Greenpeace Being Morons Again

Man I hate these guys…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/08460718-4e0f-11de-a0a1-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

So the road to blame all meat eating people for the world’s problems is being further paved. Now us omnivores and carnivores are being blamed for the destruction of the rain forest.

The sum of it is since we eat meat and potentially use leather products we make a demand for cattle. The demand for cattle requires Brazilian farmers to burn down more rain forest to create more pasture. I have a better idea, maybe we should blame those farmers burning down rain forest to create pasture land.

I’m getting damned sick and tired of this attitude of people who eat meat are villainous. This is like the letter to the editor some lady sent into to The Red Star (I mean the Star Tribune) saying people who eat meat are immoral because they support the killing of animals. Well I have news for all you meat haters, animals have been killing each other for sustenance well before we came around. Instead of taking the moral high ground why don’t you just eat your non-animal products and be happy and quiet about it.

Gun Documentation

I just finished up doing a project that’s been on the back burner for far too long, gun documentation.

Gun documentation is simple, you document all the guns you have. I know that a lot of people scream that this is a bad idea and only facilitates helping the ATF when they come to steal your guns. That’s why you keep this documentation private.

Why would you want to do this? Simple so you have proof of the firearms you own. Should the worst happen and your guns get stolen you can provide the documentation for the stolen guns to the police. This is so they know what they are looking for. It also allows them to report the guns to any gun stores or pawn shops so they know if somebody tries to sell them the gun they can report the person. This is actually a good idea to do with an expensive property which you lack a deed for.

The documentation is pretty simple. For the basics you really only need the following…

  • Photographs of each side of the gun
  • Photograph of the serial number

That’s it really. Now you can just write down the serial number if your camera isn’t capable of getting the serial number. I prefer a photograph because of two reasons. First you won’t run the possibility of incorrectly recording it. Second it shows the serial number of the gun you photographed which proves the gun was in your possession at some point in time.

Make sure you keep a copy of this information offsite as well. Of course that rule applies to all documentation information.

Google Chrome Developer’s Take on Linux Development

I can’t say I disagree with them…

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/05/hands-on-google-chromium-browser-alpha-for-linux.ars

I think Ben Goodger sums up Linux development quite nicely…

First of all let me generally comment that this entire situation is a clusterfuck.

More precisely…

“There isn’t dominant consensus around toolkit and HIG, there seems to be variance in commonly used software as to how it’s constructed and what it matches, and I’ve not heard anyone glow about how they can create the coolest looking UIs with GTK.

I have to say I agree whole heartedly with Mr. Goodger. I use Linux a lot and have done a lot of development one it. And every time I develop something for Linux I’m amazed at the lack of any kind of standards. Don’t get me wrong I understand that happens when no single entity controls an operating system, which is one of Linux’s greatest strengths in my book. But it’s a pain in the ass for developers.

For instance there were several sound sub systems common on Linux (ALSA seems to be the most common now). You couldn’t know what system any user would use so you ended up having to throw in code to support multiple systems.

This problem is still alive and well with graphical interface. You don’t know if a person is using KDE (based on Qt) or Gnome (Based on GTK+) or maybe even some other completely different system. I generally use Gnome (no flame wars please) and I don’t like installing a bunch of libraries I don’t need so I steer away from Qt based applications. The same goes for many KDE users they don’t want to install the GTK+ libraries. Hence you either have to say tough shit to some users or support both libraries.

This kind of cluster fucking is all over in Linux which is one of the things I hate about it. Don’t get me wrong overall I love Linux but not when I have to write code beyond the command line for it.

It’s nice to see even the geniuses at Google are having a pain in the ass time with it. Yes I know it’s petty but it makes me feel better when a company full of super geniuses have the same problems I do.

Musical Side Note, Alestorm’s New Album Released

OK this has nothing to do with my usual topics but I love this band so I thought I’d drop note that Alestorm’s new album titled Black Sails at Midnight is out. For those landlubbers who don’t know Alestorm is a pirate metal band.

I’d link to their website but it’s on myspace.com which isn’t getting any links for me. Instead I present to you the Amazon MP3 store (don’t worry it’s not a referral link, I ain’t making shit off of this) link to the album so you can preview it.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sails-At-Midnight/dp/B0026ZZG4W/ref=dm_ap_alb4

So go forth me mateys.

Because Somebody Mentioned it at Work

I’m glad to see the NRA-ILA alert on this so called “gun tax” rumor that has been floating around. I’ve received no less then four e-mails about this in the last month or so and really had no easy way to reply to people it’s nothing to be concerned with. Well now I have the small bite size piece of text…

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=4925

This alert is dealing with the onerous SB-2099 which supposedly will require everybody to report all their guns on their income tax return. Well this little hitch was proposed and shot down nine years ago. It’s dead and buried. So please stop worrying about it and stop spreading it around.

For Those Anti-Gunners Saying Amendment Two is for Militia Only

You may want to stop using that argument. Let us take a look at the United States Code regarding the militia. Specifically who the militia is composed of…

http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/10C13.txt

In case you don’t want to dig through the code here is the part that matters…

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied
males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section
313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a
declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States
and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the
National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are –
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard
and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of
the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the
Naval Militia.

So there are two classes of militias in this fine country. The first consists of the organized militia which would be our military forces. But the second is the unorganized militia which consists of all able bodied males above the age of 17 who are not enrolled in the organized militia.

Of course the second amendment states quite clearly that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” In the entirety of the United States Constitution “the people” refers to the citizens. But I digress this post is to point out the fact that the anti-gunners don’t actually know what they are arguing.

Wisconsin Bans Rail Guns for Hunting

One of my friends from across the boarder (Wisconsin) sent me something funny…

http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10431620

The Wisconsin DNR has thought ahead. Way ahead. They have recently changed the wording for their law dealing with usable weapons for hunting.

From the story…

Now, hunters can legally use firearms including air guns, handguns and guns fired from the shoulder. But advisors for the state Department of Natural Resources argued those definitions were too loose and could include things like electromagnetic weapons.

This is depressing because I really wanted to take out the rail gun and plasma cannon hunting this season. Alas I guess neither will get to see any action. Such a sad story.

The Hoplophobe Travel Guide

Via Snow Flakes in Hell…

http://newledger.com/2009/05/guns-in-parks-the-hoplophobes’-travel-guide-to-the-united-states/

Now that all the scary people such as myself can carry their legal firearm in national parks (come February 2010) a travel guide has been made for those of you who are deftly afraid of guns.

Source: http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/2009/05/29/travel-guide-for-hoplophobes/

Possible Oil Price Manipulation? No Shit?

The feds are investigating the possibility that oil prices are being manipulated…

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/05/gas_prices246.html

I don’t think there really needs to be an investigation on this one, it’s pretty obvious. What’s next? Will the feds investigate the possibility that water is wet?

Source: http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/05/28/feds-probing-possible-oil-market-manipulation-oh-wait/