Month: September 2010

NRA Challenging Ban on 18-20 Year Olds Buying Handguns

The National Rifle Association (NRA) are challenging the ban on 18-20 year olds being prohibited from purchasing handguns from a federally licensed dealer:

The NRA is challenging federal laws that prohibit law-abiding Americans eighteen through twenty years of age from legally purchasing a handgun through a federally licensed firearm dealer. The case was filed Tuesday evening in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Lubbock Division. James D’Cruz of Lubbock, TX is the plaintiff in this case.

Good on them. I’ve always found some things odd in this country. Take for example being an adult, in this country you are legally considered an adult at 18 years of age. Alas being an adult doesn’t mean you’re quite ready to be treated as such. In most states you can’t legally purchase or consume alcohol until you’re 21 and you are prohibited from purchasing a handgun from a federally licensed dealer until you reach the same age.

Strangely enough when you turn 18 you’re old enough to join the military where they often issue you handguns. Hell, at 18 you’re old enough to join the civilian police force who are issued handguns as well. Yet, even if you join military or a police force, you still can not legally go to a gun shop and purchase a handgun until you reached 21 years of age. Doesn’t make much sense does it?

I’m glad to see the NRA challenging this one.

Yippee!

Glorious news denizens of Chicago! The High Priest Douche Bag himself, Mayor “Dumb Fuck” Daley, isn’t going to run for re-election. Daley has been an outspoken opponent to civil rights from day one and had done everything in his power to keep the people of his city disarmed (except for the criminals of course). Well it seems he’s going to end is own reign of terror over the city leaving the door open for another contender.

Make sure you pick somebody who isn’t a complete fuckwit.

More Android vs. iOS

Is it any surprise that I like Android as an operating system? Would you be shocked if I told you I despise Apple’s App Store practices and how they restrict iOS devices? If you answered yes to either of those questions you’re either new here or have problems comprehending what you read. In the first case let me say welcome and in the latter case let me question your intelligence.

I’ve made a few posts about my Android phone and a few posts criticizing Apple’s practices in regards to iOS. This post is quite an opposite because I must give Apple some serious credit where it is due, their support for older devices.

Apple does a pretty decent job of supporting old versions of the iPhone for some appreciable amount of time. For instance if you have the previous model of the iPhone you can install the newest version of iOS and get many of its features. This isn’t so true in the Android world. I have an HTC Evo 4G and a while ago HTC released Android 2.2 for the device. Unfortunately that update has some glaring issues, the biggest of which in my opinion is the inability to sync multiple GMail accounts. If you have two GMail accounts added to your Android phone only the primary one will sync automatically leaving you to manually refresh each other account. Couple this with non-functioning VPN and flaky Exchange support and you have a desperate need for a patch.

The problem is HTC has so far simply stated they are looking into the problem and have not released an fix. Why am I concerned? Because of the history most Android manufacturers have with dropping support for devices that aren’t that old. While an iPhone owner can expect to receive updates for a couple years after purchasing their phone most Android users are lucky to receive fixes for a full year. There are some exceptions such as Google’s Nexus One (which is no longer being sold to consumers) and Motorola’s Droid (which is obsolete) but for the most part it seems manufacturers are quick to drop support for their devices forcing you to either go without updates or upgrade to a new phone.

I will also note that Palm has done a great job at continuing to support the Pre and Pixi but that could be due to the simple fact those are the only two phones they have released. Previously they were fast to stop releasing updates for their Treos and PDAs.

Let me simple give Apple a big cudos

Licensing Toy Guns

Australia is going for the gold today as they’ve landed on this site’s front page twice. New laws are being pushed in Australia that will require toy guns be licensed as real ones. Oh, and because there is no limited to stupidity this law will also involved other things:

The proposed changes will also impose restrictions on the ownership of laser pointers, tougher penalties for selling items such as crossbows, bullet proof vests and knuckledusters without the appropriate licence, and stricter rules on firearm storage. In certain circumstances, religion will be a lawful excuse for carrying a knife and police who take their service-issue firearms home will be exempted.

Be careful with those dangerous laser pointers, you could put somebody’s eye out with it. We also must appreciate that the police are like you and me only better so they are exempt from this legislation.

I Don’t Like It, Make It Illegal

I haven’t had a good nanny state story in a while but thankfully some Australian activists have shattered that fact. There seems to be a 25% increase in pedestrian deaths and the assume culprit are iPods. The most obvious solution to such a problem is to make it illegal:

But Mr Scruby said the rise in the popularity of iPods and other listening devices illustrated an urgent need for action by state government and manufacturers.

”The government is quite happy to legislate that people can lose two demerit points for having music up too loud in their cars, but is apparently unconcerned that listening devices now appear to have become lethal pieces of entertainment,” he said. ”They should legislate appropriate penalties for people acting so carelessly towards their own welfare and that of others.

”Manufacturers … should be made to [warn] consumers of the risks they run.”

Yes that will fix the problem, legislation. I mean it always works so well. Once you make something illegal it’ll go away. I’m sure Australia will be free of iPod related accidents as soon as that legislation is passed. It’s a good thing government can protect us from ourselves.

I also love how they want manufacturers to put yet another warning label that will be ignored onto the device.

