--- SELECT * FROM big_brother_profiles WHERE
(
residence_location = 'Washington'
OR
residence_location = 'Virginia'
OR
residence_location = 'Maryland'
) AND
(vehicle LIKE '%white%' AND vehicle LIKE '%van%') AND
military_trained = 1 AND
(gun_owned = 'M16' OR gun_owned = 'AR15') AND
violent_history = 1 AND
previous_matches > 1 ---
Unfortunately, that now leads to the question, is this person the correct one because he matched, or is he now the convicted person because he was the only one to match the profile?
It's easy enough to find someone who could do something, and based on their profile and history convict them. That's what makes this whole idea so scary. I don't want to go to jail because someone plays out the scenerio of the Swordfish movie. As cheesy as the movie was, it could be conceivable that someone would rob a bank, and do electronic transfers while they're there.. What's better, robbing a bank for a few thousand in cash, or robbing a bank and transfering cash out of large account's into your own at another bank. Don't think individuals, think Microsoft, HP, or even the local utilities ($100/mo * 1 millon customers).
Boom. For saying this, I'm profiled. BTW, any Federal agents reading this, I recently moved to Mars, so I wasn't on the planet if it happens.:)
Last year:
I got some cash, which was enough to buy the rest of the staff presents, because I know they didn't get shit..
My girlfriend got laid off from Lockheed Martin. They laid off her entire department, as they do every year. Fire everyone, hire new staff, then you don't have to give raises.
This year:
I got the pleasure of being told to move 3000 miles, and foot most of the bill myself, and take a cut in pay (about 30%). My other option was job hunting. I'm still questioning if I made the right choice.
My girlfriend moved with me, and hasn't found a job yet, so she doesn't get anything from a job..
We haven't received anything but a warm rumor that there won't even be a company xmas party..
My xmas bonus will come if the pager doesn't go off for a couple days from someone fucking up..
Funny, I've never heard a single complaint from a DirectTV DSL user.. Lots from AOL people who can't spell their passwords, and dialup users who can't understand why their 28.8 modem is slow 400 miles from the closest city.. Oh and Adelphia, who for about 6 months to a year randomly blocked our networks, but would never admit to it.
With like 4 million free, I thought we've heard every complaint out there.
I guess it doesn't really matter now, they're gone, but what were their complaints? Slow speeds? Long latency? Disconnects? I had read about long latency for those users, but we never manged to get a complaint.. I guess most people who could detect it (err.. like ping. stupid users.) would know enough to call their ISP before us.:)
Does a persons history indicate their professional knowlege? Because I broke a few laws, does it mean I can't program. While I'm not a pedophile, I may have a few skeletons in my closet.. Doesn't mean anything about my technical knowlege.
You didn't include your criminal history on your statement, so why should I read your messages? My history is available for review by the FDLE and FBI.:)
Say that when someone breaks into your house, your neighbor hears the shouting, and comes to your aid with gun in hand..
Force is a deterrant.. Just like the US and Russia having weapons of mass destruction. How many were never used, but sat there to remind the other side not to start a war...
Burnt CD's (like you'd use at home) have a shelf-life of about 10 years. Then the medium starts to oxidize (the metallic film, not the plastic itself), and flakes..
So, you have a 10 year backup.. It all depends on how important your information is. If it's that important, I'd put it on a RAID5 where it can be monitored. As drives fail, replace them. Continue migrating to newer arrays in the future.. Expensive, but I konw perfectly well any drive will fail. I've had several hard drives, that would fail to spin up properly after sitting for a few days.. Some of them, they only way they'd start is if I hit the side of the drive with a screwdriver..
You have to expect failure of your medium. If he wants to be very sure, use multiple backup methods.. RAID5's in multiple locations, and CD's. Someone will need to monitor all of it occasionally. Make sure the RAID's (and their associated machine) are running. Make sure the CD"s are oxodizing...
Even floppy disks die of old age. I found a few boxes with Novell Unix. They're is years old, and most of the floppies couldn't be read. They were brand new, still in the sealed boxes and envelopes. I finally found a boot disk that would work, but it would bomb out trying to install under VMWare (I was curious).
Is that data really going to be useful to you in 10 years? That's the important question. People are all paranoid of loosing Email and the like now, but in 1 year they don't care about it any more. In 2 years, it's just wasted space. In 10 years, they won't even know who or what they were talking about..
Hehe. The laptop died. The sticker is doing fine..
My diagnosis is a failing motheboard or CPU. It's an older Compaq Presario. It started having some odd behavior. Lines would start getting messed up on the screen randomly (like a bad video card). It would mysteriously crash. Sometimes the PCMCIA sockets wouldn't work. That was the last straw. I needed my 802.11b card to work. Dammit, I gotta hack!:) It was driving me nuts. So, we found someone getting rid of their old laptop, and I adopted it. I ran them side-by-side with identical configurations (Slackware, of course), and the old Compaq wouldn't work, but the new laptop would. So, now it's a paperweight.
I agree with you completely. Sendmail has grown since day #1, and can do just about everything you can imagine. It does more than anyone could possibly want to do with it. Since most installations use the default sendmail.cf and all, it's really overkill.
But, since it's installed with just about every installion of *nix by default, it's important to know..
I do understand how "easy" SMTP can be. I've written a few scripts to send out EMail *VERY* directly. Like, they connect to a remote mail server's port 25, and issue commands and listen to their responses. Pretty much, I've written the sending part of an SMTP server.. I haven't attempted to receiving part yet, but it could be fun to do someday.:) Usually I'm just lazy though, and send mail with
open (MAIL, "|/usr/bin/sendmail"); print MAIL "From: someone@somewhere\n"; print MAIL "To: Someone@somewhereelse\n"; print MAIL "Subject: Something\n"; print MAIL "\n\n"; print MAIL @BODY; close (MAIL);
If someone were setting up for themselves, I'd recommend exploring the alternatives (Qmail has been highly recommended to me many times). But for someone like me that needs to work on other people's servers frequently, Sendmail is essential, since they all are using it.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement knows exactly who I am, what weapons I own, including serial numbers. So, I am regulated. I have no problem with that. I'm sure if the FBI had further questions about me, they'd contact FDLE. Of course, the FBI and FDLE have a wonderful file on me already. I'm sure a good record of my training and the like. Not really a "oohh, wow" list, but better than the average Joe. I know of at least 5 good reasons for the FBI, FDLE, and US Army to have a file on me. All it takes is a background check to open a file, and any query to add an entry.
