I didn't give them any information to leak or misuse. The constitutional purpose of the census is to count people, not to figure out who rents vs. who owns their homes, or what their age/race distribution is. So that's what I gave them. A complete and accurate count of the people living in my home.
Per Title 13, they could fine me $100 for failing to complete the form. I don't think that'll happen, but it's worth $100 to me to stand on the principle.
What made you switch away from Debian in the first place?
I ran Debian unstable on my desktop and laptop for years, and I switched to Ubuntu because it gave me a slightly better compromise between stability and software age.
Debian unstable isn't "unstable" at all in the normal sense, but the constant updates do mean that it takes significant effort to keep updated, and every once in a while an update DOES break something. Testing is a compromise that gives you a little less maintenance effort and a little more stability, and now that it gets security updates it's a good option, but it still changes a lot. Stable is rock-solid, but tends to get pretty out of date.
Ubuntu sits between testing and stable on pretty much all fronts, and gives you a predictable update cycle. On Ubuntu, I know that every six months I'm going to go through an upgrade process and can schedule time for it. I schedule a day. In practice, it usually only takes an hour or so (and most of that with zero attention from me), but the predictability is very useful.
Such interpretations assume that "judgement" is an ability -- something inherent -- rather than a skill acquired and improved through use and training.
It's a combination of both.
If what you call judgement is a skill or set of skills, then preventing teenagers from exercising it will prevent them from developing it.
The key is to let kids develop judgement through exercising their decisionmaking skills in areas where bad choices won't screw up their lives permanently.
The only way they end up with criminal charges is if
1) They do something which is forbidden to everyone, like forcible rape. In this case, making it MORE illegal for them to do it isn't going to help
Who's talking about making anything more illegal? I'm talking about kids getting in over their heads and making a long series of bad decisions which get progressively worse. I'm talking about how it makes sense for parents to intervene and nip those decision chains in the bud.
I wasn't responding to the topic of the article, actually, so much as just the previous poster who was asserting that parents don't know better than their kids.
How old are you? In almost all cases, an adult WILL make better choices than a teenager will.
Beyond fMRI studies, there are lots of other formal studies and semi-formal observations (look at actuarial data on auto accidents, for example) that show that the cognitive ability we call "judgement", the ability to weigh multiple competing factors with a fair degree of accuracy and arrive at a sensible conclusion, is something that isn't fully-developed until the mid-20s.
Now, I'm not saying that every adult old enough to have teenaged children always exercises good judgement, or that teenagers never do, but overall adults are much better equipped to make difficult choices than kids are. When it comes to sex, the problem of poor judgment is exacerbated by powerful new emotions and sexual feelings that the teenager has only recently begun to experience.
Really, you'd have to be crazy to expect teenagers to make good choices about sex. Hell, lots of adults make really bad choices about sex, and that's after a few decades of getting used to the issues, and with as much judgement as they're ever going to develop! Kids don't have either of those advantages, and are at correspondingly greater risk.
Of course, many of them make bad choices and escape unscathed. But some of them don't. STDs and unwanted pregnancies can really screw with a young person's future. And if they show really poor judgment, especially when coupled with what are normally relatively minor cognitive disorders like poor impulse control (a common characteristic of ADHD), they can end up with criminal charges, and for far worse than "sexting".
Yes, parents of teenagers find sex more than a little bit scary. Not because they're prudes who don't want their kids to have any fun. Because they see how their kids often make bad decisions -- which is a perfectly normal, healthy and even necessary part of growing up -- and they recognize that bad decisions in this area can have severe and long-lasting consequences. And parents don't want their kids to have to suffer those consequences.
You can't fix the Ponzi scheme by propagating it. The declining birth rate will make us face reality. Capitalism is doomed to fail.
You've got it all backwards. The failing Ponzi scheme is our flirtation with socialism. Right now we're funding more and more entitlements with debt that future generations will have to repay (or suffer the consequences of defaulting or, equivalently, devaluing). To fix the problem, we need a combination of cutting back on the socialist entitlements and a significant growth in GDP so that we can dig our way out of the hole we're in. An influx of immigrants can help fuel GDP growth.
If they return the call to the number it displayed, will they reach you?
