Category: Guns

Monday Links

September 30, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Yeah, it’s been a couple of weeks. Some of these may be dated. Please see customer service for your refund.

Reason articles first.

Should Fauci be blamed for the pandemic? He certainly didn’t help with his actions. But I dislike mono-causal explanations for complex issues. Fauci was one part. So was political tribalism. So was an advocate media. So were many other things that we won’t fully understand for a generation.

California is going to try to regulate AI. I can see that going well.

No Trump, crime is not on the rise. It’s regressing back to where it was pre-pandemic. There is some evidence that some areas are seeing an unreported increase due to folks just not calling the cops. However, it looks like the trend is going back to where it was before 2020. And we’re still nowhere near the insanity of 1992 when violent crime peaked.

The NYT thinks DIY guns cause libertarianism. Eh, it’s probably more a case of correlation than causation.

Argentina ends rent control. Millions homeless? No. Falling rents and increased supply? Yes.

Now onto a hodgepodge of other items.

New technology keeps storm surge from flooding Tampa General Hospital. There has always been criticism of having Tampa’s main hospital on an island and surrounded by water. AquaFence did an amazing job during Helene. A reporter quipped that the company will now sell a bunch of them. Well, that’s what happens when your product performs that amazingly well.

Bloomberg reports on a new paper asserting online dating causing a rise in income inequality. An interesting thesis, but I’m not sure that it caused as much as accelerated a trend that was already happening.

From TechCrunch, the FDA granted approval for Apple AirPods Pro to act as hearing aid devices. I can see this as the start of lower cost hearing aids coming to market based on earbuds.

The Atlantic has an article on the demise of the minivan. Well, not quite demise, but definitely the dwindling of the market.

CNN article on how kiosks in McDonalds increased sales and need for workers. Again, technology didn’t change the need for workers, but changed what kind of work is needed.

The Verge reports YouTube is pulling songs due to its dispute with SESAC. This is impacting some older Metal Tuesday entries.

Monday Links

September 9, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Sweet FSM. I miss a week and the articles stack up. This is going to be a long links post. A lot of gun/RKBA related stories this week.

Let’s start with our normal collection of Reason articles. And talking about RKBA-related stories…

How courts are evading the Bruen decision. Color me surprised that lawyers and judges (but I repeat myself) are trying to push the guardrails of new legal theory.

Eighth Circuit strikes down Missouri’s 2A Sanctuary law. These kinds of laws are why I think we need an amendment that allows at least a majority of states to nullify onerous federal laws.

Another parent being charged with murder because their offspring decided to murder schoolmates and teachers. I am highly skeptical of this trend, particularly since it feels like we’re burning the parents in effigy (legally speaking).

A historical look back on arms bans prior to the 20th century.

The Biden administration is trying to go ahead with its plan to cancel student debt. Even though it’s illegal and the Supreme Court has struck down pretty much all attempts. Oh yeah, that will help keep the cost of college down. If it didn’t cost so much, I’d almost be in favor of it to help burst the college bubble.

A thinkpiece on what the .gov could do to help with the housing crisis. In the same vein, here’s an analysis on what happened when the Dutch recent tried national rent control. Spoiler alert: it ended up hurting the people it was supposed to help. Cue surprised Pikachu.

A recent survey of college students find almost a third think violence is an acceptable form of protest. I’m a little leery since I didn’t see how they worded the questions, but someone needs to explain to these young adults that the means you think are fully justified for your cause are going to be adopted by your opposition because they now think they have permission. Come to think of it, that describes a lot of what’s gone wrong in this century.

Have we reached peak public schooling? This rolls into one of my soapboxes that the nation needs to have a serious discussion about what it wants out of public schools. Everyone will say they want to make “responsible and educated citizens.” But let’s face it. It’s also state-sponsored daycare for a lot of folks.

Idaho’s Child Care Program expanded benefits and now is facing a $16 million deficit. Either there were a lot more needy families or there were a lot folks just lining up to the trough. These days, it’s probably both.

And now for some Ground News aggregations.

Trump is concerned how expensive IVF is and wants insurance to pay for it. Proving once again that Trump is fine with handing out goodies if he thinks it will get him elected, and he still has no concept of economics.