Environmental Extremism

So we’ve all come to an agreement that Mr. Environment who took over the Discovery Channel headquarters was just out and out bat shit crazy. He decided to focus that crazy on environmental issues and even wrote up a manifesto of sorts (which I’m not linking to because violent nut jobs get no link love from me). For shits and giggles I read through his manifesto and shortly after had to take a couple shots of vodka to prevent brain damage in the form of remembering anything from that manifest.

Alas what he wrote reflects ideas I’ve often heard spouted by environmental extremists. I’ve been trying to determine how a person can develop so much hatred for their own species that they believe the only way to save the planet is to wipe out the human race. What leads somebody to develop that view? That view requires self-hatred as you ultimately are stating you believe you should be dead.

Personally I like to look on the brighter side of things. To that end I’m presenting a series of solutions to the “population problem” as the wackos like to call it that don’t involved death camps and violence.

All of you environmentalists need to start donating money to companies researching practical space travel. If you believe the Earth is unable to support the human population then it’s time to relocated some of the people. Mars is another planet which in theory could be setup to support a large population of people. The sooner we get there and colonize it the sooner we reduce the population of Earth. As an added bonus Mars is already a lifeless wasteland so there isn’t a previous Mother Gaia to destroy. Seriously what could we do to Mars that the universe hasn’t done already?

There you go a non-violent means of reducing the population of the planet. Next up a peaceful solution to extinction. Although extinction is nature’s way of eliminating creatures unable to adapt to their changing environment some people believe the human race must be wiped out to save these creatures. Here is a better idea, cloning. Get a genetic sample of every creature you can and put some of your money into researching the science of cloning. Did your beloved Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal get wiped out by slash and burn operations in the Amazon? Good news with a genetic sample and proper research you can just make some more. Hell you could open a wildlife refuge dome on Mars for wayward animals and bring back all those species that nature decided no longer fit to survive. Hell if you want to seriously considering bringing back dinosaurs let me know and I’ll chip in some money.

Now if you’re an environmentalist reading this (why your reading this site and an environmentalist baffles my mind honestly) your next question will probably involve pollution. Due to our awesome ability to build shit the human race does create byproducts. Everything from sulfur in the atmosphere to mercury in the water are byproducts of industry. Remember the statement about colonizing Mars? We can move a ton of industry there as well. Think about it, who the fuck cares if we’re pumping shit into Mars’s atmosphere? We can’t breathe it and apparently nothing else living has found it useful enough to park their butts down on that planet. What’s a little more toxic material in the atmosphere on a planet who’s atmosphere is already deadly toxic? We could also setup orbital factories that could pump byproducts into space. I don’t care how many widgets you build, you’ll never be able to create enough particles of any pollutant to fill the massive vacuum that is space.

Instead of wasting your time with creeds an whining about how terrible the human race is and how great Mother Gaia is why not work to correct it in a peaceful and practical manner that may actually have popular support? Just imagine how much you could accomplish if you put all that time and effort into something useful instead of bitching and moaning?

Let’s all work together to make a better future… a future with bad ass space ships.

Everybody Stop, Taser Time

For your exhibition I present item number 151 in abuse of Taser by police officers. Man man fell down some steps at the front of the house an injured himself. His wife called the paramedics whom arrive, administered treatment, and left. As they were leaving they were greeted by a couple cops storming into the house and telling the injured man he was coming with them to the hospital:

The deputy tells McFarland he is going to take him to the hospital because he may be suicidal.

“We want to take you to the hospital for an evaluation, you said if you had a gun, you’d shoot yourself in the head,” the deputy can be heard saying.

McFarland says it was just hyperbole. He was tired and in pain.

The deputy orders him numerous times to get up or else.

“Stand up, put your hands behind your back or you’re going to be Tased,” the deputy says.

McFarland keeps refusing.

McFarland pretty much did what I’d have done, explained the remark was hyperbole and kept sitting. I guess I’d have also requested the police to remove themselves from my property in a kindly way. Well the police decided the passive resistance to their authoritah was violent enough to require the use of a Taser. Of course as with any police officer on a power trip with a Taser they keep telling the man to stop resisting as they’re actively Tasing him. How much less resistance can you get and convulsing on the ground uncontrollably? The whole time the wife was begging the police to stop and even explained that her husband had a heart condition.

At the very least these officers should be tossed into prison for attempted murder. Personally I believe the wife would have been well within her rights to shoot the officer with the Taser under the laws of self-defense (which generally extend to loved ones). Of course had she done that she’s spend the rest of her life in prison because you can’t shoot a police officer in self-defense, they’re above than you, me, and the law.

Play Big or Go Home

Iran sure ruffled some features when they brought their first nuclear power plant online. The United Nations (UN) is screaming for everybody to place sanctions against Iran because only members of the UN can have nuclear anything. Of course sanctions work about as well as scolding a misbehaving child but who care. Japan decided to play big and enact additional sanctions again Iran above and beyond those called for by the UN:

The measures – which go beyond than those imposed by the UN Security Council – ban transactions with some Iranian banks, and also target energy-related investments.

Oh yeah that will show those Iranians. Nothing will tell a country to fuck off like cutting off money going from your country to theirs… oh wait:

Japan is a major importer of Iranian crude oil, but did not impose any restrictions on oil imports from Iran.

So their still sending buckets of money to Iran. So much for playing big.