Sharp as a Marble

Wishing death on their opponents

Robb Allen — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:18:03 -0400

Good morning boys and girls. Can you say “Police State”?

Robb Allen — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:51:57 -0400

SPECIAL NOTICE: DO NOT call Senator Kotowski unless he is your Senator, and even then be very careful. Kotowski has a track record of having the State Police investigate and harass people that disagree with him.

I want you to read that statement a few times because it might not sink in right away.

Here we have a state senator who has been known to have the ~~Stasi~~ State Police intimidate his detractors and yet both the Senator AND the police who have assisted him are both still employed and not in jail where they belong.

This isn’t new, and it’s not a Democrat vs. Republican thing. Corruption is a bipartisan effort and the corrupting influence of power stains all who hold it. We, as a society, have allowed this to continue to this point and there’s no way to remove the cancer without harming the host. We’re just seeing it more now because we have better communications, and I’m not sure if it’s because people simply don’t care, or can only focus their energies on thirty-seven scandals at a time and numbers thirty-eight to infinity are just going to have to wait.

Buckle up ladies and gentlemen. We’re in for some bumpy times.

I’m rather proud of this Tweet

Robb Allen — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:51:17 -0400

“This is the government your forefathers warned you about.”

A bird in the hand

Robb Allen — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:37:58 -0400

This video is just… amazing.

Ted Nugent’s brother is an idiot

Robb Allen — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:44:33 -0400

It’s only Monday morning, and I’ve already had my USDA weekly recommended dose of stupid

I believe strongly that expanding and improving mandatory background checks will keep a lot of people who aren’t entitled to Second Amendment rights from having easy access to guns.

Jeffy is one of those snobs who believes only the right people should own guns. Rights, you see, are doled out at the discretion of those who know better.

Sadly, gun owners tend to be the biggest threat to gun owners when it comes to spouting off.

And after I get my M141 Pulse Rifle

Robb Allen — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:15:57 -0400

I want one of these

Real operators know what the red button is for and don’t need to ask.

If I ran an auto restoration company

Robb Allen — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:54:06 -0400

I would definitely run ads like this

More lovely death wishes from anti’s

Robb Allen — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:05:36 -0400

Oh look! Someone has automated Yeager’s idiocy

Robb Allen — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:22:16 -0400

Now you can put a cameraman down range without the actual cameraman!

That straw-man never saw it coming.

Robb Allen — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:50:48 -0400

It never fails. I claim that background checks do nothing because they don’t affect criminals and the rejoinder is always

I never said we can stop criminals from anything and I said nothing about driving.

What I say is that background checks do nothing to lower crime. Nothing. Period. Gun control can lower violence committed with guns, but it will not lower violence overall. In fact, there appears to be a pretty strong correlation between areas with high gun control and increased violence.

Demanding that I go through even MORE hoops than I already do will not lower crime. It won’t stop crime. It won’t stop anything and has never been proven to be even the slightest bit effective and pointing that out does not mean I believe in anarchy and think we should do away with all laws.

That’s a straw man in the highest regard.

Guns are not the problem. People are the problem. And if a background check is enough information to let you know that a person is too dangerous to be trusted with a gun, then why do you believe they should not be in jail?

Besides, it takes a special amount of ignorance to believe you can control people by controlling objects. But that’s all gun controllers can believe in.

Remember, they think we’re the violent ones

Robb Allen — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:09:53 -0400

Why are anti-gun people so violent?

The right way to treat potential customers

Robb Allen — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:36:23 -0400

I don’t have the time right now to focus on creating my own sounds for my music. Basically, I need a good library to start with and I can tinker with existing sounds to ‘make them mine’ if necessary. The good news is that there are a bajillion Romplers out there. It’s amazing how poorly some companies think of their customers though.

First off, the plugin to play your particular flavor of samples should be free. Hello, if you want me to buy your libraries, I’m not going to plop down an extra $250 for the plugin to hear them. Two, if your software requires me to have a dongle or any sort of hardware that could easily be defeated by a quick trip to Pirate Bay… well, take your sounds and shove them where nobody can hear them.

Finally, your sound libraries may be the most comprehensive collections of sounds ever compiled in the history of electronic music – chances are I’ll never use more than a handful of them. Hundreds of dollars+ is too much to ask.

Thankfully, I’ve found a few libraries that are reasonably priced, and the plug in is free albeit limited in what it can do, which I’m fine with since I’m not interesting in tweaking the innards. Plus, the libraries are $15-$55, which is reasonable.

Even some of the DAWs are ridiculous in how they try to protect their software at the expense of their customers. As a developer, I’m keenly aware of how piracy hurts, but treating your customers as criminals hurts worse.