Okay, yes, the WHO beclowned itself with its obsequience to China during the pandemic. Still, it’s nice to have another study showing that there’s no link between brain cancer and cell phones.

NVIDIA is getting a hard look by the DOJ for trying to lock customers into its products. Companies being asses tends to open up the market for competitors, but DOJ is going to DOJ.

The US, UK, and EU sign an AI treaty. Yeah, that has beneficial to the growth of the technology written all over it.

Now for some more RKBA and gun related content.

John Richardson is reporting that one of the NRA directors is advocating for firing the Brewer firm. Jettisoning that firm would be a strong sign that the NRA is healing.

Speaking of John, guess who’s going to be on the ballot to become part of the NRA Board? Honestly, if I could immediately vote in the election, this might get me to join back. I’m still in my wait and see period.

TTAG article on Polymer80 closing up shop after years of fighting “ghost gun” legislation. It’s sad to see Pyrrhic victories in the gun world.

I’ve got a slew of tech-related/adjacent articles.

From The Verge, an article about how new AI-powered photo editing tools will make it harder to believe what you see.

Also from The Verge, Ecoflow launching a new series of batteries/powerstations. Honestly, I’m loving the innovation and expansion in this segment. I think advances in battery tech are crucial to improving the overall health of the power grid.

From The New Yorker, an essay on why AI isn’t going to be making art. While I think AI will make art creation more accessible to more people, it’s not going to replace the spark of creativity in humans.

From Bloomberg, Intel’s problems is endangering the promise of the CHIPS Act. Damn, it’s like industrial policy can’t overrule business / economic rules. Or that maybe the government has a bad track record of choosing winning corporations.

Via Wired, the Internet Archive got slapped down for lending out copyrighted books willy-nilly on its platform.

From MacStories, Reeder is launching a revamped product. I use the current Reeder (soon to be known as Reeder Classic) to gather the various stories that tend to end up here. (h/t The Brother)

Not tech, but of local interest, the local news station has an article on Tervis filing Chapter 11 reorganization. The Ward household has many of their products and hope they come out stronger.

Geek Culture reports on Transformers new line combining TF characters with other IP forms. Of particular interest to me is the Macross collaboration. Although I doubt it’s going to be a re-issue of the G1 Jetfire toy.

My Two-Hundred Dollar Gun

September 4, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I like to peruse the Gunbroker listings for one of the big local chains. Last month, I saw what looked like a Hi-Power clone for cheap. I’ve been wanting a Hi-Power, but really didn’t want to spend the money for a Browning or even a Springfield. Maybe a Girsan. But this was an FEG P9R. Looked in decent condition, so I put a bid in for a couple hundred bucks.

About ten hours before the the auction closed, someone bid $205. I was going to let it go, but The Wife encouraged me to throw a little extra. I ended up winning for $210. Yay! I have a Hi-Power clone.

Except as I was doing research I found out that the some versions of the P9 will take Hi-Power magazines. The P9R, however, will not. And the only group currently producing new mags is Pro-Mag. That group doesn’t exactly have a sterling reputation in Ward Manor after I bought some of their mags for my Sig P6. Feck it, I’ll deal.

In a previous Ward Manor Happenings post, I mentioned that The Wife and I went out to Apopka. Well, that’s where this chain handles their Gunbroker auctions. Silly me, I thought after winning the auction, I would be able to go pick it up the next day. Yeah, no. Apparently, it had to be processed, and the guys who process the auctions don’t work weekends. Whee! Ah well, that ended with us hitting Disney Springs and me getting new lightsabers.

Last weekend, The Wife and I made the trek out to Apopka after making sure the pistol was available. On a holiday weekend, I thought it would take a while for NICS to come back, but we were in and out in under a half-hour.

And now I have my semi-Hi-Power clone.

Monday Links

August 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This is going to be a weird one, as I have only one Reason article.

Albuquerque police chief thinks it’s okay for cops to turn off their body cams under their Fifth Amendment rights. Um, no.

Now for a couple of Ground News aggregations.

DOJ is going after a software firm saying that their algorithm allows landlords to raise rents.

Former deputy who killed airman is being charged with manslaughter. I would like to think that a private citizen would get the same consideration in terms of charging.

