Tag: You’re Doing it Wrong

Be Careful When Defending Your Home

I’m guessing, based on what I commonly write about, most of you reading this post have some kind of home defense plan. If you don’t waiting until somebody is kicking down your door at oh dark thirty probably isn’t the best time to develop one. But whether you already have a plan or are developing a plan make sure you keep one thing in mind: if the thugs kicking down your door at 05:30 unannounced are wearing a badge you may be killed even if you survive the initial ordeal:

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a man charged in the shooting death of a veteran Killeen police officer.

Marvin Louis Guy, 49, has been indicted for capital murder in the shooting death of police Detective Charles “Chuck” Dinwiddie, 47, and is named in indictments charging three counts of attempted capital murder, as well.

During a hearing Thursday, Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza said he’ll seek the death penalty.

The charges stem from a shooting, which occurred as officers served a so-called no-knock search warrant just after 5:30 a.m. May 9 at 1104 Circle M Dr. Apt. 3 in Killeen.

In other words you better have some good fucking night visions because you can’t safely assume that just because somebody is kicking down your door in the wee hours of the morning that you have a valid self-defense claim. If you fail to see those little badges and assume the invaders are non-state thugs and thus believe you can defend yourself you may very well end up facing the death penalty.

Oh, and if you’re wondering, after 12 rigorous hours of searching the home the police didn’t find any drugs.

The Extent of American Militarism

The United States has a wicked hammer called the military. And like most people who only have a hammer the United States sees every problem as a nail. This has been apparent in the country’s foreign relations, which more closely resemble an extremely abusive relationship than a healthy marriage (it only bombs you because it loves you). But this seeing everything as nails problem has gone to a level of absurdity. As the fear of Ebola virus causes people around the world to piss their pants the United States government has stepped forth to reassure the fearful that it has the answer. And that answer is a world renowned team of viral experts who are being given access to whatever resources they need to defeat this virus! Just kidding. The answer, as always, is the military:

President Barack Obama has called the West Africa Ebola outbreak “a threat to global security” as he announced a larger US role in fighting the virus.

“The world is looking to the United States,” Mr Obama said, but added the outbreak required a “global response”.

The measures announced included ordering 3,000 US troops to the region and building new healthcare facilities.

I guess the plan is to just shoot the virus. That should work. After all the United States is, like, totally not using this outbreak as an excuse to increase its military presence in Africa so it can get to the continent’s resources before China.

Shortsighted Firearm Access Control Technology

A lot of electrons have been annoyed by people such as myself writing about access control technologies for firearm (often erroneously referred to as smart gun technology). Advocates of gun control want to mandate access control technologies in firearms because it will increase the costs and make guns less accessible they claim it will decrease gun related deaths. Gun rights advocates are worried that other states will pass laws like New Jersey’s that mandate all firearms include access control technologies after the first such equipped firearm is released to market. I’m primarily interested in the technology itself (since I have no problem ignoring laws I disagree with the threat of mandating the technology doesn’t carry much weight with me).

Understanding that politics is an ineffective vehicle for creating change some people got together and founded the Smart Tech for Firearms Challenge, which awards grants to individuals who show promising developments in access control technologies for firearms. One of those prize winners is Kai Kloepfer, a 17 year-old who designed an access control system for firearms. First let me congratulate Mr. Kloepfer on designing such a system at a young age. He shows the potential to go far as an engineer. Now let me point out a major flaw in the system he designed:

The gun works by creating a user ID and locking in the fingerprint of each user allowed to use the gun. The gun will only unlock with the unique fingerprint of those who have already permission to access the gun.

Access control technology for firearms that rely on the user’s fingerprint aren’t viable. While people living in California, Arizona, Florida, or other southern states may be inclined to ask why I, as a Minnesotan, can point out the glaring error quite quickly: gloves. Those of us who live in northern states spend many months with our hands inside of gloves. When it’s 20 below zero outside you can’t have your hands exposed to the elements for very long and those finger saving gloves render fingerprint readers useless (as well as capacitive touchscreens). How am I supposed to unlock my firearm in the winter? Some will probably say “By taking off your gloves, dumbass.” Those people don’t live in Minnesota because taking off your gloves isn’t always an option, especially when you plan to grab onto a freezing cold piece of metal. Furthermore one is seldom afforded the time to remove their gloves in a defensive situation.

