Month: January 2014

SHOT Show 2014

We’re getting close to the end of this year’s SHOT Show. While I used to get excited about this show because I’m always interested in learning about new firearms that will be hitting the market I’ve found myself caring less and less each year. At this point I think it’s safe to rename SHOT Show to the New AR Pattern Rifles and 1911s Show. Granted, there have been a few unveilings that haven’t been based on the popular black rifle or the 100 year old handgun but not many.

New news regarding the Beretta ARX100 has probably been the most exciting thing that I’ve read about from this year’s SHOT Show. While the ARX100 isn’t too evolutionary it is at least something different.

One of the downsides of being interested in firearms development is that the technology, in a large part, is mature. But I would love to see somebody unveil a prototype Guass or laser rifle. It doesn’t have to be practical, affordable, or ready for market. Just seeing something so different would make me excited for the show again.

Anyways, that’s my rant for the day.

Civil Suit Moving Forward in Kelly Thomas Case

Kelly Thomas’s murderers may have beaten criminal charges but the victim’s father is planning on bringing a civil suit against his son’s killers:

LOS ANGELES – The father of Kelly Thomas said Tuesday that the fight to get justice is “not over,” even though a jury cleared two former Fullerton officers in the death of his mentally ill son.

“I look at this like a prize fight. It’s not over,” Ron Thomas said at a news conference in Los Angeles. “We still have several rounds to go.”

[…]

During the news conference, Ron Thomas’ attorney, Garo Mardirossian, said they will go forward with a civil case and will present evidence that was not allowed in the criminal trial to let a jury “see the full story of what happened.”

I do hope the case ends up costing the officers a great deal of personal wealth. While it would be far from a perfect, or even remotely just, outcome it would be better than nothing.

Getting Away with Murder

It’s easy to get away with murder in this country. Doing so only requires you to acquire a badge and a state sanctioned costume. Once you’ve done that you can go around beating people to death without worrying about consequences:

An Orange County jury Monday found two former Fullerton police officers accused of killing a schizophrenic homeless man, Kelly Thomas, not guilty.

Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli were charged with striking Kelly Thomas with a baton and a stun gun in a beating that left him comatose. He died five days later.

What makes this decision especially heinous is that the evidence of police brutality is concrete. Here is the video of the police beating Mr. Thomas to death without any provocation (obviously the video is violent):

One might be asked what defense could possibly exist for an act of brutality such as this. Well the defense, like the video, was sick:

Ramos’ attorney, John Barnett, told reporters: “These peace officers were doing their jobs…they did what they were trained to do.”

The defense attorney was being truthful, the officers were doing their jobs as they were trained to. Threatening and inflicting violence to instill obedience is how officers are trained to deal with situations. If an officer commands you to do something and you fail to do so you can almost guarantee that you would be beaten, Tased, shot, or otherwise aggressed against. This is one of the biggest problems with modern policing.

I honestly don’t have words to describe my opinion of those officers or the jurors who gave them a free pass. This ruling demonstrates everything that is wrong with America’s “justice” system. Although I try to avoid using derogatory labels I cannot help by bring myself to use one now. Those officers are fucking pigs. They are examples of the worst humanity has to offer. Savagely beating a homeless schizophrenic man to death because he was unwilling to put his god damned feet in the command position takes a true psychopath. I only hope that the jurors came to their decision because they were being threatened behind the scenes. Based on what I’ve seen in today’s “justice” system I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case. And if that was the reason for their decision I understand and do not fault them. On the other hand, if that wasn’t the reason for their decision I can only assume the jury was made up of some truly sick individuals.

Fuck everything about this case.

Glorious Super Mario World Hack

I’m a huge fan of hacking, which should be made obvious by my yearly pilgrimages to Defcon. Although I’ve seen many hacks that have impressed me few have impressed me as thoroughly as this one:

It’s at 1:39 in the video where things really start going pear-shaped, as the fabric of the game’s reality comes apart at the seams for a few seconds before inexplicably transitioning to Mario-themed versions of Pong and Snake. Understanding what’s going on here requires some deep knowledge of the Super NES’ internal sprite and memory management, which is explained in detail here and here.

Suffice it to say that the first minute-and-a-half or so of this TAS is merely an effort to spawn a specific set of sprites into the game’s Object Attribute Memory (OAM) buffer in a specific order. The TAS runner then uses a stun glitch to spawn an unused sprite into the game, which in turn causes the system to treat the sprites in that OAM buffer as raw executable code. In this case, that code has been arranged to jump to the memory location for controller data, in essence letting the user insert whatever executable program he or she wants into memory by converting the binary data for precisely ordered button presses into assembly code (interestingly, this data is entered more quickly by simulating the inputs of eight controllers plugged in through simulated multitaps on each controller port).

