Flashlights and Guns
I have a flashlight mounted on my normal carry piece. I’ve heard the arguments back and forth, but my logic comes down to this:
- There’s a strong likelihood that if I’m going to need my weapon outside the home, it will be in a low-light environment.
- If I’m going to need my weapon outside the home, I do not want to be juggling more devices than necessary.
However, as shown in the linked story, there is an inherent danger of using a WML as a flashlight instead of illumination for your weapon. A flashlight is for searching, a WML is for better view of a target.
This is why I have a separate flashlight. That is for searching around when it’s dark. My WML should only go on if my weapon is out. And my weapon should only be out if there is a strong possibility I’m going to need to use it.
Monday Links
This week is light and mostly Reason. So, let’s get started with those.
The DEA is looking to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. Let’s get this out of the way. I’m not a fan of marijuana. I don’t like the smell, and I don’t like the culture surrounding it. That doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge it has some medical benefits. Or, that more importantly, that adults should be able to imbibe substances that they choose.
DeSantis is all about banning lab-grown beef. Don’t let his right-wing culture war schtick fool you as to why he signed legislation. Beef cattle are big business in Florida. It’s where we get the slang “crackers” from. Scratch a right-wing populist, find a protectionist.
A think piece on how D&D flourished because of few copyright protections. I really didn’t get into any of the D&D “worlds” when I played. We mostly just used the rules and creatures and played in our own worlds. It was fun coming up with our own. Although, I will recommend Ptolus if you want a great setting for a fantasy game.
A man in Illinois who specializes in filing paperwork is being told by the state he needs a PI’s license. Occupational licensing is a fucking racket.
California decided to ban diesel locomotives. What’s the worst that could happen?
Florida police and sheriffs departments spent thousands on training banned in other states.
Now, on to other stories.
The Verge has a story on the FCC fining the big telecoms over sharing location data without consent.
From War Is Boring, we have an article on the new “Doomsday Plane” for the USAF.
From The War Zone is an article that the Poles are naming their F-35’s the “Husarz”. Husarz. Hussars. Winged Hussars. That is the best combination of historical callback and Dad-joke.
For our light item, here’s a 1942-style web-based game for Space Battleship Yamato.
Party at Ward Manor
Last weekend we had a family gathering in celebration of The Brother’s birthday. This was a little different in that it was completely my side of the family – including Rocket Engineer Brother, SIL, Niece, Nephew, and Nephew’s Girlfriend who came from the other side of the state.. I smoked a couple of pork loins, and we had a bunch of other food. This was the first time at Ward Manor for SIL and Nephew’s Girlfriend.
Niece and Nephew’s Girlfriend were enthralled by the clowder. The cats were petted, played, and photographed to a new extreme. It was kind of amusing and endearing to watch.
Much fun was had by all.
Metal Tuesday – Brother’s Choice – Hellsongs – Songs in the Key of 666
Derek’s Note: Since it’s around The Brother’s birthday, I asked him to give us a Metal Tuesday Update.
I thought for this guest post I would bring something different.
Hellsongs is a band that re-works classic metal songs into a folk-ish singer/songwriter style. Their best album (in my opinion) is their first, Songs in the Key of 666.
Their renditions of The Trooper (by Iron Maiden) and Seasons in the Abyss (by Slayer) are so very, very, good.
Monday Links
Reason links first:
Another reminder that cops have no duty to protect you.
Gasp, politicians helped killed the Amazon / iRobot deal. Can I tell you how much this annoyed me?
The Supreme Court is taking a look at another case of the ATF’s flexible rule making. This one involving so-called ghost guns. Or as we refer to them, unfinished parts.
FCC is bringing back net neutrality. Because we have to solve a problem that has never happened.
And the FTC is banning non-compete agreements, even though that may be beyond their powers. Okay, I can understand non-competes where you could bring trade secrets to a competitor. I can also understand wanting to stop non-competes being blanket issued on all employment contracts including fast food workers. Still think this should have been passed by Congress, not the FTC.
Colorado told HOA’s they can’t ban home businesses.
Now, on to the Ground News aggregations:
A quarter of adults over 50 say they don’t expect to retire.
The feds don’t think Putin ordered Navalny’s death. Okay, fine. But I’m good with using the felony murder rule.
Ukraine pulled its new-to-them Abrams tanks after losing some to drones. We are seeing the rules of warfare change on the fields of Ukraine and in the streets of Gaza. I doubt that tanks have been supplanted, but they will have to learn how to survive.
A company wants to build submersible superyachts. It reminded me of a wild-eyed scheme that The Brother and I once had to turn old Soviet Typhoon-class boomers into luxury cruise ships. You know, because they already had a pool built into them.
Now on to some other stories:
One of the local stations reports that the last big owner of Clearwater properties not tied to the Church of Scientology has sold out to someone with ties to Scientology. Clearwater is pretty much the company town for the Church.
John Richardson reports that Marion Hammer’s contract with the NRA has been quietly canceled. I’m kind of unsympathetic to someone who helped loot the organization that I dutifully paid into for many, many years.
The Verge has an article on Home Assistant. Ward Manor currently runs the Echo ecosystem for its smart home needs because they’re relatively cheap and easy to use. I’m not against switching to something that would work just as well without getting Amazon’s ads and curated articles pumped in.
Time for light items.
For ten grand, you too can have a robot dog with a flamethrower.
Space Battleship Yamato is celebrating its 50-year anniversary with new sequels.
The Quintessential Quintuplets are coming out with a new movie.
Clowder Happenings
The Wife and I have had some concerns about the state of the vet practice we take the clowder for some time. About a year ago, the vet tech we know very well departed under less than ideal circumstances. I was not willing to switch if it was a labor dispute and we were only getting one side at the time. The agreement was we would not switch unless the service was going down hill.
The service started going down hill. The techs were always good, but instead of our main vet that we liked, we were constantly seeing a parade of unfamiliar vets. Some good, some okay, but no consistency. Okay, it’s time to switch. It also helped there were two new vet practices about ten minutes away from Ward Manor, including one that had an emergency vet practice – who also employed the vet tech who was let go from our current vet. We decided to hold off until after our summer vacation, because we didn’t want to cause any issues with the pet sitter about where to take which cat if there was an emergency.
One of the cats is currently on insulin. The Wife was shopping around to get a price. One of the local pharmacies suggested a switch that would cut our cost to a quarter of the current prescription. The Wife calls the vet and asks if it can be switched. The vet tech said they would ask the doctor, but she sounded a little “cagey”. Um, is there an issue with the vet? Well, Friday was her last day, and the vet tech will have to talk with the vet currently managing the practice. But don’t worry, it’s the one you saw last week and liked.
After that conversation, The Wife and I decided we needed to move quickly because it sounded like original vet may not be a going concern or sold the practice. Neither of which we were willing to weather. When you have a large and complicated clowder, relationships are important. So, we call up the vet practice our friend is now working and explain the situation.
The good news? That practice is taking over our old vet, and the new vet is the “managing vet” that The Wife liked. Better news? They have access to all of our cats’ records so switching will be much easier. The only downside? We still need to get as many of the cats at the new place to get fully established before our summer vacation.
But, with vets, relationships are important.