Depends on how I have it configured. I can send their call anywhere, or I can block it, in which case they'll hear the "number has been disconnected or is out of service" message.
The Google Voice app on my Blackberry will allow me to initiate calls from my cell that show my Google Voice number on the caller ID, rather than my cell phone's number. Through the Google Voice web page, I can initiate calls from nearly any phone but my GV number will be displayed to recipients.
Seems to me that your friend should be listening to an immigration attorney, and not some political hack taking random calls
Political hack? Part of the JOB of your congressman is to act as a liaison between you and the government. He (or she) is your representative. Congressional staffers do a lot of this sort of research and assistance to citizens.
As for getting an attorney immigration attorney, we looked into that, too. Expensive and no guarantees of success (but you pay either way).
As I said... bigger problems than immigration. And, actually, given the Ponzi-scheme nature of what we've been doing for decades now, plus the decline in native birth rate, we may NEED massive immigration just to have a prayer of eventually every catching up.
And, I'm sorry, but we can't take everyone who wants in. We can't afford it even in the best of times. Eventually you are taxing all income over X dollars at 100% and confiscating all corporate profits, and still don't have enough money.
This assumes that each new person is a net cost to government coffers. If that's true, then we have bigger problems than immigration.
Asking immigrants to follow the law and immigrate legally isn't being a xenophobe.
No, but structuring the legal immigration process so that it's darned near impossible to immigrate unless you're highly-educated is.
My wife and I have been trying for years to help a friend of hers who is a Nigerian national living in Italy come over. At one point a staffer in our congressman's office got so frustrated with the law that she actually suggested that my wife's friend come on a tourist visa and then overstay! It appears that the best legal option is the immigration lottery.
I don't think I've ever even seen a thirty-round mag that would fit an XD!
It looks pretty funny sticking several inches out of the grip of my little subcompact... I actually only used it a couple of times. You can blow through plenty of ammo using 16-round mags, so the 30-rounder doesn't add much entertainment value.
I've had good Rugers and bad Rugers. For plinking fun, you can't beat a Ruger 10/22 and there are so many modification options it's almost like an AR. I also had a Ruger P95 that was horrible. Worst trigger ever. The LCP seems to be a very decent little gun. Given how hard it is to find.380 ammunition I haven't shot it as much as I'd like, but it's been flawless for the ~300 rounds I've put through it. And, of course, it's about the smallest, flattest little gun there is. Fantastically concealable (just like the Kel-Tec it's modelled on).
The XDs are certainly great guns, but Springfield didn't design them and doesn't make them. It's actually a Croatian gun, which Springfield markets. I think they truly are an upgraded Glock, though. Just as tough and reliable, but with some added features and a little better price. Well, used to be better. Glock has been forced to come down to compete.
I've only got about 3000 rounds through my XD. And it has stovepiped a couple of times, but only when I was using a cheap 30-round mag I picked up at a gun show. With actual Springfield magazines, it's been perfect. I still practice malfunctions by mixing the occasional snap cap in my magazine, but that's just an abundance of caution. I don't expect it will actually fail.
Interesting. I still don't think it was very popular before the German army picked it up, and wasn't very popular after WWII until CC became much more common in the US. I hadn't realized that the Germans had adopted a Browning-designed round, though.
John Moses Browning... it's amazing how much one man contributed to the development of firearms technology. And it's really sad that the company that bears his name has almost nothing to do with guns. I live about 15 miles from their headquarters and went up once to tour it. I was really disappointed.
I have a range a block from my house, and I go there a lot. They have a "cop range" that the local ordinance uses and I have a lot of cop friends, so I shoot on that range a lot, and we've had this conversation and done some tests.
Do any of your cop friends carry without one in the chamber? I don't know any cops that do that.
Modern handguns are very reliable, and they're designed so that it's impossible to fire one without pulling the trigger. With a decent holster to protect the trigger, there is no possibility of a discharge. One thing I recommend to people who are uncomfortable with carrying hot is to carry their sidearm with the hammer/striker cocked on an empty chamber. Carry that way for a few months and each night when you put your gun away, check to see if it is still cocked, or if it has "gone off".
