I've seen this type of thing before; this type of "empowered attitude" with nothing to back it up.
Publicola on the reaction of the Unprotected class to the capture of an alleged serial rapist.
20050225
Quote for the day
Pithy, and served cold:
Publicola on the reaction of the Unprotected class to the capture of an alleged serial rapist.
Publicola on the reaction of the Unprotected class to the capture of an alleged serial rapist.
20050222
20050220
Old graphite mare ain't what she used to be
The current mission-critical computer at chez Fûz is now 5 years old, a Sawtooth Mac G4 that originally shipped with OS 9.0.
We've added memory, installed a second hard drive and loaded OS 10.2/ 9.2, upgraded to 10.2.8, repaired a noisy fan on the video card, upgraded the CPU from 350MHz to 1GHz.
But I think that's all I'm going to do to prolong this machine's service life---and normally I'm willing to do a lot incrementally rather than all at once. The Mac prior to this one? a Umax clone running a 603 at 180. Before that, a Performa 475.
I've read up on upgrading video cards, and I don't like the idea of either paying Apple prices for a new card on the one hand, or having to flash the ROM of an OEM card on the other. The original ATI Rage Pro 128 will have to carry us a bit further, and America's Army will have to be played on a different box and OS.
I'm not even sure I want to go to 10.3 either. What else has to get upgraded to come along with Panther? Quicken? Nutscrape? Do I need 10.3 to run iWork?
I'm open to subjective advice. Moratorium on any more Mac goodies for 18-24 months and bring home a G6?
We've added memory, installed a second hard drive and loaded OS 10.2/ 9.2, upgraded to 10.2.8, repaired a noisy fan on the video card, upgraded the CPU from 350MHz to 1GHz.
But I think that's all I'm going to do to prolong this machine's service life---and normally I'm willing to do a lot incrementally rather than all at once. The Mac prior to this one? a Umax clone running a 603 at 180. Before that, a Performa 475.
I've read up on upgrading video cards, and I don't like the idea of either paying Apple prices for a new card on the one hand, or having to flash the ROM of an OEM card on the other. The original ATI Rage Pro 128 will have to carry us a bit further, and America's Army will have to be played on a different box and OS.
I'm not even sure I want to go to 10.3 either. What else has to get upgraded to come along with Panther? Quicken? Nutscrape? Do I need 10.3 to run iWork?
I'm open to subjective advice. Moratorium on any more Mac goodies for 18-24 months and bring home a G6?
It's not the fifties they're after
Brother gunblogger Triggerfinger (HT: FreedomSight) brings us news of CNN running a story that demonstrates how easy it is to buy a fifty-cal rifle and move it across State lines. To make the story, they had to break a Federal law.
My first impression is that no news organization should be breaking laws just to show how easy lawbreaking can be. Publicola and I agree that the law in question should not be a law in the first place, and that fifty-caliber rifles in private hands are no threat to public order. A first-and-a-half-th impression is that such laws serve only to make everyone just a little guilty, so anyone can have his arm twisted just a little bit by the Man. It's a Randian "consent of the victim" thing.
My second impression is that CNN and its reporters stand absolutely zero chance of having to defend themselves against charges of violating that law. Laws are for the little people.
My third impression is that CNN's reporters and/or producers and/or editors know, subconsciously perhaps, that fifty-caliber rifles are not the real story. The real story, and the activism motivating the fifty-caliber story, is terror and anguish over the fact that a seller of a gun and a buyer of a gun can find each other and arrange to meet face-to-face and make their transaction without the engagement of a licensed dealer. Sensationalize this, spice it up by adding today's Most Dreaded type of gun, and cue the anti-gun lobbyists.
Compared to the fifty-caliber, the antis would get more traction over the SKS (more bodies) except it has one letter or syllable too many. Ayyy-Kayy. Uuuu-zi. Fiff-tee. Mack-tenn. Ess-kay-ess takes just too long to say in a sound bite.
They're not after fifties, they are after private sales.
My first impression is that no news organization should be breaking laws just to show how easy lawbreaking can be. Publicola and I agree that the law in question should not be a law in the first place, and that fifty-caliber rifles in private hands are no threat to public order. A first-and-a-half-th impression is that such laws serve only to make everyone just a little guilty, so anyone can have his arm twisted just a little bit by the Man. It's a Randian "consent of the victim" thing.
My second impression is that CNN and its reporters stand absolutely zero chance of having to defend themselves against charges of violating that law. Laws are for the little people.
My third impression is that CNN's reporters and/or producers and/or editors know, subconsciously perhaps, that fifty-caliber rifles are not the real story. The real story, and the activism motivating the fifty-caliber story, is terror and anguish over the fact that a seller of a gun and a buyer of a gun can find each other and arrange to meet face-to-face and make their transaction without the engagement of a licensed dealer. Sensationalize this, spice it up by adding today's Most Dreaded type of gun, and cue the anti-gun lobbyists.
Compared to the fifty-caliber, the antis would get more traction over the SKS (more bodies) except it has one letter or syllable too many. Ayyy-Kayy. Uuuu-zi. Fiff-tee. Mack-tenn. Ess-kay-ess takes just too long to say in a sound bite.
They're not after fifties, they are after private sales.
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