Author: Derek
Monday Links
Israel and its adjacent topics are a big theme in this week’s links. So, let’s start with our normal slate of Reason links (which include more than usual Volokh Conspiracy entries).
The UF president laid out his thoughts on campus free speech and protest.
Jewish students at Columbia did their own letter on their “lived experience” since October 7.
Here’s a pair of articles on the Supreme Court’s recent (disappointing) ruling on civil asset forfeiture. One from Reason and one from Volokh.
Now for some Ground News aggregations.
Biden halts arms shipments to Israel over the invasion of Rafah.
US alleges Israel broke international law while using US weapons, but on incomplete evidence. Both of these stories are troubling, because its showing how weak US resolve can be to even our most trusted allies.
US tells Intel and Qualcomm they can’t sell chips to China.
A US Airman was killed by deputies who broke into the wrong apartment.
Now on to other stories that crossed my transom.
SkyNews reports on a “massive” hack of Britain’s Ministry of Defence (Brit spelling). While officially, the hackers are “unknown,” bets are it was China. Reminds me of the OPM hack ten or fifteen years ago.
Bloomberg that there are over 40,000 AI-voiced audiobooks on Audible. I’m kind of torn on this. First, as a small author, if I want to convert one of my stories to an audio version, it’s nice knowing that there’s a lower cost alternative. As a consumer of audiobooks, I understand how important a good narrator can make a book come alive. On the gripping hand, I see this as where the great narrators will still be in demand, but lesser narrators will be pushed out of the market.
An American Cop piece on why “high-ready” might not be a safe way to hold your weapon. The expected audience is cops, but good points for non-cop folk. Things to keep in mind if you’re on either end of the gun. (h/t Tam).
Gizmodo reports on Victorinox announcing it was going to be offering bladeless versions of their famous “Swiss Army knife”. This is another good case to ignore the headlines and the sturm und drang on the internet. Victorinox is simply coming out with new versions for sale in areas where knives are banned/restricted. They’re still selling bladed versions. I’m kind of wondering if these new ones will be TSA compliant.
Tampa Bay Buisness Journal is reporting of Florida Aquarium getting funding for a planned $15 million expansion. It looks pretty interesting.
Another good article from Angry Staff Officer. This time on how fantasy armies never screen their flanks. I like reading him to make my writing better.
PCGamesN reports that Civ 7 will be out sometime later this year. Needless to say, I’m very excited about this news. As of this writing, I’m up to over 7,700 hours on Civ 6. Which, to be fair is a very different game now than when it released many moons ago.
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.
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.