That said, if you're more comfortable carrying "cold", by all means do what makes you comfortable. When it comes to carrying a deadly weapon, there are a lot of very personal choices to be made and you shouldn't let anyone tell you you're wrong. I just wanted to give you some things to think about:)
(I carry an XD9 sub-compact and/or a Ruger LCP. I carry both with chambered rounds and don't have the slightest concern about either going off without the trigger being pulled, and I use good holsters for both).
Apparently, loaded, cocked, and with the safety off.
S&W's sole.380 pistol is a double action-only striker-fired gun. No manual safety, and the gun can't be left "cocked". The toddler would only have to have pulled the trigger through it's long, heavy (8-10 pounds) path. I question whether or not three year-old fingers could have pulled that trigger.
Yep. And I'd say that although the.380 is an oldish round (originally called the 9mm Kurz, used by the Germans in WWII), it hasn't been very popular until the last 20 years or so, when the liberalization of concealed carry has created a large market for very compact guns. The Sigma 380 was introduced in 1995, and I'm pretty sure it was S&W's first.380.
You clearly don't have access to guns or 3 year olds. I'm not sure what particular model of gun it was, but a quick Google of "Smith & Wesson.380" shows me lots of models without hammers but instead strikers that are always cocked when a round is chambered
Really? Like what? The only S&W.380 I can find is the Sigma 380, which is striker-fired but double action-only, meaning it's never cocked. Pulling the trigger first cocks and then releases the striker in a long, heavy (8-10 pound) trigger pull.
Maybe the toddler did drop it and since it was already cocked it only needed the jarring to release the pin? I guess they'll figure that out when they examine trajectory.
Modern handguns do not go off from being dropped, unless they're broken.
Also, if this was a Smith & Wesson.380, that means it was a Sigma 380 which is a double action-only gun, so it can't be left in a "cocked" state. You fire it by pulling the trigger which first cocks back the striker and then releases it. So even if the gun was broken, the striker couldn't have been pulled back and ready for release.
Re:How did a 3-year old pull the trigger?
on
Accidental Wii Suicide
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Really? A toddler pulling the trigger of a.380? A toddler?
I smell bullshit.
Good point!
AFAIK, S&W only makes one.380, the Sigma 380. This gun has no manual safety, instead it's a double action-only pistol with a long, heavy trigger pull. An eight to ten pound trigger pull. It's hard to believe that a toddler could have managed that.
Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan was a victim of either neglect, ignorance or willful intent of her stepfather. Which one, no one can ever be sure of. Regardless of the circumstances he improperly stored a loaded handgun in his home in reach of a three year old.
Absolutely.
The key to continuing to reduce these kinds of "accidents" is to increase awareness. I really doubt that fines or a jail sentence would significantly increase this father's regret for his carelessness -- those can't compete with the impact of losing a child and knowing it's your fault -- so I wouldn't favor prosecution as punishment or even for its deterrent value. But what prosecution would provide is an ongoing news stream, keeping the issue in front of people and continuing to raise awareness, and that may well save a few lives.
I have no objection whatsoever to keeping a gun in the home, in fact I think it's a really good idea. I have several guns and carry one of them with me on a daily basis. But while guns are very safe when handled with due care and respect, they are very dangerous when handled improperly, and leaving one in reach of a three year-old is seriously stupid. Criminally negligent, in my opinion.
If you have children, invest in a home security system before a handgun, folks.
IMO, you should first invest in a good dog, then a gun (with an appropriate gun safe), then a home security system. Most home security systems are less effective than the dog at detecting intruders and can't do a thing to stop them. The gun can stop an intruder, but not detect one. The dog can do both. Plus kids like playing with dogs.
Computers and information technology are a sufficiently broad category of endeavor that, if you look, you can find examples of computer and IT services in both of the above categories, and some that are sort of in-between.
I'm talking about the professional IT services that go for 200-300 per hour. Fairly sophisticated software development, enterprise architecture, security analysis, etc.
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I didn't give them any information to leak or misuse. The constitutional purpose of the census is to count people, not to figure out who rents vs. who owns their homes, or what their age/race distribution is. So that's what I gave them. A complete and accurate count of the people living in my home.
Per Title 13, they could fine me $100 for failing to complete the form. I don't think that'll happen, but it's worth $100 to me to stand on the principle.