Bottle. Genie. Some assembly is impossible

Robb Allen — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:04:40 -0400

It ain’t goin’ back in

As for guns … CAD/CAM files (the computer files that 3D printers transform into physical objects one layer at a time) for the .45 caliber M1911 or the 1911A-1 single-action, semi-automatic pistol have been online for years. In fact, you can find all kinds of CAD/CAMs for all kinds of gun parts, bomb parts, bazooka parts, rocket launcher parts and other deadly weapons online. These are computer files, like songs or movies or documents or images, they cannot be protected or digitally rights managed (DRM) any better than the entertainment industry has done with its intellectual property. A file is a file is a file, if someone wants to copy it – it will be copied. You can’t tell what the file contains unless you open it and, most importantly, there is no way to ban or prohibit the transfer of files. In this case, the genie is out of the bottle, you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, the ship has sailed – the files are out there.
Plastic guns? Seriously. How about guns printed in steel, guns printed in carbon fiber, guns printed in, you name it – there’s a 3D printer that can print in the medium.

Someone whined that I took down the file for the Liberator from my server without realizing what I actually did nor taking the time to actually comprehend the ramifications. Keeping a single file with a bright HERE IT IS SIGN pointing to my front door while there’s litigation going on wasn’t smart tactics. Seeding the file as a torrent and moving it to… several other places in interesting formats, meant the file was everywhere and nowhere.

You cannot stop that signal.

What gun banners also fail to realize is that it doesn’t require an $8,000 3D plastic printer to make a gun. Home Depot has the supplies you need, and if you have access to the most basic of machinery, any gun can be made

The area has long had a reputation for producing unlicensed, home-made copies of firearms using whatever materials are available - more often than not, railway rails, scrap motor vehicles and other scrap metal.

And that’s from uneducated goat herders living in the mountains. Imagine what someone can do with an internet connection and tools purchased at Harbor Freight!

There’s no way to stop bad people from getting guns. You can’t even slow them down. The best options are to keep people you know to be dangerous (aka, couldn’t pass a background check) in jail and allow the populace free access to the best tools for self defense.

Because there’s nothing you can do to stop the bad guys, why hassle the good ones.

This is the future we warned you about.

Robb Allen — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:26:33 -0400

None of what’s going on with the Obama administration, from Benghazi, to the spying on the media, to the IRS scandal comes as a surprise to those of us who have been paying attention.

Just saying.

Next thing you know, I’ll set up a DJ booth at the range

Robb Allen — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:06:10 -0400

So, I’m going Full Retard on the music thing. I’m picking up an APC 40 on Friday to start my foray into a mix of Dance / Electronica and rock guitar. A heavy blues based dubstep might be interesting.

What I’m aiming for is a mix of Joe Satriani (without the skill) and electronica. The thing is, I want to make sure I’m doing more than just catchy loops, I want to use my music theory that I’m learning along with my guitar work to really make good music. Might not be some people’s style, but I want to ensure it’s not just a shitload of repetitive phrases over and over.

The first brick wall I hit with FL Studio was the lack of control I had. Sure, every knob and widget can be manipulated with the mouse, but it limited the number of things I could putz with at the same time, and even my keyboard’s controls were a little awkward to work with and weren’t natively supported. Bringing those out to a controller will allow me a bit more freedom,and I really like the concept of being able to trigger ‘riffs’ and mix them around in real time to play with various song possibilities. Composition is important but sometimes you need ‘happy accidents’ to really move things along.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to give up gun blogging and change my name to DJ Sin Pantanlones but you poor bastards are going to be saddled with a new topic every here and there.

GOOOOOOD morning Interweb Tubing!

Robb Allen — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:13:08 -0400

Busy week, busy life. Hope you all had a wonderful Mothers’ Day Weekend.

Aaaand, that’s all I have for now.

How are you?

I haven’t saddled up the drama llama in a while

Robb Allen — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:35:12 -0400

But hey… OPEN CARRY!

Where is your Gun Control God Now???

Robb Allen — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:57:55 -0400

You don’t need a 3D printer to defeat gun control as a few supplies from Home Depot are all that’s needed.

You could even do without the cylinder and replace it with a steel tube or just drill your own.

The worst calendar entry ever

Robb Allen — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:35:56 -0400

Took Bueller to the vet yesterday for his steroid shot. He was starting to chew himself pretty bad again and his skin was turning pink, meaning the steroids had worn off. It is usually 3 to 4 weeks between shots and this time was closer to 3. He has an autoimmune disorder that causes him to chew himself until he bleeds and it’s awful to look at much less the problem with cat blood all over the house.

We’ve already looked at the calendar for next month and unfortunately the month beyond. I say unfortunately because next month, instead of the normal tech visit, we’ll be meeting with the actual vet to discuss the following month – when we no longer will be giving him the steroid shots and instead will be putting him to sleep.