What makes this hack so impressive is that it didn’t rely on any emulator glitches. Instead the hack was performed on an actual Super Nintendo using only a standard controller as an input device:

Last week’s Awesome Games Done Quick “total control” demo is also notable for being run on actual, bare-bones SNES hardware rather than on an emulator (as is standard with most TAS videos). The robotic player at the event was powered by a Raspberry Pi hooked up to a special adapter (mounted amusingly to an NES R.O.B. controller) that let the computer send its preprogrammed controller inputs into the controller ports at superhuman, frame-level speed. Thus, the demonstration proved that this exploit was present in the actual system and cartridge released by Nintendo and not some sort of artifact of faulty emulation. That isn’t a foregone conclusion, either, as syncing up the vagaries of split-second timing and memory management between real and emulated hardware are not trivial (this is yet another area where the idea of perfect emulation accuracy might come in handy).

I can only tip my hat in awe at the sheer quality of this hack. Here is a video of the hack:

Why Police Departments Fight Cannabis Legalization

Legalizing cannabis is a fight that has been ongoing here in Minnesota for many years. The current governor, Mark Dayton, has stated numerous times that he would only sign a legalization bill if law enforcement signed off on it. That’s a great cop out because law enforcement agencies are unlikely to support any effort to legalize cannabis. Their reasoning is simple, legalizing cannabis would cut into their revenue:

MILL CREEK, Wash.—A drug task force in Washington’s Snohomish County has historically been funded in part by cash, cars, houses and other assets seized from marijuana purveyors. But with recreational pot becoming legal in the state, this funding is going up in smoke.

Snohomish’s 22-officer drug-fighting operation, one of 19 such task forces in the state, brought in about $200,000 from forfeitures in marijuana cases in 2012—15% of its funding that year; the haul has exceeded $1 million in years past. The task force has a piece of land, seized from a pot grower, where it stores seized vehicles awaiting auction and trims with a riding mower confiscated in a drug bust.

The county’s task force has already slashed its projected funding for this year by more than 15%, partially because of a decline in revenue from asset forfeitures in pot cases, said task force Commander Pat Slack. That will mean less money for overtime, training and new equipment, said Mr. Slack, a vocal opponent of legalization.

With marijuana legalized for those at least 21 years old in Washington later this year and in Colorado as of Jan. 1, law-enforcement agencies in those states expect to lose millions in revenue gained from assets seized from growers and dealers.

Cannabis prohibition is a racket. Through civil forfeiture laws police departments make large amounts of money off of the war on unpatentable drugs. The incentive of revenue ensures police departments will generally oppose any form of cannabis legalization.

Government decrees tend to have an air of permanency to them. Nobody should find this surprising because most government decrees become revenue generators for the state. Whether violating decrees result in direct extortion (fines and confiscation of property), enslavement (prison), or coercion (being forced to work as a snitch for the state) the state always manages to turn its decrees into profit. Once something becomes a revenue generator it’s difficult to convince those profiting from it to destroy it.

Reducing Gun Violence and Enacting Gun Control Laws Aren’t Synonymous

Yesterday I opened a copy of the Star Tribune sitting in the lunch room at work and found, unsurprisingly, a letter to the editor arguing for gun control. While letters arguing in favor of gun control are a dime a dozen in the Star Tribune I decided to post this one here because it demonstrates a common logical error in the gun control movement:

I was moved by the article written by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (“Fighting gun violence day by day, step by step,” Jan. 9). She describes the incredible difficulty she has had to face after a coward with a gun shot her in the head. But she has survived, is recovering well and is committed to ending gun violence along with her husband, Mark Kelly.

I support her efforts and, along with thousands of others in our state and millions across this country, realize the necessity of making our communities safe from gun violence. People victimized by guns have rights, too.

Truthfully, it has never been about the loss of Second Amendment rights nor about government confiscation, despite what the public has been told by the gun industry. On the contrary, common-sense laws that require universal background checks, prevent illegal gun traffic and straw purchases, and allow the collection of data from gun sales and crime have been proven to save lives while still maintaining the right to own guns.

Let’s work together to get this done. Our cause is just and growing, and we will not be silenced.

JAY THACKER, Shoreview

Mr. Thacker is arguing for a need to reduce gun violence and to enact gun control laws. His argument implies that the two are synonymous, which they aren’t. We live in a period that has seen a dramatic increase in the number of firearm sales and an overall reduction in violent crime. Increases in firearm sales have been due to multiple criteria including a governmental push for stricter gun control laws and a rapid increase in the number of carry permit holders. We’re not simply experiencing an increase in the number of firearm sales but also in the number of firearms being carried by individuals.

Gun control laws have the sole purpose of reducing the number of firearms in circulation. The belief of gun control proponents is that decreasing the number of firearms in circulation will reduce the rate of gun violence. That belief has been proven false by the above mentioned points. Therefore we must look at other reasons for the overall reduction in the rate of gun violence that we are enjoying today. I’m not foolish enough to believe that there is a single reason for the reduced rate of gun violence but I do believe that an armed society is a polite society plays a sizable part.

Increasing the number of firearms being carried on the street also increases the potential consequences for performing a violent crime. Assaulting, raping, or murdering somebody becomes more dangerous when the more members of the potential victim pool are able to effectively defend themselves. This potentiality is mutually exclusive to the potentiality that reducing the number of firearms in circulation also reduces violent crime rates. Since we are experiencing a period of higher gun sales and lower gun violence we must conclude that the beliefs of gun control advocates are false. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the beliefs of gun rights advocates are factual but those beliefs haven’t been proven false yet and a lot of evidence supports such beliefs.