Am I the only one who is skeptical of these smart meter devices? I don't want hackers to be shut off my power or anything else.
The meters just clamp a detector around your main. They have no ability to shut off or modify your power.
What made you switch away from Debian in the first place?
I ran Debian unstable on my desktop and laptop for years, and I switched to Ubuntu because it gave me a slightly better compromise between stability and software age.
Debian unstable isn't "unstable" at all in the normal sense, but the constant updates do mean that it takes significant effort to keep updated, and every once in a while an update DOES break something. Testing is a compromise that gives you a little less maintenance effort and a little more stability, and now that it gets security updates it's a good option, but it still changes a lot. Stable is rock-solid, but tends to get pretty out of date.
Ubuntu sits between testing and stable on pretty much all fronts, and gives you a predictable update cycle. On Ubuntu, I know that every six months I'm going to go through an upgrade process and can schedule time for it. I schedule a day. In practice, it usually only takes an hour or so (and most of that with zero attention from me), but the predictability is very useful.
Anyway, that's why I've switched. YMMV.
Such interpretations assume that "judgement" is an ability -- something inherent -- rather than a skill acquired and improved through use and training.
It's a combination of both.
If what you call judgement is a skill or set of skills, then preventing teenagers from exercising it will prevent them from developing it.
The key is to let kids develop judgement through exercising their decisionmaking skills in areas where bad choices won't screw up their lives permanently.
The only way they end up with criminal charges is if 1) They do something which is forbidden to everyone, like forcible rape. In this case, making it MORE illegal for them to do it isn't going to help
Who's talking about making anything more illegal? I'm talking about kids getting in over their heads and making a long series of bad decisions which get progressively worse. I'm talking about how it makes sense for parents to intervene and nip those decision chains in the bud.
I wasn't responding to the topic of the article, actually, so much as just the previous poster who was asserting that parents don't know better than their kids.
How old are you? In almost all cases, an adult WILL make better choices than a teenager will.
Beyond fMRI studies, there are lots of other formal studies and semi-formal observations (look at actuarial data on auto accidents, for example) that show that the cognitive ability we call "judgement", the ability to weigh multiple competing factors with a fair degree of accuracy and arrive at a sensible conclusion, is something that isn't fully-developed until the mid-20s.
Now, I'm not saying that every adult old enough to have teenaged children always exercises good judgement, or that teenagers never do, but overall adults are much better equipped to make difficult choices than kids are. When it comes to sex, the problem of poor judgment is exacerbated by powerful new emotions and sexual feelings that the teenager has only recently begun to experience.
Really, you'd have to be crazy to expect teenagers to make good choices about sex. Hell, lots of adults make really bad choices about sex, and that's after a few decades of getting used to the issues, and with as much judgement as they're ever going to develop! Kids don't have either of those advantages, and are at correspondingly greater risk.
Of course, many of them make bad choices and escape unscathed. But some of them don't. STDs and unwanted pregnancies can really screw with a young person's future. And if they show really poor judgment, especially when coupled with what are normally relatively minor cognitive disorders like poor impulse control (a common characteristic of ADHD), they can end up with criminal charges, and for far worse than "sexting".
Yes, parents of teenagers find sex more than a little bit scary. Not because they're prudes who don't want their kids to have any fun. Because they see how their kids often make bad decisions -- which is a perfectly normal, healthy and even necessary part of growing up -- and they recognize that bad decisions in this area can have severe and long-lasting consequences. And parents don't want their kids to have to suffer those consequences.
You can't fix the Ponzi scheme by propagating it. The declining birth rate will make us face reality. Capitalism is doomed to fail.
You've got it all backwards. The failing Ponzi scheme is our flirtation with socialism. Right now we're funding more and more entitlements with debt that future generations will have to repay (or suffer the consequences of defaulting or, equivalently, devaluing). To fix the problem, we need a combination of cutting back on the socialist entitlements and a significant growth in GDP so that we can dig our way out of the hole we're in. An influx of immigrants can help fuel GDP growth.
If they return the call to the number it displayed, will they reach you?
Depends on how I have it configured. I can send their call anywhere, or I can block it, in which case they'll hear the "number has been disconnected or is out of service" message.
