IanTyger

Reply to Gun-Free zones in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

More guns *in the possession of responsible adults* is in fact the answer. Whether the responsible adults should be government employees or private citizens defending themselves and their neighbors is a question. But in this situation, one gun in the hands of a responsible private citizen would quite possibly have saved several other lives. All available evidence shows that civilians who hold CCW permits are significantly more law-abi

"Reasonable" Restrictions in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

Are there any firearms restrictions that would have prevented the Westroads Mall shooting (short of an outright ban). Not really. First, despite all the hype abbout how the killer used an "assault weapon", that's a non-started. He used a magazine-fed semi-automatic rifle in a medium caliber. In other circumstances, this would be a hunting rifle. T

Gun-Free zones in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

The Westroads Mall in Omaha, NE was the scene of another massacre by a mentally-disturbed individual last week. The killer's goals appeared to be to become famous and to die. He has suceeded at both, but in opposition to his goals, I will not name him. As with many other shootings of this type, it occurred in a nominal "Gun-Free" zone. Unlike some o

Inigo Montoya on Gun Control in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

Very much in the immortal words of Inigo Montoya "You keep on citing that case - it does not mean what you think it mean s". I was reminded recently of “ The Peculiar Story of United States v. Miller ” in the comments

Reply to Why Kindle will fail as a device, succeed as a format. in Books JoeUser Forums

DRM-free, layout-free (IE, not formatted, so no problems with the layout not matching your screen), device-independent e-books. For less than the cost of a paperback book. That's what it will take to have ebooks "break out", IMHO. And you can have it today - www.webscription.net. Also see http://www.baen.com/library/. Baen books has been selling DRM-free ebooks since 2001 or 2002; and giving away books for almost that long. And, shockingly enough, making money at it. And they'r

A story of self-defense in Misc JoeUser Forums

Sebastian offers us this story of a home defense incident involving a sword. (It turns out well for the sword wielder). Picture yourself in this position, though; especially if you are not a large and fit man. A large man, dripping blood, has just enter

Reply to Two developers discuss problems in Vista in Windows Vista JoeUser Forums

I have to be contrary here - I like UAC, and I like th enew start menu. As far as the new start menu goes - glyout menus have terrible usability - really. You can fix the size of the start menu by changing the # of icons displayed (I'll admit there's a discoverability issue there). But treeview is superior to fly-out menus; try using flyout menus with a mouse that jitters sometime... As for UAC - I've never noticed it changing resolut

Where were you in Misc JoeUser Forums

(Title from a song by Tim McGraw) I was at work when someone said down the row of desks "Did you hear about a plane hitting the World Trade Center?" I assumed that it was a General Aviation (light) aircraft, and said something to the effect that the towers were built to withstand that, having learned from the incident with the Empire State building and a B-25

Reply to If it's such a violation of Civil Liberties, why vote Yes? in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

I was reasonably sure that the vote essentially authorized EVERYTHING that the NSA was doing, both the foreign-to-foreign calls that pass through US switches, and the single-foreign-party calls that the NSA certifies invole a "person of interest". IE - the difference between before-bill and after-bill is that Congress signed off on it. We'll see what happens in 6 months.

If it's such a violation of Civil Liberties, why vote Yes? in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

Ed Morrissey (Who normally blogs at Captain's Quarters ) has a piece on Heading Right that makes an interesting point. Why did the Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, and who have made many dire predictions about

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Fiction JoeUser Forums

I just finished off Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I missed all of the excitement, and bought it rather quietly earlier today, in a Barnes & Noble. No lines, no fuss. And then proceeded to read it. My brain is now full. I am glad that I had just finished reading (and watching) Sorcerer's Stone, and caught Order of the Phoenix at the theatre first

DC Appeals Parker Decision in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

If you don't mind a bit of metaphor - the roller-coaster-car has started up the big climb: the DC government is appealing to the Supreme Court of the US in reaction to the adverse decision at the District Court level in Parker vs. DC . There's one more chance for the ride to fail; the Supreme

Fred Thompson, Lawyer, defends himself in Republican JoeUser Forums

Fred Thompson defends himself against charges of "being a lawyer". Pretty interesting reading, a nice nice reference to one of my favorite Founding Fathers (John Adams).

Reply to How not to handle a customer in Industry JoeUser Forums

For laptops, HP or IBM/Lenovo. Desktops, I build myself. If you don't want the hassle (and it is a hassle) find a reliable local store (but make sure they are reliable and aren't going to go out of business or put an unlicesnsed OS on your HD).

How not to handle a customer in Industry JoeUser Forums

From the how-not-to-do-it dept. Jane Galt has an article on Sony VAIO customer service that is just outrageous. I work in phone tech support - and the service that she's gotten would have had a blistering comemnt delivered to me from my manager. OTOH, the company I work for doesn't offshore their tec

Reply to Thoughts on the 4th of July in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

Well, as we all know - fear leads to hate, etc... In some ways, fear is worse - Bush is hated for what he is percieved to have done - Hillary is hated she is percieved to do in the future.

More 4th of July goodness in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

Inspired by Lawdog's 4th of July post , here's a link to the Declaration of Independence page at the National Archives. I'll also th

Thoughts on the 4th of July in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

I spent the day with family, in particular with my brother, his wife and daughter, and my stepmother. My father was TDY out of the country, but the rest of us got together to spend the day having fun, eating barbeque foods, and generally hanging out. We passed on fireworks this year (we h

Reply to This is a profound statement of today's America in Misc JoeUser Forums

Thank, Dr. Guy - that is what I was trying to get at. And while right now I would be hiring a lawyer not necessarily for his encyclopaedic knowledge of every law, but more for his general knowledge of law and his research staff, it's still a little sad.

This is a profound statement of today's America in Misc JoeUser Forums

Seen in a comment thread: "If you meet a lawyer who professes to know all the laws, find a new lawyer. Preferably one who isn't a liar."

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How can we help the poor? in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

This article from Fox about a pilot program in New York City caught my eye. It sounds like an excellent idea to me (the only good idea Mayor Bloomberg has had IMHO, but hey). It descibes a pilot program to pay poor people for actions taken to lift themselves out of poverty - read the art

Reply to Does anyone still like Bush? in Politics JoeUser Forums

I both don't like him and am glad we got him rather than the alternatives. It's a bummer. It's like FDR - great on WWII, but probably did the most damage to the constitution of any President in the modern era, with the relentless federalisation of everything and anything...

My own views of gun control in US Domestic JoeUser Forums

I've been giving some thought to what I believe "reasonable" gun control should look like. It goes something like this... First of all - I accept the possibility that the government has the ability to take away your right to own a weapon; after all, the government has the ability to restrict your other fundamental rights if you violate the s

Mixed-up memes - AACS meets All your Base in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Narrator: Re: the AACS key "09 F9...", war was beginning. MPAA: What happen ? RIAA: Somebody set up us the DRM. SoundExchange: We get signal. MPAA: What ! SoundExchange: Main screen turn on. MPAA: It's you !! 1337hax0r: How are you gentlemen !! 1337hax0r: All your key are decode to us. 1337hax0r: Y