So, I'm regulated, and as a AC posted in a really good post (in this thread somewhere), Militia includes every able-bodied citizen. Voila, I'm a regulated militia man.
So, the Feds have cruise missles and nukes? That's enough to make everyone stand down? Under that logic, all countries should surrender to the US, because we have the most and biggest guns.. I don't see that one happening any time soon. Imagine if we tried to invade China. 30 million farmers with pitchforks would be fighting against us, and actually have a good chance of winning. You can't carpet bomb something the size of China.
If a situation is potentially life threatening, they will not enter. Say you're in a bank, and a robber walks in with a gun. By law you don't have a gun to protect yourself in a bank (only police and licensed armed security hired for that detail), so you lay down on the floor, quickly dial 911 on your cell phone, say "1st national bank is being robbed", and leave the phone open, so the police can hear what's happening inside.
Mr. Robber shoots someone. Anyone. Doesn't matter why. The police are not going to come in. They're going to park their cars in the road and stop anyone from getting close. They'll threaten to shoot they guy, but they're not going to put themselves in harms way to stop the robber.
They'll *TRY* to save you. They'll negotiate and all that. But in the end, you're on your own til the scenerio is over. They'll keep him from getting away, but they aren't protecting you. If you get shot, that's the robber's fault, not the police's, and they will take no responsibility. Their responsibility starts if they shoot you, and that's even questionable in court.
My first Linux book was Linux Unleashed, 1st edition, published by Sams Publishing. This book included Slackware with it. I'm afraid to think what verion, as this book is (c) 1995. It was good for a start. It's been read, borrowed, and stolen over the years. Hopefully it has a good home now.
I still highly recommend Slackware for a distribution. It's what we use on all our servers, and my workstations (Home, Work, and Laptop)
I bought a co-worker Linux System Administration: A User's Guide by Marcel Gagne. Published by Addison Wesley. Flipping through it, this seems like a very good book. It seems to be working out. He's coming to me with very intelligent questions after reading chapters, rather than "What do I do at the prompt".
After the Unleashed book, I personally got into the O'Reilly books. If you do this, go to the store with the company credit card, it'll be expensive. Oddly enough, most bosses are ok with paying for books, even when they're being tight with equipment. You can't get a new $5 CPU fan, but you can spend $500 on books. Hmmmm.. Well, buy more books.:) Borders and Barnes & Noble frequently have sales on previous edition books. If you flip through both, sometimes you'll see there were only very subtle changes, or chapters which aren't important to you. For a $40 price difference, it's worth getting the older one.:)
DNS and BIND very definately, unless you want to be clueless about what happens between typing in "yahoo.com" and it coming up in your browser. Having a good understanding there definately helps you debug problems.
Sendmail This is the perfect book to spin your head, and leave you with a headache for months. But it's the topic, not the book, that's so complicated. If it didn't do absolutely everything, I'm sure it would be simpler to use.
O'Reilly has a lot of great books.
"Learning" books are for beginners.
"Nutshell" books are usually to help you figure out something if you don't really know it.
The rest of the books have various degrees of learning to them. On my desk at work, for O'Reilly books, I have 3 different PERL books, the JavaScript book, and a few others that I reference on a regular basis.
I recommend going to book stores, and flipping through everything they have (restock it to the proper places). See what your comprehension level is. If you have no clue what they're talking about, you need an easier book. If you almost understand, buy it, read it, and then share it with a friend (especially on the company expense account! hehe).
When you're ready to get out of the books, and into the real world, the most valuable reference you'll ever have is dejanews.com. If you don't know an answer, search it there. Probably someone in the last 20 years has already asked it. It's the quickest way to look smart and impress your friends, even if you're stupid.:)
Having the stack of O'Reilly books is always good though. I recently changed offices (same company), and while riding in the elevator, I was offered a job because I looked educated and had a big stack of O'Reilly books in my arms.. Little did she know that was only 1/3 of them. The rest were still in my car..
Cool! Be a dear and tell this to every woman on my campus. I'm going to go serial-rapin' tonight! (Humor-impaired: I'm making a point. I'd prefer not to see cops at my door when I get back home tonight.)
You're joking, but people who DO that aren't. Pick a easy, unarmed target, and do what you will. He's still going on the assumption that the victim will live and be able to identify the attacker. If you know that you won't get 2 blocks without someone to stop you, why worry?
Unless you have an orbital laser platform. But in that case, I think it's a slightly different issue.
Didn't you read about the insecurities of satellites?:) All you need is a good dish and an idea of their unencrypted command codes.. If you don't know the codes, just try some.
If I was home when someone kicked down the door, I'd meet them with a gun. Not intending to shoot them, unless they were holding a weapon or if they walked towards me when I was pointing a gun at them.
NEVER draw a weapon without the intent to use it. As soon as you pull a gun or a knife, you've escellated the situation. If he has a gun at this point, he'll use it.. If you weren't in fear of your life for a tangable reason (he had a gun, knife, sharp stick), you'll be in the wrong when you kill him.
If you don't intend to use it, it'll be that much easier for the attacker to take it from you. If your next step is "fire", you've won. If your next thought is "do I shoot", it's too late.
Have you taken a weapons safety or handling class? They're very good and educational. It helps you prepare in your mind for what could or couldn't happen.
I've carried for many years, and never shot anyone. I have no intention of ever shooting anyone, and will be very happy if it never happens. But, it might. What if I'm the 1:100 that has a violent burgular? What if someone gets pissed and comes with the sole intention of killing me? I've pissed off a few people over time. Not much you can do about it, you can't make everyone happy. Just ask my ex-wife. She did try to shoot me.
I used good avoidance. I asked someone else to move my guns. They did. The ex-wife went for the guns, and they weren't there. An hour's difference, and things could have been fatally different. Would I shoot my insane ex-wife? No. Would she shoot me? Yes.
When she couldn't find the guns, she went for sharp objects (like knives) and heavy objects (like my printer).. I stayed out of her way til the police showed up. Funny thing, they wouldn't arrest her. {sigh} Great legal system we have.. If I had even said "I'll shoot you", they would have put me in jail for years, I'm sure.
I think statements like this just perpetuate the gun mentality of (some) Americans. "I know other people have guns, so I better get one to protect myself." Rinse, repeat.