The Google Voice app on my Blackberry will allow me to initiate calls from my cell that show my Google Voice number on the caller ID, rather than my cell phone's number. Through the Google Voice web page, I can initiate calls from nearly any phone but my GV number will be displayed to recipients.
Seems to me that your friend should be listening to an immigration attorney, and not some political hack taking random calls
Political hack? Part of the JOB of your congressman is to act as a liaison between you and the government. He (or she) is your representative. Congressional staffers do a lot of this sort of research and assistance to citizens.
As for getting an attorney immigration attorney, we looked into that, too. Expensive and no guarantees of success (but you pay either way).
As I said... bigger problems than immigration. And, actually, given the Ponzi-scheme nature of what we've been doing for decades now, plus the decline in native birth rate, we may NEED massive immigration just to have a prayer of eventually every catching up.
And, I'm sorry, but we can't take everyone who wants in. We can't afford it even in the best of times. Eventually you are taxing all income over X dollars at 100% and confiscating all corporate profits, and still don't have enough money.
This assumes that each new person is a net cost to government coffers. If that's true, then we have bigger problems than immigration.
Asking immigrants to follow the law and immigrate legally isn't being a xenophobe.
No, but structuring the legal immigration process so that it's darned near impossible to immigrate unless you're highly-educated is.
My wife and I have been trying for years to help a friend of hers who is a Nigerian national living in Italy come over. At one point a staffer in our congressman's office got so frustrated with the law that she actually suggested that my wife's friend come on a tourist visa and then overstay! It appears that the best legal option is the immigration lottery.
I don't think I've ever even seen a thirty-round mag that would fit an XD!
It looks pretty funny sticking several inches out of the grip of my little subcompact... I actually only used it a couple of times. You can blow through plenty of ammo using 16-round mags, so the 30-rounder doesn't add much entertainment value.
I've had good Rugers and bad Rugers. For plinking fun, you can't beat a Ruger 10/22 and there are so many modification options it's almost like an AR. I also had a Ruger P95 that was horrible. Worst trigger ever. The LCP seems to be a very decent little gun. Given how hard it is to find .380 ammunition I haven't shot it as much as I'd like, but it's been flawless for the ~300 rounds I've put through it. And, of course, it's about the smallest, flattest little gun there is. Fantastically concealable (just like the Kel-Tec it's modelled on).
The XDs are certainly great guns, but Springfield didn't design them and doesn't make them. It's actually a Croatian gun, which Springfield markets. I think they truly are an upgraded Glock, though. Just as tough and reliable, but with some added features and a little better price. Well, used to be better. Glock has been forced to come down to compete.
I've only got about 3000 rounds through my XD. And it has stovepiped a couple of times, but only when I was using a cheap 30-round mag I picked up at a gun show. With actual Springfield magazines, it's been perfect. I still practice malfunctions by mixing the occasional snap cap in my magazine, but that's just an abundance of caution. I don't expect it will actually fail.
Interesting. I still don't think it was very popular before the German army picked it up, and wasn't very popular after WWII until CC became much more common in the US. I hadn't realized that the Germans had adopted a Browning-designed round, though.
John Moses Browning... it's amazing how much one man contributed to the development of firearms technology. And it's really sad that the company that bears his name has almost nothing to do with guns. I live about 15 miles from their headquarters and went up once to tour it. I was really disappointed.
you still have to pull the action back for the first shot, which a 3 year old can't do.
The S&W Sigma 380 is double-action only.
I have a range a block from my house, and I go there a lot. They have a "cop range" that the local ordinance uses and I have a lot of cop friends, so I shoot on that range a lot, and we've had this conversation and done some tests.
Do any of your cop friends carry without one in the chamber? I don't know any cops that do that.
Modern handguns are very reliable, and they're designed so that it's impossible to fire one without pulling the trigger. With a decent holster to protect the trigger, there is no possibility of a discharge. One thing I recommend to people who are uncomfortable with carrying hot is to carry their sidearm with the hammer/striker cocked on an empty chamber. Carry that way for a few months and each night when you put your gun away, check to see if it is still cocked, or if it has "gone off".