For news items from other sources.

Duke Medical study finds gun laws have mixed impact on suicide and homicide rates. Almost as if murder and suicide are complex problems that can’t be fixed with “one simple solution.”

The Guardian is reporting on trouble in the dating app world. Namely, the apps are losing users / subscribers.

AP is reporting that the Fed Chairman is signalling that they may reduce interest rates in the near future.

Local news station is advising people not to trust flood maps when deciding to buy flood insurance. Note to any new or prospective resident of Florida – you need flood insurance. I don’t care where you live in Florida, you need flood insurance.

The Verge is reporting that Chik-Fil-A is looking into launching a streaming service. Um, okay. Question. Will it run on Sundays?

Creative Loafing Tampa is reporting on Busch Gardens shutting down the Scorpion roller coaster. I remember when that coaster opened, and rode it a lot when I was younger, thinner, and able to ride coasters without feeling like I got bashed around.

Another Guardian article, but this one on the reveal of some of the major features of Civ 7. There’s been a lot of sturm und drang among the Civ FB groups on the changes. I’m going to wait until I’ve played before making judgements. I will say that I’m inordinately excited that rivers will now be navigable.

Via The Brother, there’s this nifty USGS site showing all of the world’s water in a sphere.

Monday Links

August 19, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Stop! Reason time!

Oh look, someone’s already challenging Florida’s law banning lab-grown meat. Because bullshit crony-protectionism laws needs to be taken down.

The Fifth Circuit is taking down geo-fencing warrants. See what I did there. Taking down a fence?

IJ is going after Indiana claiming the state is seizing millions from FedEx packages. Seriously, there needs to be a constitutional amendment banning seizure of property without an underlying criminal conviction.

On to other stories.

Massad Ayoob talks about Salman Rushdie’s new book Knife. He particularly goes over how Rushdie froze when he was attacked.

CrowdStrike’s president showed up at DefCon to accept the award for “Most Epic Fail” in person. I will give them kudos for showing up.

Monday Links

August 12, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This is going to be a bit long. There’s a lot here on civil rights being threatened by both sides of the aisle.

Of course, we start with Reason links.

Venezuela’s Maduro is bad for both his own country, and the United States. I have a nasty feeling that country is going to be the latest example of “you can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way back out.”

A recent poll says the First Amendment gives too many protections. This is an example of a worrying trend where both sides want fewer civil rights so that they can use power against the other.

Speaking of free speech, the Trump mob came for Kyle Rittenhouse when he dared speak against their god-emperor. You want to know why I will never vote for Trump? It’s shit like this.

Justice Gorsuch is promoting his new book that we have too many laws allowing for prosecutors to abuse their power. This is why I’m in favor of removing prosecutorial immunity and replacing it with a malpractice model.

A piece on EU’s aggressive tech regulations made the CrowdStrike fiasco much worse.

Pacific Legal Foundation has a new report out on how to deal with squatters. The report makes the point that “squatters’ rights” bills hurt the people they purport to help – the poor. Which is so often a result of these kinds of laws.

Moving on to a couple of Ground News aggregations.

NVIDIA is the latest company to come into the regulators’ crosshairs.

Florida deputy rushes into a lake to rescue an autistic kindergartner. As much as I slam police abuses, sometimes it’s important to spotlight those who do the heroics.

Moving on to other sources and stories.

From Bloomberg, a federal judge rules Google violated anti-trust law. Considering the AI wave coming, I’m really getting late nineties Microsoft echoes. The most ridiculous claims the prosecutors put out? That because of Google’s dominant position in search, they failed to innovate and hurt consumers. Bitch, that’s what’s called a market opportunity.

From Gizmodo, Logitech had to walk back comments that hinted they were looking at a subscription model for a new mouse. I think we’re seeing the end of making everything a subscription.

From the Only Guns and Money blog, John Richardson has announced he’s seeking to run for the NRA Board of Directors. If you’re a voting member, go take a moment and help someone who would be a voice for reform.