Wrong. I may have a stronger force of hostile enemies confront me. I want to ensure the potential of victory in such situations. The same reason the US and Russia made their nuclear arsonels. If 4 guys with knives break into my house in the middle of the night, I don't plan on loosing the fight.
I don't have stats about kids accidently killing themselves with guns they find in their parent's closet, but I'm sure it happens. A lot. I can guarantee it will never happen in my house... can you?
I grew up in a house with guns. My sister grew up in a house with guns. My parents did likewise. My children did. I can't guarantee that a meteor won't hit your roof and knock down your TV antenna, but I can say the odds are just as good of that happening as someone getting accidently shot in my house.
Kids in accidental shootings make big headlines, because people don't like hearing about it, but it draws them in. If the same kid died in a slip & fall accident, would it make the same press? What about a car accident?
My girlfriend's 13 year old daughter, as a pedestrian, was hit by a speeding car. That made like page 4 of the paper. But if she accidently shot herself, that would be front page of every paper in the state. She'd still be injured or dead (she survived the car hit, with multiple broken bones)
I guess the other argument would be to not throw anything, don't piss him off, and let him take what he wants. Sure, you lose your stuff and maybe get roughed up a bit (but probably not if you don't give him reason to). But you live. And hopefully he'll get caught by the authorities later.
You're kidding, right? If you live, you're a witness. You call the police and say exactly who did what.
You'll be on your knees begging for them not to hurt you, and then you'll take a shot to the head, and lay on the floor for a few days til (hopefully) someone finds your body. Hell, they'll shoot you if you work in a convinence store, and only get $20 off the register, even though there's video tape of it...
A video tape is nothing in court, compared to a scared person saying "That's the person that robbed me!" With only one or the other, they can question the reliability. With both, you're fucked.
Don't you think the people on the 4 airliners begged? Only one set of them fought back. All of them got dead, but at least some tried, and managed to not kill thousands more people.
Driving a car is a priveledge, which you earn by taking lessons and passing tests. A gun is something an American feels is their right (2nd amend.), and you can probably pick one up for a $100 at the nearest sporting goods store. That's why.
It takes more qualifications to buy a gun than a car.. A car, I go to the car lot, plunk down cash, and I drive away. In most states to buy a gun you go through a federal background check, and there is a waiting period. I've bought a few guns over the years, and have been checked over carefully when I got my concealed weapons permit. I'm the type guy you want escorting you, if you're moving valuables from point A to point B.
How long ago did that revolution end? You afraid Britain might invade again? So why do you need your guns now? You've got your freedom... disarm.
It probably won't be Britain next time. Pick a superpower with a grudge. Who will the next one be? We were wondering when Russia was going to attack for almost 50 years. Is it going to be a land war? I just worry about those damned Canadians.:)
The guns-as-historical-right is a crock. Why aren't you arguing for the right of everyone to keep a catapault, or longbow or sharp pointy stick?
I have sharp sticks, bows, and could build a catapult. No one is going to tell me I can't have them. Historically any country that can defend itself remains. Any country that can't becomes someone elses country. Look at Hitler vs. World. He dominated most of Europe for years. We won't go into his strategical errors, or just plain bad ideas (genocide is bad.)
Until your neighbour gets a bigger gun. Rinse, repeat.
My neighbors have bigger guns. My guns I'm comfortable with the size and am confident in my ability to effectively use them. I typically carry a 45 caliber semiautomatic pistol. My neighbors have had: 12 gauge shotguns, a MP5 (machine gun),.22 to.50 caliber rifles, pistols. I don't have to compete with anyone. I know if they hear a shot, there will be someone armed to help in seconds.
I guess it must be nice in your neighborhood. One person with a 22 caliber pistol could go through robbing and killing, and be done and gone before the police got there to stop them.
In my neighborhood, an armed attacker would't get away. When confronted by overwhelming odds, he'd (hopefully) give up, and be held for the police.
Hmmm, other examples of people protecting themselves with firearms? Should I name virtually every Ex-Soviet Union country? How about substantial chunks of the Middle East? Africa? Asia?
The US simply hasn't had a domestic land war since the Civil War. But as with every empire (including the US), there will be civil unrest again. Either the gov't will simply stomp on the unhappy unarmed people willing to revolt, or the people will make of their government what they want.
As the US Gov't continues to take away our rights, the people are becoming less and less happy..
Article I) freedom of religion, speech, press. Right of peaceful assembly. Right to petition the gov't.
Gone. Not as federal law, but federal law enforcement will use religion, speech, and published works to profile and arrest you.
Gone, you cannot have a group meeting without the potential of the gov't arresting everyone involved, or at least monitoring for future charges. (i.e., 2600 meetings, defcon)
Gone, petitioning the gov't. Try it sometime.
Article II) the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed
Gone. New York you are prohibited from owning firearms. California just decided Amendment II is wrong, except for the gov't. Many other states have their own select laws.
Article IV) right against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Gone, as long as they can say the word "Terrorist" when they're doing it. The FBI just announced that anyone with a wireless access point is a terrorist. Add that to the list of:
a) Is of Arabic descent
b) Knows anyone of Arabic descent
c) Belongs to any group with a member of Arabic descent
d) Owns a wireless access point (above)
e) Is in any way, no matter how irrationally, associated with any group that could be considered terrorists. This can include Americans who are part of survivalist groups, "militia", the NRA, and in some cases even American law enforcement.
And now thanks to President Bush, the CIA has the power to neutralize any terrorist threat, foreign or domestic. The CIA "accidently" killed an American citizen in a publicized hit recently, on foreign soil.
Article V) deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law... nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself
Ask the 1000 new citizens of Guantomo Bay, Cuba about this one. Over 1 year, and no charges filed.
Ask Mitnick about his what, 4 years of being held, uncharged.
Have you read the news lately? New York is being widely known for coercing confessions, even from the innocent. From this, I've learned to be a mute whenever speaking to any law enforcement. Even the simple question "Do you know how fast you were going?". If you answer that, it's a confession, no proof required. If you don't, they have to prove what you did.
Ask every person who's had property confiscated by any local law enforcement agency, to never have it returned. They have over $1000 of my property which was "misplaced", to never be seen again.
A friend of mine in Florida had her car confiscated and almost auctioned, for a 10mph speeding ticket. She had to pay over $2000 in bribe money (Donation to a local police group) to get it back.