That said, if you're more comfortable carrying "cold", by all means do what makes you comfortable. When it comes to carrying a deadly weapon, there are a lot of very personal choices to be made and you shouldn't let anyone tell you you're wrong. I just wanted to give you some things to think about :)
(I carry an XD9 sub-compact and/or a Ruger LCP. I carry both with chambered rounds and don't have the slightest concern about either going off without the trigger being pulled, and I use good holsters for both).
Apparently, loaded, cocked, and with the safety off.
S&W's sole .380 pistol is a double action-only striker-fired gun. No manual safety, and the gun can't be left "cocked". The toddler would only have to have pulled the trigger through it's long, heavy (8-10 pounds) path. I question whether or not three year-old fingers could have pulled that trigger.
Yep. And I'd say that although the .380 is an oldish round (originally called the 9mm Kurz, used by the Germans in WWII), it hasn't been very popular until the last 20 years or so, when the liberalization of concealed carry has created a large market for very compact guns. The Sigma 380 was introduced in 1995, and I'm pretty sure it was S&W's first .380.
You can modify guns to reduce the trigger pull to nearly nothing.
Not DAO pistols like S&W's .380.
Yes, metal guns are noticeably heavy
The S&W Sigma 380 weighs 14 oz. I think that's the unloaded weight, but five .380 rounds don't add a whole lot.
It's the parent's fault no matter how you look at it, but "never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity," right?
No argument there.
You clearly don't have access to guns or 3 year olds. I'm not sure what particular model of gun it was, but a quick Google of "Smith & Wesson .380" shows me lots of models without hammers but instead strikers that are always cocked when a round is chambered
Really? Like what? The only S&W .380 I can find is the Sigma 380, which is striker-fired but double action-only, meaning it's never cocked. Pulling the trigger first cocks and then releases the striker in a long, heavy (8-10 pound) trigger pull.
Maybe the toddler did drop it and since it was already cocked it only needed the jarring to release the pin? I guess they'll figure that out when they examine trajectory.
Modern handguns do not go off from being dropped, unless they're broken.
Also, if this was a Smith & Wesson .380, that means it was a Sigma 380 which is a double action-only gun, so it can't be left in a "cocked" state. You fire it by pulling the trigger which first cocks back the striker and then releases it. So even if the gun was broken, the striker couldn't have been pulled back and ready for release.
Really? A toddler pulling the trigger of a .380? A toddler?
I smell bullshit.
Good point!
AFAIK, S&W only makes one .380, the Sigma 380. This gun has no manual safety, instead it's a double action-only pistol with a long, heavy trigger pull. An eight to ten pound trigger pull. It's hard to believe that a toddler could have managed that.
Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan was a victim of either neglect, ignorance or willful intent of her stepfather. Which one, no one can ever be sure of. Regardless of the circumstances he improperly stored a loaded handgun in his home in reach of a three year old.
Absolutely.
The key to continuing to reduce these kinds of "accidents" is to increase awareness. I really doubt that fines or a jail sentence would significantly increase this father's regret for his carelessness -- those can't compete with the impact of losing a child and knowing it's your fault -- so I wouldn't favor prosecution as punishment or even for its deterrent value. But what prosecution would provide is an ongoing news stream, keeping the issue in front of people and continuing to raise awareness, and that may well save a few lives.
I have no objection whatsoever to keeping a gun in the home, in fact I think it's a really good idea. I have several guns and carry one of them with me on a daily basis. But while guns are very safe when handled with due care and respect, they are very dangerous when handled improperly, and leaving one in reach of a three year-old is seriously stupid. Criminally negligent, in my opinion.
If you have children, invest in a home security system before a handgun, folks.
IMO, you should first invest in a good dog, then a gun (with an appropriate gun safe), then a home security system. Most home security systems are less effective than the dog at detecting intruders and can't do a thing to stop them. The gun can stop an intruder, but not detect one. The dog can do both. Plus kids like playing with dogs.
Computers and information technology are a sufficiently broad category of endeavor that, if you look, you can find examples of computer and IT services in both of the above categories, and some that are sort of in-between.
I'm talking about the professional IT services that go for 200-300 per hour. Fairly sophisticated software development, enterprise architecture, security analysis, etc.
It's a 30% margin business.