Boo is >14 years old. We’ve given him the best life possible and have spent literally thousands in surgeries and medical costs. It’s been worth it, but alas we cannot continue to spend $50 every 3 weeks or so. I can’t imagine he’s not miserable itching like that, and he’s definitely showing signs of old age, but the idea putting him down is just heart wrenching, especially considering he’s perfectly fine for a while after his shot.

I’ve decided to not tell the girls. They both know he’s nearing the end and we’re waiting until they’re out of school so his death doesn’t interfere with their classes or tests. The calendar has it on a Saturday, and I think what I’ll do is schedule it after lunch and let the girls know in the morning so they have some time to spend with him. I don’t want them knowing about it like I do, making them miserable for a long time and I loathe to hide it from them, but I think it’s probably for the best to not force them to linger over it.

And every day that square on the calendar moves closer. It sucks.

A valuable lesson

Robb Allen — Wed, 08 May 2013 09:48:19 -0400

My oldest loves to read. I mean, she’d pretty much rather read a book than anything else in the world, save playing Legos from time to time for a break between novels. I gave her The Hobbit on a Friday evening and by Lunch on Saturday, she was done. Her reading skills are off the charts and the school has repeatedly told us they don’t know how to handle someone with that much ability. According to everything I’ve read, Georgia has more reading ability than many high school graduates. She’s 10.

So when she was selected to be Captain for her Battle of the Books team, I wasn’t surprised.

The competition was yesterday. I always try to make it to as many of my girls’ events as I can, so I was there in the front row to cheer her on (silently of course). Her team took first place handily in the first round and if my ‘math in my head’ calculations were correct, was only a few points behind in the second.

The third round? Notsomuch….

Georgia missed an answer, and it rattled her. Bad. There would be a random sentence read from one of the 15 books and you were supposed to buzz in and tell the author’s name. She buzzed in and gave the title of the book (which was also wrong). This killed her confidence and another team simply ran away with the rest of the round, putting them clearly in the lead.

She lost. There were tears. And as sad as it is to see her upset, it was a valuable lesson.

I love my girls too much to pamper them and hide them from reality. As a father, that’s a difficult balance to keep as they’re still young and innocent, but teaching them that taking a loss isn’t the end of the world is going to put them so far ahead of their peers that losing simply won’t be something they’ll have to deal with as much later in life. They won’t be trained to crumble at the slightest touch that real life will give them, unlike many of their friends who are sheltered from the harshness of reality.

And in this way, they will be able to enjoy life better.

I also reminded Georgia that 2nd place (which is what we think they got out of 4 teams) is still better than the rest of her grade, who simply sat on the floor and watched. I told her how that even though I am only a C-Class shooter in IDPA, not even in the top 50%, that I’m still generally better than everyone who doesn’t compete at all. I’m not a fan that everyone got trophies because I think that does more to water down achievement than it does to promote it, but in a way the fact she was ON a team and the captain to boot is worthy of praise and valuable for self-esteem.

And the loss? That’s good for her too.

Today’s Word of the Day

Robb Allen — Tue, 07 May 2013 10:29:21 -0400

fustigate \FUSS-tuh-gayt\ verb

1 : to beat with or as if with a short heavy club
2 : to criticize severely

Sometimes, it’s the same thing.

It’s like the Inception of gun banners’ worst nightmare

Robb Allen — Mon, 06 May 2013 11:45:56 -0400

A high capacity magazine of high capacity magazines!

Liberator firearm

Robb Allen — Mon, 06 May 2013 10:45:05 -0400

~~I have a copy on my server here~~. Instead, here’s a torrent. Now it’s everywhere and nowhere.

The signal cannot be stopped.

Sometimes, victory smells like wet ‘Depends’

Robb Allen — Mon, 06 May 2013 10:33:49 -0400

Oh, Chucky. You call it stomach churning fear. I call it freedom.

To Schumer, the ramifications of make-your-own untraceable and undetectable weapons are “stomach-churning.”
“Now anyone, a terrorist, someone who is mentally ill, a spousal abuser, a felon, can essentially open a gun factory in their garage,” Schumer said. “It must be stopped.”

And stopped, it cannot be Chucky. The information is already out, 3D printers can print new 3D printers, and the entire premise of gun control is now based on the same fantasy that you can stop a book from being disseminated. You can now print an untraceable gun and no amount of law or security is going to stop it. The signal has gotten out, and it cannot be stopped.

Plus, the only thing this does is make the process a little bit easier. Anyone with a few bucks to spend at Home Depot has already been able to make a fully functioning firearm using nothing but steel tubing, caps, and a nail.

Notice how Chucky wants armed protection, but requires you to be disarmed for his safety. Because he understands that you cannot control people who can fight back. And now, it’s impossible to prevent the proliferation of guns.

