So who’s the Modern Equivalent?

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Alaska

ModeledBehavior has an intriguing post comparing our current red/blue political polarization to the Byzantine Roman Chariot Racing Clubs, which gained political, military and social influence as the public rallied and politicians allied to Blue or Green.

The Blue-Green rivalry often erupted into gang warfare, and street violence had been on the rise in the reign of Justin I, who took measures to restore order, when the gangs murdered a citizen in the Hagia Sophia.[64] Riots culminated in the Nika riots of 532 AD during the reign of Justinian, which began when the two main factions united and attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow the emperor.

The wikipedia article on the Nika riots (linked in the quote above) is worth a read; very interesting.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

In Soviet Russia, Police Burgle YOU!

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Alaska

Oh wait, that happens here now too…


–from Soviet humor magazine Krokodil, during Glasnost.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

RNS Quote of the Day, 08/03/11

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Alaska

Police in this situation would certainly have “qualified immunity” meaning they cannot be held individually responsible. Piercing this immunity is quite difficult and a simple case of false arrest will not do so. Can one recover costs etc. from the agency etc? Probably, especially since this interpretation is held by the AG’s office and it is the responsibility of the agencies to keep up with the laws and train their officers. However; we need a lot more 2A case law before we can go around taking away the homes and other property of cops who arrest honest, law abiding gun owners. Once we get to that point the game changes dramatically.

–Calgunner “dantodd” in this thread re: Haynie v. Pleasanton. Emphasis mine.

We’re getting closer, bit by bit.

Want a chance to meet Alan Gura and discuss this sort of thing with him? Then you should go to this year’s Gunblogger Rendezvous!

Posted in Gunblogger Rendezvous, Have Gun, Will Travel, Quote of the Day | 2 Comments

Term Paper Time

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Phil Kadath

Since the Summer Quarter of my schooling is only 8 weeks long, it is now Term Paper Time (it’s due by 23:55 on Friday).

The instructions are to choose a film from the list below and write 8-10 pages on the premise given to us in the guide (which I have included with the list). Nothing too difficult.

Now, before you go thinking that this is some sort of “PoliSci for Dummies” course, I can tell you quite earnestly that it is not. Most of are assignments so far have been to read 40-50 pages per week on a particular political ideology, then read the six test questions and answer each with a couple/few paragraphs, with ten minutes given to answer each question. Each answer is worth the equivalent of 50 points and we are graded not only on the thoroughness of our answers but also our use of proper written English. Bad spelling and grammar will see a loss in points.

I’m quite happy with the instructor. While he and I do not see eye-to-eye politically, he is quite fair and non-judgmental.

Even better, I am infatuated with the text book. I will post more on it when the course is over in a  couple weeks. I am even thinking of holding a contest with the book as a prize. It is that good.

You’ll probably notice that the premises below are somewhat, if not completely, contrived. While I’m not happy about some of the contortions I’m having to go through with writing about my selection, Groundhog Day, there are others I would dislike to have to bend around even more.

Anyway, the list is below the fold. Enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment on the premises.

Continue reading →

Posted in Phil Goes to College | 5 Comments

Reptilian Rhapsody

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Dave RNS Photographer

Pair o' Pythons

Posted in Gratuitous Gun Pics | 1 Comment

Suing the saved

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Oscar Gordon

Two guys rescue a woman from a burning vehicle, then sue her for damages.

At first blush, I want to call these guys jerks & worse, but then I thought about it for a minute.  The resuced woman had acted recklessly and caused the danger in the first place, so she is responsible for their injuries (if she hadn’t been acting recklessly, she would not have crashed and required rescue).  Granted, the men had no legal obligation to do anything but call 911, but we want men & women to do the right thing, and the right thing was to try & rescue the woman.

My bet:  The guys got hurt, their health &/or auto insurance refused to pay (since they had no obligation to render aid and put themselves at risk), and the woman’s insurance needed some prompting to accept the obligation.

Thoughts?

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Your light reading for the day

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Oscar Gordon

The two articles discussed here (regarding labor costs and employment).

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Ground-Penetrating Radar Finds Your Cache

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Alaska

A colleague just resigned to go work on a ground-penetrating radar project to locate unexploded ordnance from an airborne remote-sensing device at 10,000 feet.

A decade ago, this fellow was doing the same work in Columbia. They’d see the cocaine fields from sat photos, then use foliage-penetrating radar to find a trail heading into the jungle from the fields, follow it to the processing area using the radar to see the processing buildings, then let the embassy know so they could do their thing.

Now, there’s more than an order-of-magnitude difference between detecting a building under a tree canopy then and detecting bits of metal under the earth from high in the sky today. Pretty damned impressive, I’d say.

And yeah, that buried tube you thought was hidden? Not so much, pal. Either dig a LOT deeper, or bury it in a junkyard.

Posted in By Ourselves, For Ourselves, Kewel! | 9 Comments

Term Paper Week

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Phil Kadath

My Political Science course is calling for me to write a term paper. I have been given a list of eight movies to choose one from, and am then to write 8-10 pages about my selected flick.

I’ll get the movie list up as soon as I can, but in the mean time, picture me watching Groundhog Day and taking notes.

Btw, I think this is one my favorite classes so far and it is definitely my favorite text book. More on that later.

Posted in Phil Goes to College | Leave a comment

Who IS this guy?

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Alaska

The amazing Igor Presnyakov. Stumbled upon his stuff last night. Do NOT listen to these clips on your tinny phone or computer as you will miss the whole point. You really need to listen with good bass speakers; the resonance is incredible. With good bass headphones everything else shut out and I was entranced.

Check out how he completely changes the chords in the latter part of Sweet Home Alabama, makes the arrangement entirely his own, yet the song’s still there.

“Nothing Else Matters” was the song we danced to at our wedding. I don’t think I’ve heard a prettier version than this.

This next one is recognizable too, but could also easily be the original composition of some guy playing in a wine bar or brewpub.

Here’s his Youtube channel. 177 tunes so far to choose from!

 

Posted in Kewel! | 3 Comments