If one is serious about wanting to reduce gun violence they should abandon their advocacy of stricter gun control laws. It’s demonstrable that gun control laws aren’t having an effect on gun violence rates. This means that gun violence rates must be effected by other factors. These factors must be discovered and understood before an effective method of reducing gun violence rates can be pursued. Therefore I urge those wanting to reduce gun violence to invest their time and resources into uncovering factors that effect gun violence rates. Once we have a better understanding of the causes of violence in a society we can work to address those issues.

Man Murdered by Retired Cop for Texting in a Theater

Normally I wouldn’t have much to say about this story other than one man murder another in cold blood. But advocates of gun control have been using this story to argue for banning the lawful carrying of firearms in movie theaters. That requires us to have a little discussion:

The shooting suspect, identified as retired Tampa police officer Curtis Reeves, 71, became annoyed when a couple sitting in front of him were texting during the movie’s previews, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s office.

Police said that Reeves asked Chad and Nichole Oulson several times to stop, and then Reeves left the theater. When Reeves returned, Chad Oulson asked Reeves if he reported his phone use to the theater managers, police said. That prompted an argument which ended when Reeves pulled out a gun and shot Oulson in the chest, police said.

The first point that is worth mentioning is that the shooter was a retired police officer. I bring this point up because most gun control advocates are in favor of allowing the police to keep carrying firearms. In fact gun control is entirely dependent on police officers having a means of inflicting violence on those who would violate any firearm restrictions.

The second point that is worth mentioning is that the shooter was obviously prone to violence. This could be due to his years as a police officer or he could just naturally have a predisposition to preferring violence. Either way, if he was willing to shoot somebody for texting he would almost certainly be willing to beat them to death for the same.

As a side note I will also add that the retired cop may have become too used to being held unaccountable for his actions. Most cops are shielded from the consequences of their malicious actions and that tends to breed an atmosphere of irresponsibility. This former cop may have shot the gun because he was shielded from accountability for so long he forgot that actions have consequences. Regardless of how I look at it I can’t find a way to blame the firearm or the fact that people can lawfully carry firearms into theaters.

Vegan Suppressor

I have to give some credit to the person who finally found a use for squash:

Investigators say a person suspected of robbing a Charleston County gas station used a squash to silence shots fired at the business.

To this day I have not found a decent use for squash. Every time I try to incorporate it into a recipe I end up getting something that is basically flavorless. I’m glad to see that squash can be put to productive uses. While I obviously won’t test this because that would likely violate the National Firearms Act (NFA), and I’m all about obedience to the state, I will find somebody who has tested this first hand and ask them how it worked.

It’s Good to Be King

Being the king has privileges. You get a large standing army to command, can raise funds by increasing the amount of wealth you’re expropriating from your subjects, and are in a position to command favors from the merchant class. Whenever somebody runs for a state position I’m instantly suspicious of their motives. My reason for this is obvious. Obtaining a position in the state is very lucrative:

For the first time in history, most members of Congress are millionaires, according to a new analysis of personal financial disclosure data by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Of 534 current members of Congress, at least 268 had an average net worth of $1 million or more in 2012, according to disclosures filed last year by all members of Congress and candidates. The median net worth for the 530 current lawmakers who were in Congress as of the May filing deadline was $1,008,767 — an increase from the previous year when it was $966,000. In addition, at least one of the members elected since then, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), is a millionaire, according to forms she filed as a candidate. (There is currently one vacancy in Congress.)

I should get in on this scam called Congress. Not only do you can to tell 300 million people what to do but you can also become quite wealthy doing it. All it takes is a lack of morality and a little bit of psychopathy. Sadly, as far as my checkbook is concerned, I lack both.

Even Your Automobile is Snitching on You

I enjoy the fact that we’re seeing some innovation in the long stagnant automobile market. But said innovation comes at a price. Every new feature that is capable of collecting data about your driving habits is a potential set of loose lips that can get you into trouble. The Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Ford let the cat out of the bag when he publicly announced that his company knows when you’re doing something illegal with your automobile:

Farley was trying to describe how much data Ford has on its customers, and illustrate the fact that the company uses very little of it in order to avoid raising privacy concerns: “We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you’re doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you’re doing. By the way, we don’t supply that data to anyone,” he told attendees.

His claim that that data isn’t given to anybody is a lie. If somebody holds data the government can issue a subpoena to take it or use the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance apparatus to secretly take it. Furthermore, if Ford ever declares bankruptcy the data that it has collected on its customers will be sold at its asset auction.

The obvious solutions to this problem are to either forgo a new automobile or disable any new vehicle’s tracking and reporting capabilities. If the data is being collected it can be acquired by unauthorized parties. This fact is especially worrisome as the state continues its slow death spiral and beings desperately grasping at any opportunity to expropriate wealth from the people.