Guard Dog

No I totally disagree. If the someone uses a hammer to kill someone is the company who made the hammer liable? Responsibility begin and ends with the individual. I don't give a damn about economic circumstances, or if your dad beat you as a kid. Everyone knows you are not supposed to kill other people. If you know that and do it anyway it does not matter what weapon you used, everything that transpired resulted from a choice YOU made. If I got drunk and hit and killed a pedestrian while driving home who is to blame for their death? Knob Creek for making the booze I drank? They did not put it in my glass or put the glass in my hand. Ford Motors for making my truck? How can they be responsible if I misuse their product by doing something the owners manual tells you not to do (it's on page 2 of the Mercury Mountaineer book). Is the bar I drank in responsible? They would have been glad to call a cab if I asked. And as I walked out the door how do they know I was not getting a cab, or getting on a bus? So who is ultimately responsible for the pedestrians death? I am. Everything that happened resulted from choices only I made. Does it really make sense to apply collective responsibility here? I don't think so. To answer Laozi's point; suppose a company like Ruger makes a lot of say 100 handguns to fulfill an order from a gun store. The serial numbers of all of them are recorded along with the invoice number of the transaction and the gun store they are sold to. Once they are delivered they are now the legal property of the store that bought them. Suppose they sell one of them to me. They record the transaction and register their invoice and serial number with the state. Ruger hears nothing about this and why would they? It's not their property any more. Suppose after a few years I sell the gun to someone else. I keep a receipt for my records but I don't tell the state because its a private transaction and I don't tell the gun store or Ruger because why would I? It's not their property. Now suppose the gun is stolen from the new owner and is then used by the thief to rob and kill someone else. Who is to blame here? Ruger? The gun store? Me? The guy who had the gun stolen from him? How about the only one in this chain who actually did something wrong, the P.O.S. who stole a gun and used it to kill someone. Applying criminal penalties to parties who did no wrong is totally unjust. Moreover, seeking to spread the blame away from the people who deserve 100% of it is more than a little dumb. It is tantamount to saying you are not really responsible for you actions if you used a gun to murder someone. Logic does not support it.

Wireless/Celluar is going to see a massive change in the next 5 years. We just have UMTS working in most places now and we are already planning on rolling out LTE in 2009. That will be as big a change over UMTS as GSM was over IS-136 or as you guys call it "digital". We are already hitting wireless speeds of 1 Mbs everywhere now and sometimes as high as 3.6 Mbps. LTE will allow us to pool channels so we'll see channels that are 15 MHz wide with HSDPA so data rates will be around 60 Mbps plus with full implementation of VoIP it will be the end of surface circuit switching. Coupled with direct to cell fiber optic access we will see the beginning of the end of wire line telephony.

I fired the M-16 in the Marines... a lot. A whole heck of a lot. I was the Platoon M-60 gunner in MCT (infantry school that comes after boot camp). I also qualified with the Beretta 9mm, and got time on the M-2 .50, the M249 SAW, fired a dummy rocket from an AT4, and like every Marine who has ever done guard duty, the 12 GA shotgun. I own a Ruger P90 .45, a Winchester .300, and a 20 GA shotgun. I take the rifle to the range frequently, the .45 not so much. The shotgun is strictly for home defense and it has not been fired in years. But it is ready to go if the need ever arises. I hope it is never fired again.

I spent most of the last two weeks in Tennessee working. There is so much to learn for the new job. Closing on the new place is Friday and construction starts the following week if all goes well. The deal on my place in WPB fell apart so it's back on the market. The dogs were really happy to see me when I got home.

Right, thus creating the idea in American's heads guns = freedom. Without a gun how are you to keep the King of England out of your face? My father in a lifelong member of the NRA and we've talked about how gun company's interest put gun ownership right in danger, while at the same time controlling the debate in Congress. My father, like most members of the NRA, supports some time restrictions on "assault weapons" and things of that nature, but are fearful of giving up any type of freedom because such a thing would set a precedence to take greater freedom away. I don't like the idea of punishing a company for the bad acts of individuals who happen to end up with their products. If I were to rob a bank and in the process shoot a guard with a Ruger pistol, fining Sturm-Ruger would make as much sense as fining Chevrolet if I used one of their cars as a get away, or Nike if I was wearing their shoes as I ran out. I do think you hit on something big in ths post though, and Enoch alluded to it earlier. Now that the spectre of total bans and confiscation of firearms (always the stated goal of the gun-control fanatics) has been removed I think you will see less opposition to reasonable restrictions such as banning hi-cap magazines, waiting periods, and assault weapon bans.