His tears. They are sweet.

Sometimes, the squirrel catches the nut

Robb Allen — Mon, 06 May 2013 09:54:44 -0400

And sometimes, the squirrel’s nuts get caught.

There’s that word again

Robb Allen — Mon, 06 May 2013 09:45:02 -0400

Here’s something I do not understand. There are people out there who are vehemently anti-gun who suffer from extreme cathexis. So much energy have they invested in the idea that an inanimate object contains mind altering abilities that even when presented with evidence that clearly shows that they are wrong, they continue to go down that path.

Take the execrable Piers Morgan. Here’s a guy who has made a name for himself on being as anti-gun as they come, but even with all the time and energy he’s put into casting the deodands into the purifying fires, he doesn’t even understand their basic components. He can’t tell the difference between a magazine and a clip, a cartridge and a bullet, an M16 and an AR15, and if you were to ask him what ‘direct impingement’ was, he’d probably claim that it makes the bullet more lethal. He is the embodiment of the term ultracrepidarian.

One would think that if hundreds of people send you missives correcting your information that at some point you’d get it. While I realize it’s difficult to admit mistakes, at least you would think that someone would stop using the bad information, but this doesn’t seem to be possible for someone whose invested so much of their lives into something they know little of.

Threats, follow through, and feathers

Robb Allen — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:27:20 -0400

When I’m at the client’s office doing work, sometimes I’ll take a walk behind the building to clear my head. The other day I was doing this and there was a hawk perched upon the top of a telephone pole that happened to have alerted all the other birds in the area who were tweeting angrily. One can assume the hawk was staking out lunch and some of the smaller birds had nests nearby that contained appetizers, and those birds were none to happy about the situation.

Especially one courageous little thing that decided to attack the hawk.

You’ve all seen something like it – a tiny, finch sized bird flying and attacking a much, much larger bird – right? Usually the smaller bird will peck at the larger one, scaring the big bird off. That didn’t happen in this case.

While the smaller bird was chirping aggressively and ‘dive bombing’ the hawk, it never actually attacked it. In fact, it kept a pretty good distance… and the hawk knew this. In between scans, the hawk would clean itself, paying the dive-bomber absolutely no attention because it never followed through with the threat. Sure it chittered and squawked and flew near the hawk, but it never actually pecked it.

And thus for all the hue and cry, the hawk continued to pick out his next meal.

Just something interesting to think about. This can be applied to gun ownership, politics, and even interpersonal relations. Just found it interesting.

Gun owners are generally a responsible group

Robb Allen — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:23:45 -0400

But there are those who seem to want to ruin it for the rest of us.

How to tell is your comments are SEO spam

Robb Allen — Fri, 03 May 2013 08:21:08 -0400

Duh!

Wouldn’t the first result for a search for Search Engine Optimization be the best company to use?

Allen’s Law

Robb Allen — Thu, 02 May 2013 09:17:59 -0400

There is a corollary to Godwin’s Law I am coining that I think this is going to ruffle the feathers of some of those with the really nice Wookie suits, but I think it’s important because I’ve seen this argument deployed many a time and I think it’s faulty. Here we go -

As an online discussion over taxes grows longer, the probability of a libertarian leaning person comparing it to slavery reaches 1.

Now before you grab your bow-caster and a box of Kashyyyk’s finest ammo (apparently, Wookies aren’t having issues finding it on store shelves) let me explain. Words have meanings, and using them incorrectly can damage your argument. I’m not saying our current taxation is fair or moral as I, in fact, think it’s the polar opposite. But it’s not slavery.

Nobody owns me. The US government cannot sell my tax bill to China and then claim that I am not bound to the rules and laws of the Chinese. Slavery means treating people as property and even ultra high taxation does not do that. Yes, you can think of it as theft and there are arguments you can make to support that assertion, but it is most certainly NOT ‘ownership of people’ any more than someone who burgles your home is suddenly your master.

I’m guilty of this, but as I analyze my own internal monologues in search of errors, this one stood out to me. It’s no different than an anti-gunner claiming supporting gun ownership is the same as murder. It’s not, and it’s nothing more than using an emotionally charged word to try to trump any counterargument, and calling taxation slavery has the same effect.

You are not in physical chains. You cannot be sold to another entity. Nobody is forcing you to work against your will (as can be seen by the long lines in front of the SS office when checks are due). Yes, not paying your taxes will see the full force of the state come down upon you with Officer Friendly and His Amazing Patrol Rifle paying you a courtesy call, but that is decidedly different that you being treated as chattel.

So, when discussing the abysmal failure that is out tax system, leave the slavery out of it. Until the IRS has a receipt for your personhood, it is a bad term to use.

Not a happy camper

Robb Allen — Wed, 01 May 2013 08:54:00 -0400

Just got off the phone with the Mrs. She was getting in her car and thought “Huh… Where’s my bike?”