Article VI) right to a speedy and public trial. Once again, look down to Cuba.. Or any other person held on "terrorist" charges. Look at any inmate held in a city or county jail on small charges. They can spend months in jail, just to be proven innocent, unless an unreasonable bribe (bail) can be paid.
Article VIII) Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Ya.. See the above. Check your local paper to see what the bail is for a non-incident related DUI (no harm, no foul?). How about an assult charge? Bar fights constitute those, and everyone's arrested.
How about cruel and unusual. We have a tremendous history of those. From jailhouse beatings, to bombing entire countries.. Do you think the citizens of Afghanastan really deserved to be killed from the actions of a few nuts?
Article IX) The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
If it's not in the constitution, you still have other rights.
I'll skip through a few more...
Article XV) Right to vote
Gone, if you're a felon, or otherwise detained. Do you think they were handing out ballots in Cuba? There are American citizens, never convicted of anything.
Gone, as in the voting is completely un-just. 30% of a population, and a large number of discarded votes does not constitute a fair election. The Gov't needs to establish a *GOOD* system for elections, rather than their half-assed attempt. You get more people driving with drivers licenses, and sending their kids to school daily, than you do voting.
Article XIX) The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
How many jobs does the US Gov't deny women? (don't think it's small). It's a sexist country, no matter what this article may say.
Article XVIII) Prohibition
It was later repealed, but they've expanded it's thought to cover other intoxicants (drugs), which may be perfectly legal in other countries. This includes perscription pharmacuticals, recreational drugs (such as Hash or Marajuana), and harder recreational drugs, such as Heroin and Opium. Look at a heroin junkie, a pot smoker, and a drunk.. Tell me how the stoner is going to be a menace to society to the point of making federal laws against him.. How is he worse than a drunk? Hash and Marajuana are perfectly legal in many other countries. Enforcement in the US varies by state. Possession of any Marajuana in Florida is cause for arrest and either misdeanor or felony charges. In California, you have to have substantial quantity to be even spoken more than a few words to. Some states simply won't touch you now for possession of Marajuana.
So, with that many articles of our constitution stomped all over, how long with the empire of the United States remain? Do you really want to be unarmed when it happens?
As for your question of mishandled firearms, there are currently laws for unlawful discharge, unlawful brandishing, and even improper storage. If you are charged, a judge can and will sign an order stating you will not be allowed to own or posses a weapon. If you are a felon, I don't believe there are *ANY* states where you are allowed to posses a weapon. If you are currently on probation in most states, you cannot drink or posses a weapon. You cannot even associate with known felons, and quite a few other restrictions depending on the charges.
I've known misdemeanor viloaters on non-violent charges who can no longer possess weapons based on their charge. Not hearsay, I've seen the court documents.
If you took the population of the US, and put it in GB, you'd have a slight overpopulation problem.:)
Have you ever seen "Reign of Fire"? Remember the scene with the GI Joe lookin' fuckers riding up, and the "Oh no, they're Americans". America has managed to portray ourselves as exactly that, but quite a few of us do have the matching attitude.
So, if we were in GB with American gun laws (well, before they've all been ruined by state governments), crime would definatley drop. Who would rob a house knowing there was a 75% chance the owner or a neighbor was armed and ready to defend that property? Person on person violence would drop too, knowing the guy you were going to mug might just be carrying too.
It's easy to be a criminal with a gun. You walk into the scenerio with an aura of power. But it doesn't work quite as well when you're equally matched.
A mugger won't touch me on the street if he's unarmed. If he has a gun, he wonders if I do too. I look like the type that may just be carrying. Sometimes I am. If I'm escorting equipment, money, or doing work in a dangerous area, it's quite likely I will be.
If only anti-gun nuts had your opinion. Not "get rid of the guns", but "train everyone".
I know guns quite well. My father was an officer in the US Army, so he started training me when I was about 7. Then I got formal training in high school (ROTC), the US Army and by my state's Department of Law Enforcement. I wish everyone had at least my degree of training. It's not a lot, but it's a good start.
Florida has a gun training course required for their concealed weapons permit. It's a 4 hour course, which is 2 hours of "how to fill out paperwork for the permit", one hour of "Don't shoot anyone unless they're an immediate threat", and one hour standing in line waiting to shoot a single shot as proof of proficiency.
Law enforcement initial training was no less than 40 hours of formal training at the range, and 2000 rounds.
I wish all Americans had serious training and had to prove proficiency before they could own/carry a weapon. You can just as easily be killed by someone with your own gun, if they rush you and take it, and you don't know to react. Or you could easily kill the postman if you're too nervous and start blasting through the door.
A law enforcement officer told me a story about a "shots fire" call.. This little old lady had her house broken into several times. The last time, the burgular beat her severly. So, her son bought her a gun. She had no clue how to use it. The same guy started breaking into her house again, through a window. Before he got in, she got the gun, and started firing. She never hit him, nor the window. 8 rounds into the walls and frame of the window. It scared the attacker away, but any one of those stray bullets could have killed someone else.
If she had been trained, she would have put 3 in center mass, and that guy would have never robbed, beat, or killed anyone again. All he knows now is to not go back to that house.
No, no, don't be busy building your lair. Take a bunch of Zombies, and make them build it for you.. They're not really fast, but they work hard and don't take union breaks.
Send them to the past, and your new lair will be done before you were born.:)
I guess it's not quite parallel though, is it. But, you have loading, firing, and cooling all running simultaniously.
My opinion of the "Guns Kill People" theory. I have guns. I haven't killed anyone.
If my life is threatened, I will use those guns. Otherwise, those guns are as safe as any other paperweight. If my life is threatened and I don't have a gun, I'll defend myself the best I can. Hopefully the other guy won't have a gun. Throwing a paperweight at a guy with a gun just makes him mad.
Cars kill people. Floods kill people. Lightning kills people. Lunitics in airplanes kill people.. Why don't we have people protesting against the existance of cars, airplanes, and the weather?
Americans claim we're safer if we don't have guns.. Guns were an essential part of the American Revolution. We as Americans gained our freedom by fighting for it. Without guns, we'd be a heavily taxed bastard colony of England still.
So, yes, I have guns, and I will keep them. I will remain safe.
For Y2K, people were asking to come stay with me, because I could be well defended. You all hate guns until you need one to protect you.