I signed the contract with the builder for my new place yesterday. I'm meeting the well company tomorrow. Today I got an offer for my West Palm Beach house. It's $17k below the asking price but I'm sort of inclined to take it if they can do it. I've gotta convince my ex though, she gets half of whatever it's sold for.

Sort of like Miami Beach!

Yes, in fact I am still working on my election handicap for Liberty Post (I missed the June 1 publication because I have..you know.. a job, a life) but it will be done for the July one. I'll have it up here for free before that. I go state by state and predict who will win and analyze why. I also predict who the running mates will be, why, and what effect they will have on the election. The joke on Obama and McCain is no matter who wins we will have a democrat in the White House.

Man goes bloody nuts on his co-workers. http://view.break.com/513310

Heck I live in South Florida now and I hit water digging a 1 meter deep fence post hole. My house now is on a concrete foundation. The new one will be the same. My new property is not in a flood plain but it is just 12 miles from the Mississippi River so basements are out of the question there.

This is it! This is going to be the new Doghouse! It's a little more than I wanted to spend, I'll just have to cut back on a few other projects but I LOVE the model I saw yesterday. I'm going up this weekend to pick flooring, cabinets, counters, paint, trim door etc and sign the contract. http://jimwalterhomes.com/Home-Models.asp?...;series=Classic

I'm picked a builder for the new house, now trying to settle on a floor plan. I'm kind of liking the first one. Opinions? http://jimwalterhomes.com/Home-Models.asp?...;series=Classic http://jimwalterhomes.com/Home-Models.asp?...;series=Classic http://jimwalterhomes.com/Home-Models.asp?...es=Contemporary

In case you guys missed it, it is now official. Obama has hit the magic number of 2118 delegates and is the nominee of the Democrat party for President. Hillary Clinton is still refusing to conceede but that would be like the Patriots refusing to admit the Giants won the Super Bowl after the game ended. Anywho I'm working on my official handicap of the general election for Liberty Post. I'll post it here tomorrow and see what you guys think. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/03/ele...rats/index.html

Barbarism does not begin with killing people for apostasy or homosexuality. I would argue that punishing someone on any level for the thoughts in their head or their genetic make up (if you accept the theory that homosexuality is genetic) is barbaric. Life in prison for not following the approved state religion is no better than execution.

Actually SITE is a private information gathering firm. If they were an actual government entity of any nation the humor would be magnified to the 10th power.

Link: http://kotaku.com/5011913/intelligence-gro...rist-propaganda That hysterical laughing sound was me. The Telegraph had this story too but pulled it down before I could link it. Definitely worth a chuckle.

I really enjoyed Oblivion. But to parrot everyone else here, don't bother playing the game Vanilla (unmodified). Meshugger reccomended FCOM and it is great but I reccomend Oscuros Oblivion Overhaul. There is another one called MMM (Martigens Monster Mod) I would definitely reccomend one of these three overhauls. Sadly they are not compatible with each other.

Re-reading Winterdance by Gary Paulsen. I have a whole stack of new books waiting to be read but I'm re-reading this one for the 5th time. My copy is all beaten up but I can't help it. I just love this book.

You are a wise man Mes. I have been saying that but I don't think anyone believes. If Obama wins and takes office in Jan 2009 by Jan 2010 you will barely notice any real changes in the US.

Yep, I accepted a new position as the Tower Structural Engineer for the Southern Region. More money, no more RF channel planning. Plus I'm moving to Memphis and out of S. Florida forever so it's all good. The best of all is when I told my ex-wife. The only thing I'm dreading is when I move the dogs. But thats a few months away yet. I am still shopping for builders for the new house.

Tomorrow is my last day in my current job. It's been a heck of a ride these last 6 years.

A solid state MP3 player? Is there another kind? I could design a non solid state one for you but I don't think you would want to go running with it. More likely you would need a hand truck to move it. Seriously though, I have a cheap little Coby MP300 2G Flash Drive/MP3 player and it works great. I got it from newegg.com for $20 US.

This thread went from a discussion on US politics to a Ku Klux Klan meeting. If I were a moderator I'd shut it down but since I'm not I'll just stop participating. The idea of hating an entire segment of the human race simply because their religion or ethnicity is as absurd as the idea than an entire segment of the race is united in some cabal for global domination. You are all certainly free to persist in your paranoia and hate speech but forgive me if I'm too disgusted to join in.

Considering Yushaas posting history most find it a little difficult to lend his posts any credibility. Don't you remember his 3000 some odd word rant about how the world would be such a better place if all Americans just went out and shot ourselves (my summation). However, there is the humor factor and he does bring out the best in Laozi so it's all good.