Looks like someone walked in while the garage door was open and rode off with it.

Our neighborhood isn’t exactly crime ridden or anything, but break ins aren’t unheard of. For the entire time we’ve lived there, we’ve felt comfortable with leaving the garage door open while we’re home as do most of our neighbors. This was a pretty brazen thing as it was mid-day while we were home. I realized Pepper barked the other day which is something that she rarely does, and now I realize why.

I’m pissed, of course. When I get home I have to do an inventory of the garage to see if they ran off with anything else. Not sure why they’d steal my wife’s bike – it was a *very* girly bike and the cheapest Huffy we could find at Wal-Mart, but still. I guess we’re going to have to ensure we close the garage at all times which really sucks but I don’t want some little shit thinking we’re easy marks now.

At least I take small solace in the fact that I don’t feel like my world has collapsed. I don’t pretend that things like this can never happen to me, so when they do it’s not a shock to my system. Still pisses me off to no end, but at least I can keep my head on straight about it.

If you need me, I’ll be over here… fuming.

Bug-A-Salt

Robb Allen — Wed, 01 May 2013 08:43:38 -0400

A review.

Which brings up something – It’s a shame Uncle doesn’t write more because he’s funny (like a clown)

When the Onion becomes indistinguishable from real life

Robb Allen — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:31:55 -0400

Wait… This isn’t the Onion?

Several House Democrats are calling on Congress to recognize that climate change is hurting women more than men, and could even drive poor women to "transactional sex" for survival.

…

More broadly, the resolution says climate change will hurt "marginalized" women, such as refugees, sexual minorities, adolescent girls, and women and girls with HIV. It also cites Hurricane Katrina as evidence of how climate change can affect women, noting that the storm displaced "over 83 percent of low-income, single mothers" in the region.

These are the people considered by many to be the brightest minds destined to control our lives?

No wonder we’re in such bad shape.

I mean, it’s only second to my blog for this purpose

Robb Allen — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:54:28 -0400

The studio

Robb Allen — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 08:08:23 -0400

The Mrs. has taken the youngest to Sea World today for a Girl Scout trip. The eldest is having her best friend over, which means an entire day of them sitting in her room, reading books together. That means I actually will have some free time which (sorry to the people waiting on work to get done) I am going to use to compose some music.

Here’s where the magic happens

I use FL Studio as my DAW, an Axiom 61 for the keyboard MIDI trigger, a Zoom G3 pedal for my Paul Reed Smith, and it all gets piped in through the PC on the left (the box behind the guitar is the lovely machine used to display this very website you are reading).

I wonder where I’d be at today had I this kind of recording power back when I was in high school, learning how to play. Here, using pretty much off the shelf components, I have a full recording studio that can actually produce top notch sound albeit with a LOT of work. Better equipment would make it easier to mix and master. Still, I could crank out something on this that takes the world by storm.

Not saying that’s going to happen today, but at least I’m going to have fun trying.

Racist spam

Robb Allen — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 07:16:44 -0400

I got this in my inbox this morning

I guess the KKK is hard up for cash and is peddling hair pills and antibiotics now?

You don’t need more than 10 rounds!

Robb Allen — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:35:34 -0400

Except when you actually do

At the core of his desperate firefight was a murderous attacker who simply would not go down, even though he was shot 14 times with .45-cal. ammunition — six of those hits in supposedly fatal locations.

…

Each round slammed into the suspect’s head — one through each side of his mouth and one through the top of his skull into his brain. At long last the would-be cop killer crumpled to the pavement.

…

Remarkably, the gunman was still showing vital signs when EMS arrived. Sheer determination, it seemed, kept him going, for no evidence of drugs or alcohol was found in his system.

This is why I need more than 10 rounds. The human body is both amazingly fragile and resilient at the same time. If I’m attacked, it might be by more than one person. The person(s) could be hopped up on drugs and not feel the impacts. The wounds could be mortal, but slow. In this case, three headshots were required before the guy went down.

To limit people to some magic number is to put their lives in danger while protecting the criminals.

Hat tip David Hardy

Quality is job… umm… 7?

Robb Allen — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:24:25 -0400

Nice bolt.

Pushing morals

Robb Allen — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:19:11 -0400

I’m not a fan of ‘teh ghey’. Not my cup of tea, but my position is it’s none of my business. If two men want to use each other’s back hair as ‘love Velcro’, it’s not my place to ask the state to stop them, regardless of how badly it trips my squick factor.

But keep this shit up and I promise you I will reconsider my stance.

Parents say their daughters were told to ask one another for a kiss and they say two girls were told to stand in front of the class and pretend they were lesbians on a date.