I particularly like that us Evil Doer's have no morals. So, we have nothing against having dozens of mostly naked sex slaves wandering around on our [Moon Base || multi-dimension craft || Mountain hideout || Undersea Lair]
And of course, we can drink and get laid by 'em any time we want. I bet SuperMan is still a virgin. What a pansy. Poor guys, they'll never get to experement with drugs either.:)
Back to the time machine. I have to pick up my iPaq 90900 from 2050.
Slashdot Mirror
---
:)
SELECT * FROM big_brother_profiles
WHERE
(
residence_location = 'Washington'
OR
residence_location = 'Virginia'
OR
residence_location = 'Maryland'
)
AND
(vehicle LIKE '%white%' AND vehicle LIKE '%van%')
AND
military_trained = 1
AND
(gun_owned = 'M16' OR gun_owned = 'AR15')
AND
violent_history = 1
AND
previous_matches > 1
---
Unfortunately, that now leads to the question, is this person the correct one because he matched, or is he now the convicted person because he was the only one to match the profile?
It's easy enough to find someone who could do something, and based on their profile and history convict them. That's what makes this whole idea so scary. I don't want to go to jail because someone plays out the scenerio of the Swordfish movie. As cheesy as the movie was, it could be conceivable that someone would rob a bank, and do electronic transfers while they're there.. What's better, robbing a bank for a few thousand in cash, or robbing a bank and transfering cash out of large account's into your own at another bank. Don't think individuals, think Microsoft, HP, or even the local utilities ($100/mo * 1 millon customers).
Boom. For saying this, I'm profiled. BTW, any Federal agents reading this, I recently moved to Mars, so I wasn't on the planet if it happens.
// if (!terrorist)
// ignore ();
// else
collect_data ();
Of course, some vendors like Radio Shack, require you giving information when you purchase something. I'm so glad they're dropping that policy..
After having my own bank tell me that my transactions were suspicious, I've gone to using cash as often as possible.
Last year:
I got some cash, which was enough to buy the rest of the staff presents, because I know they didn't get shit..
My girlfriend got laid off from Lockheed Martin. They laid off her entire department, as they do every year. Fire everyone, hire new staff, then you don't have to give raises.
This year:
I got the pleasure of being told to move 3000 miles, and foot most of the bill myself, and take a cut in pay (about 30%). My other option was job hunting. I'm still questioning if I made the right choice.
My girlfriend moved with me, and hasn't found a job yet, so she doesn't get anything from a job..
We haven't received anything but a warm rumor that there won't even be a company xmas party..
My xmas bonus will come if the pager doesn't go off for a couple days from someone fucking up..
Funny, I've never heard a single complaint from a DirectTV DSL user.. Lots from AOL people who can't spell their passwords, and dialup users who can't understand why their 28.8 modem is slow 400 miles from the closest city.. Oh and Adelphia, who for about 6 months to a year randomly blocked our networks, but would never admit to it.
:)
With like 4 million free, I thought we've heard every complaint out there.
I guess it doesn't really matter now, they're gone, but what were their complaints? Slow speeds? Long latency? Disconnects? I had read about long latency for those users, but we never manged to get a complaint.. I guess most people who could detect it (err.. like ping. stupid users.) would know enough to call their ISP before us.
Does a persons history indicate their professional knowlege? Because I broke a few laws, does it mean I can't program. While I'm not a pedophile, I may have a few skeletons in my closet.. Doesn't mean anything about my technical knowlege.
You didn't include your criminal history on your statement, so why should I read your messages? My history is available for review by the FDLE and FBI.
Say that when someone breaks into your house, your neighbor hears the shouting, and comes to your aid with gun in hand..
Force is a deterrant.. Just like the US and Russia having weapons of mass destruction. How many were never used, but sat there to remind the other side not to start a war...
Burnt CD's (like you'd use at home) have a shelf-life of about 10 years. Then the medium starts to oxidize (the metallic film, not the plastic itself), and flakes..
So, you have a 10 year backup.. It all depends on how important your information is. If it's that important, I'd put it on a RAID5 where it can be monitored. As drives fail, replace them. Continue migrating to newer arrays in the future.. Expensive, but I konw perfectly well any drive will fail. I've had several hard drives, that would fail to spin up properly after sitting for a few days.. Some of them, they only way they'd start is if I hit the side of the drive with a screwdriver..
You have to expect failure of your medium. If he wants to be very sure, use multiple backup methods.. RAID5's in multiple locations, and CD's. Someone will need to monitor all of it occasionally. Make sure the RAID's (and their associated machine) are running. Make sure the CD"s are oxodizing...
Even floppy disks die of old age. I found a few boxes with Novell Unix. They're is years old, and most of the floppies couldn't be read. They were brand new, still in the sealed boxes and envelopes. I finally found a boot disk that would work, but it would bomb out trying to install under VMWare (I was curious).
Is that data really going to be useful to you in 10 years? That's the important question. People are all paranoid of loosing Email and the like now, but in 1 year they don't care about it any more. In 2 years, it's just wasted space. In 10 years, they won't even know who or what they were talking about..
Hehe. The laptop died. The sticker is doing fine..
My diagnosis is a failing motheboard or CPU. It's an older Compaq Presario. It started having some odd behavior. Lines would start getting messed up on the screen randomly (like a bad video card). It would mysteriously crash. Sometimes the PCMCIA sockets wouldn't work. That was the last straw. I needed my 802.11b card to work. Dammit, I gotta hack!
I agree with you completely. Sendmail has grown since day #1, and can do just about everything you can imagine. It does more than anyone could possibly want to do with it. Since most installations use the default sendmail.cf and all, it's really overkill.
But, since it's installed with just about every installion of *nix by default, it's important to know..
I do understand how "easy" SMTP can be. I've written a few scripts to send out EMail *VERY* directly. Like, they connect to a remote mail server's port 25, and issue commands and listen to their responses. Pretty much, I've written the sending part of an SMTP server.. I haven't attempted to receiving part yet, but it could be fun to do someday.
open (MAIL, "|/usr/bin/sendmail");
print MAIL "From: someone@somewhere\n";
print MAIL "To: Someone@somewhereelse\n";
print MAIL "Subject: Something\n";
print MAIL "\n\n";
print MAIL @BODY;
close (MAIL);
If someone were setting up for themselves, I'd recommend exploring the alternatives (Qmail has been highly recommended to me many times). But for someone like me that needs to work on other people's servers frequently, Sendmail is essential, since they all are using it.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement knows exactly who I am, what weapons I own, including serial numbers. So, I am regulated. I have no problem with that. I'm sure if the FBI had further questions about me, they'd contact FDLE. Of course, the FBI and FDLE have a wonderful file on me already. I'm sure a good record of my training and the like. Not really a "oohh, wow" list, but better than the average Joe. I know of at least 5 good reasons for the FBI, FDLE, and US Army to have a file on me. All it takes is a background check to open a file, and any query to add an entry.
