trance in general. Personified by a popular European trance DJ, Tiesto.

Original post follows below
-----------------------------------

Yes, you made sandstorm, and probably most of the 30,000 remixes of that song. Other than that original, you suck. Your uninspired, underdeveloped music gives trance a bad name.

Semi-coders and pseudo-code

Coworker: Hey, really quick, I need you to write a quick script to generate a config file for, like 800 elements.
Me: Give me the data, and an example of the output you want, and give me three minutes.
Coworker: Three minutes? Ok, only if it's really quick, though.
Me: I'm waiting for the data really quickly.
Coworker: Yeah yeah...

Minutes pass

Me: Hey, I'm almost done.
Coworker: Huh?
Me: Actually, I'm not, because you haven't sent the data over.
Coworker: Ahh, shaddap... So, can you just send me an example of your code so I can write it?
Me: What?
Coworker: Just send me an example, and I'll just write it. I just need an example of a loop.
Me: You want me to send you an example of the most basic programing function a language could have, so you can write some pseudo-code and then make me troubleshoot it when it doesn't work? No deal.
Coworker: But-- fine.

Shin Chan is the shit

It's so full of inuendo and idiocy, I giggle like an idiot whenever watching it.



Shin Chan official website

Compromise for everyone but RP

Many say they love RP and everything he stands for, BUT they won't vote for him because of his stance on the war.

However, in the next breath they'll talk about how they are accepting the lesser of two evils in an alternate candidate, becuase they know that politics is a game of compromise.

They feel that the war on terror is too much of a negative to ignore.

I happen to feel the deviation from the ideals of the framers of this nation is doing more damage to America than Osama Bin Laden could ever do.




I don't understand how some people don't notice.

Why don't they get it?

Coworker: Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could have something show up in the monitoring software to show the current weather?
Me: Give me 10 minutes.
Coworker: Seriously?
Me: Yes, seriously. I keep telling you this, but if it's on a computer, I can write a probe for it, and we can monitor it.
Coworker: What about, like, the local traffic?
Me: Dude. If it's on a computer... We can monitor it.
Coworker: Huh. Cool.

8 minutes later

Me: Done!

I bitch about it, but Nimsoft's NimBUS API is pretty cool. (once you figure out all the undocumented features)

"It's the Economy, Stupid!"

Stop what you're doing right now, click on the title link and watch the whole thing--it takes a little under 9 minutes.

Yikes.



Via David.

Real men of genius; Mr Cable Management Guy

Are you ready?

No, really. Are you ready?

I don't think you're ready.

Take a moment, and prepare for a mild aneurism...

... well?

... ready?

If you're sure you're ready...

Clicky.

Mr. Cable Management Guy; we salute you, you magnificent asshat.

Vote Hillary for a better 4 years from now.

Just one Conservatarian's humble opinion.

If a Republican wins two things will happen. First, the incredible "Bush hate" will turn into "Rudy/Romney/McCain hate" because it was never "Bush hate," it was Republican hate. Secondly, Republican leaders will remain in the apparent coma they've been in, and continue the "cut taxes and spend like drunken sailors" fiscal policy.

Hillary will be torn to shreds by the end of her "service." Sending Democrats (and likely women, unfortunately) back years in the minds of most Americans. This is likely because her presidency would follow a Clinton bent, as her campaign has, and she lacks the slick-shit charm that old BJ (Bill Jefferson) had to get out of the numerous scandals that spilled from his office. It's likely she'll resort to using Bill's charm to get her out of trouble one (hundred) too many times, and Americans enamored with slick Willy will wise up. Also, she'll lack the Republican majority that kept the insane spending in check. By the end of her presidency, uttering the word "Hillary" should leave Americans reaching for a drink to wash the bad taste from their mouth.

Hillary will impose (and I do mean impose) her free lunch health care scheme, which will immediately cause a severe drop in the level of health care available to everyone except the rich. And by everyone, I also mean Democrats. This will slap the socialist idealists (who seem to be in the majority) in the face and remind them that when the government tries to do anything except waste money, it fails miserably. This is the only risky venture since prolonged use of this system threatens to severely damage the the best health care industry in the world. Hopefully this doesn't stick for 8 years. *shudder*

Hillary will increase taxes to pay for her pet programs early, which is a pinch majority of Americans are willing to accept because they feel guilty for working hard (for some damn reason). However, this pinch will be made significantly harder with the instant, unstoppable bloat that will be caused by the "free" health care. Americans will feel the pinch, then they'll feel pliers digging and twisting. Hillary will refuse to cut her programs for as long as possible, opting to raise taxes on the rich (you know, the people who make jobs and pay people) until we near a recession.

Hillary will strengthen clandestine information gathering powers and technologies under the guise of Homeland Security, and likely misuse them (as Clintons are wont to do). She will be skewered by the privacy and government watchdog groups that grew powerful watching Republicans. She'll suffer the monster she helped create when the anti-war and pro-privacy groups she chanted with against the Bush administration turn on her. This will be fun to watch.

Hillary will rub America the wrong way. She'll play a Carter, and with any luck, our Reagan will appear.

Vote Hillary for a better 4 years from now.

That's what I'm worried about

Fucking blogger. Click here to view.