…

Coon says parents were given no warning about the presentation and there was no opportunity to opt-out. Both the school principal and the district superintendent are defending the workshops and advising they will schedule more.

SIXTH GRADERS. Forced to accept the morals of someone else. Imagine if they had a girl and boy pretend to be on a date and the girl tell the boy her religion doesn’t allow for pre-marital sex. Or if the kids had to pretend to be Muslim and, due to the boy seeing the girl’s ankle, was compelled to perform an honor killing.

I read it somewhere else and I can’t recall where, but America is still just as prudish as it was in the Victorian days, it’s just that the morals are schizophrenic. Teaching middle schoolers the proper method for fisting or how to act like lesbians is beyond the schools’ authority. I realize there are those who do not agree with my belief that my children are mine to raise and not the community’s and I simply do not see how I can exist along side these people.

I believe in rights, and I will fight for rights even if I do not agree with your lifestyle or choices. But I’ll be damned if I’d sit back and let you push YOUR morals on my children like this. For the most part, I’m apathetic about gays. If I found out gays were actively trying to push my daughters to become lesbians, I’d become active in opposition.

Live your life. Let me live mine. Start crossing that line and the gloves come off.

On my mind

Robb Allen — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:50:26 -0400

Shoot or Don't Shoot?

Because this was in MA (The birth AND death place of liberty!), I would not have shot. But here in Florida, I’d be legally protected and probably would have, assuming I actually knew the guys battling it out with the cops were actual bad guys.

Someone brought up that with our luck, we’d end up shooting undercover cops who were busting a fake-cop crime org, and then no amount of legal protection will save you.

Privacy makes a rather nice club to beat people with

Robb Allen — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:10:14 -0400

Gun owner? Those records belong in the public’s eye! Terrorist scumbag’s welfare records? PRIVACY IS PARAMOUNT!

On unemployment compensation, labor department spokesman Kevin Franck refused to say whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev ever collected, saying it was “confidential and not a matter of public record.”

Emphasis mine.

I’m sorry, but if you’re taking MY money, you better be damned well aware I have every right to see how your scraggly ass is using it. In this instance, it’s an embarrassment to the government and thus they have a sudden urge to ensure people’s privacy is respected.

Unless you own a gun of course. Then fuck you very much.

Why we win

Robb Allen — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:20:54 -0400

Two words – Kevin #@&^ing Baker

Printing the death of gun control

Robb Allen — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:55:32 -0400

3D Printing of an entire handgun is around the corner

Will it work? Wilson thinks it will, and it won't be just a one-shot wonder it will be able to fire a few shots before melting or breaking.
Wilson didn't want to reveal too much about what could become the world's first fully 3D-printed gun, saying he will make the actual announcement soon. He did reveal some details, however.
The gun will be made of 12 parts, all printed in ABS+, a very sturdy type of thermoplastic. There might be, perhaps, just one small metal part — a firing pin.

I’m curious to know how the barrel is going to work, but I’ve learned throughout the years to cast doubt aside and wait until the final product comes out. Even if you still had to buy a barrel… this would be huge.

The future is coming, ready or not, and the ability to build a working firearm at home with the press of a button effectively makes any and all gun control a moot point. That won’t stop the gun banners because taking the guns away from criminals has never been the goal of their actions, the complete disarmament of the populace to allow for full governmental control is.

The PSH, of course, is palpable

"It's a very frightening prospect," said Brian Quan, president of X-Object, a Brooklyn-based startups that distributes consumer 3D printers made by Delta Micro Factory Corporation. "I'm against the idea that someone could stealthily have a weapon that could kill somebody without even being traced."

So quan is scared of the idea of knives, drugs, piano wire, screwdrivers, pillow cases, scissors, acid, sticks, stones, baseball bats, etc? Because I assure you, there are MANY objects that can be used to kill that are untraceable.

At the same time, though, Quan doesn't think the government should step in.

Good for you. I’m happy to see you at least understand the solution to any problem isn’t the government. However…

He's more in favor of an industry self-imposed regulation, perhaps using DRM-style access control technologies, which are used to limit the copy of DVDs.

Because NOBODY can copy DVDs using free software. Oi vey! How can people so smart be so blind?

Anywhoo, gun control is dead, and the death certificate is printed in ABS plastic.

I don’t ever get hate mail

Robb Allen — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:59:27 -0400

It’s more like “so perturbed I can’t managed to use proper punctuation, capitalization, or sentence structure” mail

You have a message from pat sticke
shame on you. 90% of American want gun control the only way MY United States is going to move forward is to vote all republicans out of office. Republicans are NOT doing what is best for United States, but doing anything and everything against Pres. Obama. He was elected bY the people FOR the people. maybe you don't understand the ways of my country..Cuba is not the United States.

Thanks for the geography lesson there, professor!