This is from Fox News, so I’m not sure how click-baitey the story is. However, the fact that the Met’s Commissioner says it will seek extradition for folks violating their ridiculous social media laws regarding their recent rioting is enough to make me want to dig more. My immediate reaction is very Molon Labe. My next reaction is that it’s very rich that Britain has refused to extradite murderers because they were facing the “barbaric” death penalty. I think the American government would be in the right to tell the Brits that turnabout is fair play. My final thought is that the states should go tell the feds to pound sand if they try to extradite any of their residents to the Brits over this shit.

Via The Brother, we have this Ars Technica article about a Russian chess player poisoning their rival’s chessboard with mercury.

Finally, we have a couple of articles from The Wrap on Crunchyroll. First, Crunchyroll has surpassed 15 million subscribers. Second, a piece delving on how Crunchyroll is succeeding in the streaming wars. Honestly, I think a big part is how Crunchyroll understands it’s niche and isn’t out to become the next Netflix or Hulu.

Monday Links

August 5, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Reason time!

Here’s two takes on Biden’s Supreme Court reform proposals. One from the Volokh Conspiracy and one from Reason. My opinion? I like the idea of twenty year term limits on the Supreme Court, but if and only if the judicial filibuster is established in law. I would like some more generational turnover, but I don’t want justices becoming enmeshed in the campaign fray. Also, it would help if Congress would do their damned job.

Israel pulled off a pair of spectacular assassinations. You will excuse me if I’m unmoved by the death of terrorist leaders.

A thinkpiece on the current wave of political violence.

On to other news links.

The Brother sent me this link to an LA Times article on a Los Angeles UBI pilot that saw much more favorable results than the study I linked to last week from Reason.

Reporting from The Reload on the judge denying New York’s demand for a monitor over the NRA. Also, WLP is banned from holding a position in the NRA for a decade. There were also some other recommendations. I’m still leery of rejoining the NRA in light of the recent appointments of the old guard to key committees and reformers being almost exclusively shut out of those committees.

Turkey took silver in the mixed air pistol. One of their shooters has gone viral with his lack of gear and nonchalant shooting style. The gun blogosphere has been going all in on skills over gear.

Now for a trio of Florida-centric stories.

An article from the local news station that shockingly that the people showing up at the door to sell stuff ignore the laws about solicitation. This is the equivalent of them writing an article that Florida has a lot of storms in the summer. I treat every person who comes to my door selling something as a probable crook – either trying to scam me out of money or casing my place for robbing later.

Tampa Business Journal article reporting the bankruptcy of the century-old Florida furniture store Badcock. This is of interest in the Ward household because The Wife worked for Badcock for a stint, and we ended up with some furniture from them.

Finally, a story that caters to my weeb side, Japanese bargain store Daiso is coming to Tampa. In particular, the location looks like it’s not too far from Mom’s place.

Prime Day 2024

August 1, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This year’s Prime Day was focused around a couple of re-orgs I’ve been wanting to do.

Bed stand Reorganization

My bed stand was getting cluttered, and I’ve been wanting to clean it up. One of the big areas is the collection of tablets. The tablet rack I was using wasn’t working and was too bulky. So, I switched out for this one.

Another item was all the charging cables. I reduced them somewhat and gained some space using this Anker wireless charging station for my phone, watch, and airpods.

Sling Bag Reorganization

After multiple times of having to quickly make my sling bag TSA-compliant, I’ve decided to just keep it that way. Which meant the knives and lighter. I switched out the lighter for one of these firestarters. Is it as convenient or handy as a lighter? Nope. Will it get through security? Yep.

I’ve also added an Anker Mag Safe battery pack. This one has a bit more oomph than the one I currently have. Plus, if our trip out west proved anything, it’s damned useful to have as much stored power as possible.

Miscellaneous

Some Amazon Basics paracord to restock.

This tiny S&W knife because I thought it was nifty.

Strangely, the only toy I picked up was a retro Autobot Blaster with Steeljaw cassette that Walmart had on sale.

Monday Links

July 29, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This is going to be a tab-clearing edition as the Ward household has been out of state for the past couple of weeks.

Let’s start with our normal Reason links.

A bunch of redditors who hate Christians decided to sic Florida’s DCF folks on a family. A good example of how an online mob can whip itself into a frenzy and cause real world havoc.

More analysis on the lasting impacts of the school shutdowns during COVID.