So, I'm regulated, and as a AC posted in a really good post (in this thread somewhere), Militia includes every able-bodied citizen. Voila, I'm a regulated militia man.
So, the Feds have cruise missles and nukes? That's enough to make everyone stand down? Under that logic, all countries should surrender to the US, because we have the most and biggest guns.. I don't see that one happening any time soon. Imagine if we tried to invade China. 30 million farmers with pitchforks would be fighting against us, and actually have a good chance of winning. You can't carpet bomb something the size of China.
If a situation is potentially life threatening, they will not enter. Say you're in a bank, and a robber walks in with a gun. By law you don't have a gun to protect yourself in a bank (only police and licensed armed security hired for that detail), so you lay down on the floor, quickly dial 911 on your cell phone, say "1st national bank is being robbed", and leave the phone open, so the police can hear what's happening inside.
Mr. Robber shoots someone. Anyone. Doesn't matter why. The police are not going to come in. They're going to park their cars in the road and stop anyone from getting close. They'll threaten to shoot they guy, but they're not going to put themselves in harms way to stop the robber.
They'll *TRY* to save you. They'll negotiate and all that. But in the end, you're on your own til the scenerio is over. They'll keep him from getting away, but they aren't protecting you. If you get shot, that's the robber's fault, not the police's, and they will take no responsibility. Their responsibility starts if they shoot you, and that's even questionable in court.
Hehe. For a goatse.cx, that was funny. :)
Have you seen The Church of Euthanasia?
They have the shirt?!?! My sister gave me the sticker for Xmas last year. I put it on my laptop, but unfortunately it died. I want the shirt..
Hint to anyone reading and wondering what to get me for Xmas.
My first Linux book was Linux Unleashed, 1st edition, published by Sams Publishing. This book included Slackware with it. I'm afraid to think what verion, as this book is (c) 1995. It was good for a start. It's been read, borrowed, and stolen over the years. Hopefully it has a good home now.
:) Borders and Barnes & Noble frequently have sales on previous edition books. If you flip through both, sometimes you'll see there were only very subtle changes, or chapters which aren't important to you. For a $40 price difference, it's worth getting the older one. :)
:)
I still highly recommend Slackware for a distribution. It's what we use on all our servers, and my workstations (Home, Work, and Laptop)
I bought a co-worker Linux System Administration: A User's Guide by Marcel Gagne. Published by Addison Wesley. Flipping through it, this seems like a very good book. It seems to be working out. He's coming to me with very intelligent questions after reading chapters, rather than "What do I do at the prompt".
After the Unleashed book, I personally got into the O'Reilly books. If you do this, go to the store with the company credit card, it'll be expensive. Oddly enough, most bosses are ok with paying for books, even when they're being tight with equipment. You can't get a new $5 CPU fan, but you can spend $500 on books. Hmmmm.. Well, buy more books.
O'Reilly Essential Systems Administration
Learning
the Unix Operating System (got it for my girlfriend, so she'd understand what I was doing all night)
vi Pocket Reference. It seems none of my coworkers could use vi before I got to this office. Now they're all using it. [esc][esc]:wq!
Programming Perl. If you're going to play with Unix, you should learn Perl.
Then you should read up on what you're working with. If you're networking or on the Internet, TCP/IP is good to know.
TCP/IP Network Administration
DNS and BIND very definately, unless you want to be clueless about what happens between typing in "yahoo.com" and it coming up in your browser. Having a good understanding there definately helps you debug problems.
Sendmail This is the perfect book to spin your head, and leave you with a headache for months. But it's the topic, not the book, that's so complicated. If it didn't do absolutely everything, I'm sure it would be simpler to use.
O'Reilly has a lot of great books.
"Learning" books are for beginners.
"Nutshell" books are usually to help you figure out something if you don't really know it.
The rest of the books have various degrees of learning to them. On my desk at work, for O'Reilly books, I have 3 different PERL books, the JavaScript book, and a few others that I reference on a regular basis.
I recommend going to book stores, and flipping through everything they have (restock it to the proper places). See what your comprehension level is. If you have no clue what they're talking about, you need an easier book. If you almost understand, buy it, read it, and then share it with a friend (especially on the company expense account! hehe).
When you're ready to get out of the books, and into the real world, the most valuable reference you'll ever have is dejanews.com. If you don't know an answer, search it there. Probably someone in the last 20 years has already asked it. It's the quickest way to look smart and impress your friends, even if you're stupid.
Having the stack of O'Reilly books is always good though. I recently changed offices (same company), and while riding in the elevator, I was offered a job because I looked educated and had a big stack of O'Reilly books in my arms.. Little did she know that was only 1/3 of them. The rest were still in my car..
You don't need a foreman, just a good Perl script.
Cool! Be a dear and tell this to every woman on my campus. I'm going to go serial-rapin' tonight! (Humor-impaired: I'm making a point. I'd prefer not to see cops at my door when I get back home tonight.)
You're joking, but people who DO that aren't. Pick a easy, unarmed target, and do what you will. He's still going on the assumption that the victim will live and be able to identify the attacker. If you know that you won't get 2 blocks without someone to stop you, why worry?
Unless you have an orbital laser platform. But in that case, I think it's a slightly different issue.
Didn't you read about the insecurities of satellites?
If I was home when someone kicked down the door, I'd meet them with a gun. Not intending to shoot them, unless they were holding a weapon or if they walked towards me when I was pointing a gun at them.
NEVER draw a weapon without the intent to use it. As soon as you pull a gun or a knife, you've escellated the situation. If he has a gun at this point, he'll use it.. If you weren't in fear of your life for a tangable reason (he had a gun, knife, sharp stick), you'll be in the wrong when you kill him.
If you don't intend to use it, it'll be that much easier for the attacker to take it from you. If your next step is "fire", you've won. If your next thought is "do I shoot", it's too late.
Have you taken a weapons safety or handling class? They're very good and educational. It helps you prepare in your mind for what could or couldn't happen.