Funny, I just bought one yesterday

Robb Allen — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:11:42 -0400

SMART THERMOSTATS: Nest’s Plan to Stop Brownouts Before They Start

But recently Les Bowles, a retired American Airlines pilot living in a suburb not far from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, became part of a possible solution. He is a beta tester for a program called Rush Hour Rewards, wherein a lusciously designed thermostat with artificial intelligence and an Internet connection eases his domicile into a zone of thrift and earth-friendliness. True, temperatures can inch into the mid-to-high seventies—but the thermostat orchestrates the AC so the increase sneaks up on him. If he does get uncomfortable he can always override the procedure and lower the temp, but he hasn’t done it yet; he says he’s learned to trust the wisdom of the thermostat in such matters. Overall, he’s come to love his thermostat. “I’m kind of overwhelmed and amazed,” he gushes. And his power bill, he reports, hasn’t been as low for decades, when he was a much younger man living in a basement apartment.

Yesterday my wife calls me and tells me the thermostat on the unit is dead. Our heat pump / AC is original to the house and is 26 years old and a dead t-stat wasn’t out of the question. So on the way home, I picked up a Nest to replace it with. Turned out to be unnecessary as it was just a float switch that had tripped, but the Nest is an ingenious invention and, being that our unit is so old, anything we can do to help reduce energy usage (and thus, costs) is a good thing.

Now, this line is funny

True, temperatures can inch into the mid-to-high seventies—but the thermostat orchestrates the AC so the increase sneaks up on him.

The lowest we keep the house is 77, and that’s just at night. I guess we’re so used to the heat that 78°/77° feels ‘cold’ to us.

Angels rarely end up in front of the magistrate

Robb Allen — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:02:15 -0400

One thing about the Norman case I just posted that really chaffs my glutes are gun owners who get bent out of shape that we fight so hard for someone they don’t consider to be a perfect candidate. It’s easy to sweep Scummy McScumbags’ rights under the rug because ‘scumbag’. Then, when your rights are being trampled, suddenly it’s a big deal and you wonder why nobody can find any legal foothold to help.

Dale Norman isn’t a perfect case, but perfect cases do not exist. Norman got his concealed permit, decided to put on baggy pants, a wife-beater, and a floppy holster and head outside, totally failing the ‘concealed’ portion of the CCW. His intent was to conceal, but it didn’t work out that way. I see plenty of people practically frothing at the mouth that we shouldn’t bother with someone ‘so stupid’ and that doing so will erode our rights further, missing the forest for the trees in the process.

First and foremost, you do not have a right to bare* arms in the State of Florida. The FL Supreme Court has already stated that concealed carry is a privilege, revocable at the State’s whim. Since you cannot carry in any other fashion, the right to bare* arms is non-existent outside of your home (or while fishing, hunting or camping).

What Dale Norman ended up doing should not be illegal. That he made a poor fashion choice is immaterial here. The concept of ‘brief’ exposure is so vague that no two cops are going to agree on it, much less a jury and if there is a right to carry arms (and there is) then that right must be unfettered by the State.

Watching gun owners bitch and moan because we didn’t get Saint Moses on the stand is irritating because it’s counterproductive.

*This was a slight joke relating to the fact that Mr. Norman wore a sleeveless shirt. Now that someone picked it up in the comments, I’ll put this disclaimer here ;)

FL Supreme Court allows Open Carry Ban challenge to continue

Robb Allen — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:39:37 -0400

FL SUPREME COURT DENIES STATE ATTEMPT TO KILL RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS QUESTION

On Friday, April 19, 2013, Florida’s Supreme Court denied a motion by the State Attorney to prohibit the Fourth District Court of Appeals from considering the appeal of a Concealed Carry Licensee who was convicted of violating Florida's Open Carry Ban and answering three questions which the county court considered to be of great public importance.

The case at hand is State v. Norman. On February 19, 2012, Dale Norman, whose concealed carry license had been issued only days earlier, walked down the street in Fort Pierce, Florida with his pistol holstered on his hip. Unbeknownst to Mr. Norman, the weight of his pistol caused his shorts to sag, making part of his holster visible to the public. A concerned citizen called police, who arrested Mr. Norman for violation of §790.053 Florida Statutes, which states in part:

Except as otherwise provided by law and in subsection (2), it is unlawful for any person to openly carry on or about his or her person any firearm or electric weapon or device. It is not a violation of this section for a person licensed to carry a concealed firearm as provided in s. 790.06(1), and who is lawfully carrying a firearm in a concealed manner, to briefly and openly display the firearm to the ordinary sight of another person, unless the firearm is intentionally displayed in an angry or threatening manner, not in necessary self-defense.