Finger and hand print readers are Hollywood’s go-to solution for firearm access control. In the latest James Bond movie, Skyfall, Bond is given a Walther PPK/S equipped with a hand print reader. If anybody other than James Bond is holding the pistol it won’t fire. Hollywood sure makes the technology look effective but Bond is also never wearing gloves. Still many people seem to get their inspiration from Hollywood movies and that must be the reason why manufacturers of firearm access control technology have such a hard-on for finger and hand print readers. Because it certainly isn’t for practical reasons.

The Double Standards of Police Dogs

It’s no secret that police officers love executing dogs. In fact officers murdering dogs has become so common that there’s a term for it: puppycide. What makes matters worse is that officers who shoot a dog seldom face any consequences. On the other hand if you shoot a police dog the wrath and fury of Hell itself will fall upon you. This is one of those fun double standards that are common in police states. Once you pin a badge to something it suddenly becomes more important than the commoners. But what happens when a badged creature kills another badged creature? What if a police dog is killed by a police officer due to that officer’s negligence? It’s a question many have probably wondered but now we know:

DUPLIN COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A Duplin County Sheriff’s K-9 died last month after sitting in a hot squad car all night.

The sheriff disciplined Kela’s handler, but the punishment is not as harsh as some people think it should be.

“I just think it’s crazy, because they get on everyone else for leaving their animals in the car and dying, and they want to throw them in jail, but they can’t do nothing about their own officer that kills one of their K9s,” Duplin County resident Michael Foss said.

All badges are equal, but some badges are more equal than others. It seems that a police dog is a sworn officer unless it’s killed by a human police officer. So now we know that a badged dog is worth more than a commoner but a badged human is worth more than a badged dog.

Hawaii is Working to Solve Its Homeless Problem

Without government who would harass the homeless? In the state’s never ending war against those who don’t have homes the areas of the United States that remain warm all year around are at a major disadvantage. First there is no harsh winter to cause the homeless enough discomfort to convince them to go elsewhere. Second they’re usually tourist hotbeds and having homeless people in tourist hotbed just makes your city look tacky. Hawaii is especially hard hit because it’s war all year, a tourist hotbed, and there’s really nowhere for the homeless to go. But that hasn’t stopped the Honolulu City Council from trying to chase the homeless off:

HONOLULU (AP) — The Honolulu City Council approved several measures Wednesday aimed at moving homeless people out of tourist hotspots in Hawaii, including one that bans sitting and lying down on sidewalks in the popular Waikiki area.

But a separate push to prevent homeless people from resting on sidewalks throughout the rest of the island failed.

The council has been under pressure from the tourism industry to act, with hotel representatives saying visitors complain often about safety and human waste.

You have to hand it to government, when the politically connected talk the government listens! It also goes to show how government solve problems. With all of the money being stolen by the Honolulu City Council you would think it would try building homeless shelters or operating programs to help homeless people get back on their feet. But that’s not the case. Instead the government passes laws that make being homeless a crime, effectively telling all homeless people to “Get a home!”

I Understand that Words are Hard But Dictionaries are a Thing

As somebody who uses words everyday I understand that they can be difficult. Sometimes you think of the perfect word to make your smartass zinger shine but are uncertain if you’d be using it in the correct context. For those situations there are these things called dictionaries. In fact if you go to Google and type “define:word” you will be greeted with the definition of “word”. Because this wonderful technology known as a dictionary exists I’m not terribly forgiving when people totally fuck up their word usage in a professional piece of writing. So when I saw this petition claiming to oppose a federal takeover of the Internet I realized that the author doesn’t know how some very basic works work:

Dear Mr. Wheeler,

Americans have been getting faster and faster Internet speeds because of competition in the free economy, not because of anything the government has done.

To which I ask, what competition? What free economy? This is one of the biggest problems with the net neutrality debate. One side wants to use the state to mandate net neutrality and the other side has no fucking clue how Internet provision works in this country. There is very little competition in the Internet provision market specifically due to government regulations. In the current environment a handful of companies such as Comcast, Century Link, AT&T, and Verizon have near monopolies, if not outright monopolies, in many areas. People who are really lucky may have two Internet Service Providers (ISP) to choose from but that’s not always the case. Thanks to lobbying efforts by large ISPs the option for communities to build their own ISP isn’t even legal in many areas.