Michigan Supreme Court tells Detroit their civil asset forfeiture program is wrong. No idea if they will block Detroit from working with the feds to sidestep any restrictions.

Thinkpiece on the FTC and its unconstitutional power grabs. This is another symptom of Congress not doing its damned job and putting in some guardrails on the FTC. But then again, the incentives for Congress is to let the FTC run wild and demagogue.

Over 1 million people have fled Cuba in the last couple of years. Apparently, this is around 10% of the population. But it’s supposed to be such a paradise.

A pilot of Universal Basic Income found it didn’t help people work more. UBI is one of those ideas I like in concept on the premise that its better to let people make their own decisions with their money. Unfortunately, society can’t stand by when people make bad decisions with their money. So, I can’t see how UBI is going to work.

Kamala’s Gen Z appeal is not what it appears to be. You’ll excuse me if I’m unimpressed by the youngins new fads when it comes to politics. Also excuse me if I’m unsurprised that the youngins are planning on voting for the Dems.

The government is exacerbating issues in the wine industry. Color me surprised, particularly when it comes to California.

Now on to some other stories.

From the AP, the FTC is looking into “surveillance pricing”. You’ll excuse me if I don’t trust assertions from the FTC about “possible” issues. Please see previous Reason link above.

From TFB, CZ is looking at opening factories in Ukraine. Hey, I’d like to get a Bren stamped “Made in Ukraine”.

From Active Response Training, an article on pet first aid for cats.

From Venture Beat, Microsoft has come up with a new LLM for spreadsheets. I’m kind of interested in playing with this.

Now on to some anime / weeb news.

Ranma 1/2 is getting remade and will show up on Netflix later this year. I’m very interested in this as Ranma was one of those shows in the nineties that got me into anime as anime.

A Couple of Cuckoos is getting a second season. This was a previous anime recommendation, and I’m glad it’s getting a second season.

Sanrio is causing some havoc by claiming that its iconic character Hello Kitty is not a cat, but a young girl living in London. Well, that’s a bold assertion cotton.

Monday Links

June 24, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I’m going to deviate a bit from my normal flow due to the Rahimi ruling.

Here is Reason’s coverage.

Here’s The Reload’s coverage.

Here’s the Advisory Opinions podcast.

My two cents? This was the court walking back/modifying Text, History, Tradition because it didn’t like how it was shaking out in the lower courts. This also reinforces my thesis in last week’s post.

Now back to our normal programming, staring with our mix of Reason posts I found interesting.

Apparently New York lawmakers didn’t learn from an earlier USSC ruling and are threatening to ban insurance firms if they invest in fossil fuel programs.

ATF agents cleared in killing of a director of an executive airport. This one is being followed pretty heavily in the RKBA circles.

The US military was spreading anti-vax propaganda in China.

A man is suing Marion County SO for arresting him because he was filming them.

Florida’s loosened it’s labor laws for teens. It sounds kind of like taking them back to where they were when I was a manager at Mickey D’s.

Now on to other stories.

Another story from The Reload – this time about a Ukranian pushing for a version of the Second Amendment for his country. There’s also a bit in the article about how Miami PD held a gun buyback with the guns being sent to Ukraine. Honestly, if an org I trusted was collecting some guns to send over there, I might shake loose a couple.

From The Hill, comes a perfect example of kabuki theater around a real issue. I think the draft is against the Thirteenth Amendment. If you can’t get people to volunteer, then maybe it isn’t the existential threat you purport.

From TechCrunch, the US bans the sale of Kaspersky antivirus software due to security concerns over Russia.

Local news story about new Florida law prohibiting HOA’s from banning the parking of work trucks. This is a big bone of contention around here. With so many new developments, the HOA’s are still controlled by the builders – who are less than flexible about anything that doesn’t meet their esthetic.

From Ars Technica, a thinkpiece on if the USAF looking for a replacement for the F-16 means the F-35 program is a failure.

Finally, we end on a sad note. Miguel is shuttering GunFreeZone. When Miguel was still in Florida and running the blog, this was a go-to for the best information on Florida gun legislation. I’ll be honest, I stopped reading after Miguel left because JKB just rubbed me the wrong way. While I’m sort of unsurprised that he went too far, I’m sorry to see the blog go away. H/t John Richardson.