Although the court found Mr. Norman guilty as there was no evidence that the firearm had been concealed before he was arrested or that it could have been due to his manner of dress, Judge Cliff Barnes of the St. Lucie County Court found three questions to be of great public importance to law enforcement and the millions of Florida gun owners, and certified them to be addressed by the appellate court:

1. Is Florida’s statutory scheme related to the open carry of firearms constitutional?
2. Do the exceptions to the prohibition against open carry constitute affirmative defenses to a prosecution for a charge of open carry or does the State need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a particular defendant is not conducting him/herself in the manner allowed?
3. Does the recent “brief and open” display exception unconstitutionally infect the Open Carry Law by its vagueness?

These are questions Florida Carry has asked since a floor amendment gutted SB 234, a repeal of Florida’s open carry ban during the 2011 legislative session, resulting in the ambiguous “brief” language being inserted in statute.

It is Florida Carry’s position that since the Third District Court of Appeals found a concealed carry license to be a privilege and not a right in Crane v. Department of State, 547 So. 2d 266 (Fla. 3DCA 1989), and it is wholly unlawful to carry a firearm without a concealed carry license (except for the limited situations in §790.25(3) Florida Statutes), then it must follow that unlicensed open carry must be the right protected under the Constitution of Florida and the United States.

The Fourth District Court of Appeals agreed to consider the questions on January 29, 2013. The very next day in a virtually unprecedented move, the State filed a Writ of Prohibition with the Florida Supreme Court, contending that the appellate court was exceeding its authority by agreeing to hear the questions certified by the county court.

Florida Carry is pleased to announce that the Florida Supreme Court has denied the State’s Writ of Prohibition, and the Fourth District Court of Appeals will consider these constitutional issues, of vital importance to the firearms carrying population of Florida. Our lead attorney, Eric J. Friday, looks forward to arguing the case before the court, and we are confident that the court will see the contradiction in how a “right” is implemented in Florida Statute.

The Initial Brief on the Merits of the case was filed on Monday, April 22nd, 2013. The State will have 20 days to file and Answer Brief.

Case updates and relevant filings can be found on the Florida Carry Webpage's Litigation Section.

Donate
or
Join Now!

About: Florida Carry, Inc. is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to advancing the fundamental rights of all Floridians to keep and bear arms for self-defense as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I Section 8 of the Florida Constitution. Florida Carry stands only to represent our supporters, members, and the over 7-million gun owners of Florida. We are not beholden to any national organization’s agenda that may compromise that mission.

Florida Carry works tirelessly toward striking down ill-conceived gun control laws that have been proven to provide safe havens to criminals and be deadly to law-abiding citizens.

I hate when reality messes up a really good joke

Robb Allen — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:48:58 -0400

Earlier today I made this Twitter comment

Then I see this headline - Earth Day co-founder killed, composted girlfriend

Had I only known.

It’s 5:25AM on Saturday

Robb Allen — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 05:28:40 -0400

And I’m up already so I can head to Orlando to teach Basic Handgun at Ladies Day at Central Florida Rifle and Pistol Club. ~400 women will be there today, many of them learning handguns for the first time and I’m proud to be part of it.

That’s upwards of 400 new supporters for the 2A - It’s worth the early morning drive.

Now… Coffee.

That was FUN!

Robb Allen — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:18:53 -0400

I’ll give you a minute to wipe the sarcasm off your monitor.

Ok, all clean? Good.

By no fault of my own (the blame lies squarely with the NRA and white gun owners!) I ordered the wrong Windows 8 version. I wanted Pro, but didn’t pay any attention to the fact the box didn’t say Pro anywhere on it except in the tiny tiny tiny text on the back that said “Oh, by the way if you want to upgrade Win 7 Professional, you’ll need Win 8 Pro” which explains this little fiasco. Live and learn.

So I ordered the Pro Pack which is nothing more than a serial number. Shipping on serial numbers suck. Hell, free shipping on a serial number is asinine, but oh well. Came in yesterday and I punched the number in and was told to go take a long walk off a short pier.

Being busier than normal, I contact Microsoft support and let them handle it. 2 hours later, it was still unhandled. I was beyond their 1st tier abilities and was going to require level 2 help so we scheduled another call for this afternoon.

I hung up and fixed it myself.

I did the install to watch it fail and ran Sysinternal’s Procmon to see what was going on. I saw a log file was being written, so I found it, opened it up, and located the line with the error. Tracked down the root problem which is the fact that instead of my Users directory being on my C:\ drive, I had created a symbolic link to another drive so my SSD didn’t fill up. Turns out, Windows Update sometimes is hard coded to put an update file in a specific directory and that cannot be in a symbolic link. Errors are all over the place for such things.

So, I moved the administration account’s user directory back to C:\ then simply created a symbolic link to my account and ran the upgrade from the admin account and all is happy.

Not a normal thing, but honestly I wish there was an easier option to do it since it makes sense.