I've carried for many years, and never shot anyone. I have no intention of ever shooting anyone, and will be very happy if it never happens. But, it might. What if I'm the 1:100 that has a violent burgular? What if someone gets pissed and comes with the sole intention of killing me? I've pissed off a few people over time. Not much you can do about it, you can't make everyone happy. Just ask my ex-wife. She did try to shoot me.
I used good avoidance. I asked someone else to move my guns. They did. The ex-wife went for the guns, and they weren't there. An hour's difference, and things could have been fatally different. Would I shoot my insane ex-wife? No. Would she shoot me? Yes.
When she couldn't find the guns, she went for sharp objects (like knives) and heavy objects (like my printer).. I stayed out of her way til the police showed up. Funny thing, they wouldn't arrest her. {sigh} Great legal system we have.. If I had even said "I'll shoot you", they would have put me in jail for years, I'm sure.
I think statements like this just perpetuate the gun mentality of (some) Americans. "I know other people have guns, so I better get one to protect myself." Rinse, repeat.
... can you?
... disarm.
:)
.22 to .50 caliber rifles, pistols. I don't have to compete with anyone. I know if they hear a shot, there will be someone armed to help in seconds.
Wrong. I may have a stronger force of hostile enemies confront me. I want to ensure the potential of victory in such situations. The same reason the US and Russia made their nuclear arsonels. If 4 guys with knives break into my house in the middle of the night, I don't plan on loosing the fight.
I don't have stats about kids accidently killing themselves with guns they find in their parent's closet, but I'm sure it happens. A lot. I can guarantee it will never happen in my house
I grew up in a house with guns. My sister grew up in a house with guns. My parents did likewise. My children did. I can't guarantee that a meteor won't hit your roof and knock down your TV antenna, but I can say the odds are just as good of that happening as someone getting accidently shot in my house.
Kids in accidental shootings make big headlines, because people don't like hearing about it, but it draws them in. If the same kid died in a slip & fall accident, would it make the same press? What about a car accident?
My girlfriend's 13 year old daughter, as a pedestrian, was hit by a speeding car. That made like page 4 of the paper. But if she accidently shot herself, that would be front page of every paper in the state. She'd still be injured or dead (she survived the car hit, with multiple broken bones)
I guess the other argument would be to not throw anything, don't piss him off, and let him take what he wants. Sure, you lose your stuff and maybe get roughed up a bit (but probably not if you don't give him reason to). But you live. And hopefully he'll get caught by the authorities later.
You're kidding, right? If you live, you're a witness. You call the police and say exactly who did what.
You'll be on your knees begging for them not to hurt you, and then you'll take a shot to the head, and lay on the floor for a few days til (hopefully) someone finds your body. Hell, they'll shoot you if you work in a convinence store, and only get $20 off the register, even though there's video tape of it...
A video tape is nothing in court, compared to a scared person saying "That's the person that robbed me!" With only one or the other, they can question the reliability. With both, you're fucked.
Don't you think the people on the 4 airliners begged? Only one set of them fought back. All of them got dead, but at least some tried, and managed to not kill thousands more people.
Driving a car is a priveledge, which you earn by taking lessons and passing tests. A gun is something an American feels is their right (2nd amend.), and you can probably pick one up for a $100 at the nearest sporting goods store. That's why.
It takes more qualifications to buy a gun than a car.. A car, I go to the car lot, plunk down cash, and I drive away. In most states to buy a gun you go through a federal background check, and there is a waiting period. I've bought a few guns over the years, and have been checked over carefully when I got my concealed weapons permit. I'm the type guy you want escorting you, if you're moving valuables from point A to point B.
How long ago did that revolution end? You afraid Britain might invade again? So why do you need your guns now? You've got your freedom
It probably won't be Britain next time. Pick a superpower with a grudge. Who will the next one be? We were wondering when Russia was going to attack for almost 50 years. Is it going to be a land war? I just worry about those damned Canadians.
The guns-as-historical-right is a crock. Why aren't you arguing for the right of everyone to keep a catapault, or longbow or sharp pointy stick?
I have sharp sticks, bows, and could build a catapult. No one is going to tell me I can't have them. Historically any country that can defend itself remains. Any country that can't becomes someone elses country. Look at Hitler vs. World. He dominated most of Europe for years. We won't go into his strategical errors, or just plain bad ideas (genocide is bad.)
Until your neighbour gets a bigger gun. Rinse, repeat.
My neighbors have bigger guns. My guns I'm comfortable with the size and am confident in my ability to effectively use them. I typically carry a 45 caliber semiautomatic pistol. My neighbors have had: 12 gauge shotguns, a MP5 (machine gun),
I guess it must be nice in your neighborhood. One person with a 22 caliber pistol could go through robbing and killing, and be done and gone before the police got there to stop them.
In my neighborhood, an armed attacker would't get away. When confronted by overwhelming odds, he'd (hopefully) give up, and be held for the police.
Hmmm, other examples of people protecting themselves with firearms? Should I name virtually every Ex-Soviet Union country? How about substantial chunks of the Middle East? Africa? Asia?
m l
The US simply hasn't had a domestic land war since the Civil War. But as with every empire (including the US), there will be civil unrest again. Either the gov't will simply stomp on the unhappy unarmed people willing to revolt, or the people will make of their government what they want.
As the US Gov't continues to take away our rights, the people are becoming less and less happy..
http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/usconst/amend.ht
Article I) freedom of religion, speech, press. Right of peaceful assembly. Right to petition the gov't.
Gone. Not as federal law, but federal law enforcement will use religion, speech, and published works to profile and arrest you.
Gone, you cannot have a group meeting without the potential of the gov't arresting everyone involved, or at least monitoring for future charges. (i.e., 2600 meetings, defcon)
Gone, petitioning the gov't. Try it sometime.
Article II) the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed
Gone. New York you are prohibited from owning firearms. California just decided Amendment II is wrong, except for the gov't. Many other states have their own select laws.
Article IV) right against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Gone, as long as they can say the word "Terrorist" when they're doing it. The FBI just announced that anyone with a wireless access point is a terrorist. Add that to the list of:
a) Is of Arabic descent
b) Knows anyone of Arabic descent
c) Belongs to any group with a member of Arabic descent
d) Owns a wireless access point (above)
e) Is in any way, no matter how irrationally, associated with any group that could be considered terrorists. This can include Americans who are part of survivalist groups, "militia", the NRA, and in some cases even American law enforcement.