If you think the net neutrality debate is currently between a government regulated market or a free market then you have no clue what’s going on. The debate is between a government regulated market or a government regulated market with the only question being what set of regulations should be used to fuck the American people. Don’t fall for ploys like this petition that claim to support a free market in Internet provision. A free market isn’t even an option on the table at this point and the only people who claim it is are shills for large cable providers that are trying to sucker free market advocates into supporting their own subjugation.

Your Daily Fear My Fellow Minnesotans

Are you afraid? If you’re not you should be. Why? Because the anarchists the communists the drug cartels the illegal immigrants al-Qaeda al-Shabaab the Islamic State (IS) is coming to get you!

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) – Bob Fletcher once held the title of Ramsey County sheriff, and he’s reaching out to his law enforcement contacts again because he believes America should be on guard for a new kind of terror attack. This week, Fletcher sent out a bulletin to police agencies to warn them about a new kind of car bomb that has its own brochure.

Al Qaeda published the document, titled “Car Bombs Inside America,” as a step-by-step guide. The detail is amazing, but aside from instructing people to use propane tanks and an oxygen cylinder to create the destructive device, the publication also gives recommendations for targets — including Times Square, casinos in Las Vegas, and oil trains.

Oops, my mistake. It was al-Qaeda this time, not the IS (seriously, Bob Fletcher really missed an opportunity to cash in on the current fear). But they’re supposedly going to come to Minnesota and pull a Time Square bomb here. Which means that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) will have to find some schmuck with lukewarm intelligence, radicalize him, claim he joined al-Qaeda, and and give him a fake bomb so it can arrest him when he presses the detonator and make itself look like a hero.

Mr. Fletcher, if you’re reading this (which you may very well be since I’m sure I’m the kind of guy you try to make people afraid of), please note that nobody is afraid of an FBI created bomb plot anymore. Nor is anybody going to take the threat of al-Qaeda with car bombs seriously because, let’s fact it, that scenario is pretty ridiculous. And next time make sure your boogeyman is up to day. It’s embarrassing to see law enforcement agents mention al-Qaeda when the IS is the new hotness in fear.

It’s Hard Being a Gun Nut and Technology Enthusiast

Do you know what’s difficult for gun nuts and technology enthusiast to do? Turn on the news. Most of the gunny readers of my blog are used to the glaring idiocy emitted by reporters when they attempt to talk about firearms. You get ridiculous assertions like the word magazine being interchangeable with clip, every rifle being an AK-47, every handgun being a Glock, and Uzis being high-powered firearms:

The girl was being shown how to use a high-powered Uzi sub-machine gun at an Arizona shooting range when the recoil caused her to lose control of it.

Emphasis mine. Unless there is an Uzi model chambered in .308 (and if there is please tell me, I fucking want that for reasons) it is not high-powered. Uzis, as far as I know, are commonly chambered in 9mm with a few other models available that fire other pistol calibers. Pistol calibers, no matter how you look at them, aren’t high-powered. In fact they’re usually considered anemic, which is why military personnel usually carry rifles.

When media outlets report on topics related to technology we get similar levels of stupidity. The news that nude pictures of several celebrities have been obtained form their compromised iCloud accounts has received wall to wall coverage from several media outlets. And with great coverage comes great stupidity. Here we have a CNN talking head speculating on the nature of 4chan:

In the wake of the massive leak of hacked celebrity nude photos now known as celebgate, CNN—the most trusted name in news—is on the case. The cable news pioneer put its best tech analyst Brett Larson on the job and he speculated in wildly unhelpful fashion on Tuesday about just who this 4chan guy is, anyway.

“He might be a system administrator,” Larson suggests.

I guess the top tier research team over at CNN couldn’t be bothered to do a Google search. If they had they would have gotten the website 4chan at the top hit and a Wikipedia article entry on 4chan as the second hit. In other words a few simple keystrokes would have informed anybody capable of reading (I know, that’s expecting a lot from the research team over at CNN) that 4chan isn’t a person, it’s a website.

Because of my interests in guns and technology I feel as through I’m receiving a double dose of stupid every time I turn on the news or open a news site. I can only assume that the media’s coverage of basically everything else is just as ill-informed.

Off With His Head

Without the police who would decapitate the illegal chickens and leave the heads behind to traumatize children:

Ashley Turnbull said she knows she violated the city’s ordinance that prohibits fowl and acknowledges she was told Aug. 7 by police to remove the three chickens and two ducks.

But she said Police Chief Trevor Berger went too far when he came onto her property about a week later, when nobody was home, and clubbed, killed and decapitated a small, red hen with a shovel.

The fact that the officer snuck onto the property, clubbed the chicken to death, and beheaded it already raised the creepy factor to 10. But the officer took it to 11 when he justified his actions:

Berger said killing the chicken was justified.

“It’s against city ordinance for a chicken to be in the city and running around in people’s yards,” he said.

Because clubbing and beheading the chicken was the only conceivable solution to the problem of illegal chicken ownership. The officer couldn’t have called animal control to capture the bird or arranged for a nearby farmer to take it in. Nope. It had to be decapitated!

This is the problem with modern policing. Violence is its tool and we’re all nails. Modern policing has become almost entirely about law enforcement instead of protecting people and property. When you consider that all laws, and there are a lot of fucking laws, are enforced at the point of a gun this prioritization isn’t ideal for anybody but the state and its cronies.

Collectivist Thinking and Bigotry are a Dangerous Combination

The the collectivist viewpoint, where individuals are seen as nothing more than a cog in the great collective machinery, and bigotry, and unwarranted hatred of a group of individuals, often go hand in hand. When one fails to see individuals and instead focuses on collectives it becomes much easier to despise entire groups with little or not reasoning. This leads people who think collectively to get very upset about individual action that doesn’t affect anybody else.

A recent story of a transgender teen not being allowed to attend school as a woman generated some outrage. Many neoliberals, social activists, and libertarians were outraged by the fact that her actions affect nobody else and therefore no ground exists for the prohibition. On the other side of the isle are the neocons and social conservatives who, well, basically echo this dude I came across on Facebook:

collectivist-thinking

The opening of his final paragraph really takes the cake. According to his collectivist viewpoint the entire female population of the school will suffer if this transgender teen is accommodated. Earlier he stated “…think about a man dressed as a girl who wants to use the same bathroom your daughter is using…”, which demonstrates that he fears transgender individuals since he doesn’t want one of them in the same bathroom as another person’s daughter (it also demonstrates that he enjoys appealing to emotion when attempting to drum up support for his bigotry). It also demonstrates another common problem with collectivist thinking: failing to understand the target of one’s bigotry. A transgender individual isn’t somebody who simply wears the clothing of the opposite gender. The term for that is cross dresser. Transgender individuals have software running on the wrong hardware.

Not understanding the target of one’s bigotry is almost as common as collectivist bigotry itself. Think of the neocons who hate Muslims. Most of them have a very warped understanding of Islam that is almost entirely shaped by cherry picking facts that fit their bias. Sexists and racists have the same issue. These misunderstanding usually lead to fear and hatred.

In the case of the dude whose comment I screen captured appears to view transgender individuals as sexual predators (after all, the transgender teen obviously only wants to use the women’s restroom so she can peep on other women even though she offered to isolate herself by using the restroom in the nurse’s office). This view leads him to believe that every girl in the school will suffer if this transgender teen is allowed to live her life in accordance to her gender. And that is ridiculous but inevitable when somebody develops a hatred of an entire group of people. When all you see are groups then any individual in a “bad” group necessary harms every individual in a “good” group.

I don’t subscribe to collectivism. While it is useful to refer to groups when discussing philosophy, religion, political beliefs, and other ideas commonly held by multiple individuals, we cannot make judgements about every individual in a group based solely on their membership in that group. Each and every one of us is a unique entity and can only be validly judged as such. Just because somebody is a communist, for example, doesn’t mean that they favor executing anybody who owns means of production. I believe the world would be a far better place if people started backing away from collectivist bigotry.