And now thanks to President Bush, the CIA has the power to neutralize any terrorist threat, foreign or domestic. The CIA "accidently" killed an American citizen in a publicized hit recently, on foreign soil.
Article V) deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law... nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself
Ask the 1000 new citizens of Guantomo Bay, Cuba about this one. Over 1 year, and no charges filed.
Ask Mitnick about his what, 4 years of being held, uncharged.
Have you read the news lately? New York is being widely known for coercing confessions, even from the innocent. From this, I've learned to be a mute whenever speaking to any law enforcement. Even the simple question "Do you know how fast you were going?". If you answer that, it's a confession, no proof required. If you don't, they have to prove what you did.
Ask every person who's had property confiscated by any local law enforcement agency, to never have it returned. They have over $1000 of my property which was "misplaced", to never be seen again.
A friend of mine in Florida had her car confiscated and almost auctioned, for a 10mph speeding ticket. She had to pay over $2000 in bribe money (Donation to a local police group) to get it back.
Article VI) right to a speedy and public trial.
Once again, look down to Cuba.. Or any other person held on "terrorist" charges. Look at any inmate held in a city or county jail on small charges. They can spend months in jail, just to be proven innocent, unless an unreasonable bribe (bail) can be paid.
Article VIII) Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Ya.. See the above. Check your local paper to see what the bail is for a non-incident related DUI (no harm, no foul?). How about an assult charge? Bar fights constitute those, and everyone's arrested.
How about cruel and unusual. We have a tremendous history of those. From jailhouse beatings, to bombing entire countries.. Do you think the citizens of Afghanastan really deserved to be killed from the actions of a few nuts?
Article IX) The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
If it's not in the constitution, you still have other rights.
I'll skip through a few more...
Article XV) Right to vote
Gone, if you're a felon, or otherwise detained. Do you think they were handing out ballots in Cuba? There are American citizens, never convicted of anything.
Gone, as in the voting is completely un-just. 30% of a population, and a large number of discarded votes does not constitute a fair election. The Gov't needs to establish a *GOOD* system for elections, rather than their half-assed attempt. You get more people driving with drivers licenses, and sending their kids to school daily, than you do voting.
Article XIX) The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
How many jobs does the US Gov't deny women? (don't think it's small). It's a sexist country, no matter what this article may say.
Article XVIII) Prohibition
It was later repealed, but they've expanded it's thought to cover other intoxicants (drugs), which may be perfectly legal in other countries. This includes perscription pharmacuticals, recreational drugs (such as Hash or Marajuana), and harder recreational drugs, such as Heroin and Opium. Look at a heroin junkie, a pot smoker, and a drunk.. Tell me how the stoner is going to be a menace to society to the point of making federal laws against him.. How is he worse than a drunk? Hash and Marajuana are perfectly legal in many other countries. Enforcement in the US varies by state. Possession of any Marajuana in Florida is cause for arrest and either misdeanor or felony charges. In California, you have to have substantial quantity to be even spoken more than a few words to. Some states simply won't touch you now for possession of Marajuana.
So, with that many articles of our constitution stomped all over, how long with the empire of the United States remain? Do you really want to be unarmed when it happens?
As for your question of mishandled firearms, there are currently laws for unlawful discharge, unlawful brandishing, and even improper storage. If you are charged, a judge can and will sign an order stating you will not be allowed to own or posses a weapon. If you are a felon, I don't believe there are *ANY* states where you are allowed to posses a weapon. If you are currently on probation in most states, you cannot drink or posses a weapon. You cannot even associate with known felons, and quite a few other restrictions depending on the charges.
I've known misdemeanor viloaters on non-violent charges who can no longer possess weapons based on their charge. Not hearsay, I've seen the court documents.
If you took the population of the US, and put it in GB, you'd have a slight overpopulation problem.
Have you ever seen "Reign of Fire"? Remember the scene with the GI Joe lookin' fuckers riding up, and the "Oh no, they're Americans". America has managed to portray ourselves as exactly that, but quite a few of us do have the matching attitude.
So, if we were in GB with American gun laws (well, before they've all been ruined by state governments), crime would definatley drop. Who would rob a house knowing there was a 75% chance the owner or a neighbor was armed and ready to defend that property? Person on person violence would drop too, knowing the guy you were going to mug might just be carrying too.
It's easy to be a criminal with a gun. You walk into the scenerio with an aura of power. But it doesn't work quite as well when you're equally matched.
A mugger won't touch me on the street if he's unarmed. If he has a gun, he wonders if I do too. I look like the type that may just be carrying. Sometimes I am. If I'm escorting equipment, money, or doing work in a dangerous area, it's quite likely I will be.
If only anti-gun nuts had your opinion. Not "get rid of the guns", but "train everyone".
I know guns quite well. My father was an officer in the US Army, so he started training me when I was about 7. Then I got formal training in high school (ROTC), the US Army and by my state's Department of Law Enforcement. I wish everyone had at least my degree of training. It's not a lot, but it's a good start.
Florida has a gun training course required for their concealed weapons permit. It's a 4 hour course, which is 2 hours of "how to fill out paperwork for the permit", one hour of "Don't shoot anyone unless they're an immediate threat", and one hour standing in line waiting to shoot a single shot as proof of proficiency.
Law enforcement initial training was no less than 40 hours of formal training at the range, and 2000 rounds.
I wish all Americans had serious training and had to prove proficiency before they could own/carry a weapon. You can just as easily be killed by someone with your own gun, if they rush you and take it, and you don't know to react. Or you could easily kill the postman if you're too nervous and start blasting through the door.
A law enforcement officer told me a story about a "shots fire" call.. This little old lady had her house broken into several times. The last time, the burgular beat her severly. So, her son bought her a gun. She had no clue how to use it. The same guy started breaking into her house again, through a window. Before he got in, she got the gun, and started firing. She never hit him, nor the window. 8 rounds into the walls and frame of the window. It scared the attacker away, but any one of those stray bullets could have killed someone else.
If she had been trained, she would have put 3 in center mass, and that guy would have never robbed, beat, or killed anyone again. All he knows now is to not go back to that house.
No, no, don't be busy building your lair. Take a bunch of Zombies, and make them build it for you.. They're not really fast, but they work hard and don't take union breaks.
Send them to the past, and your new lair will be done before you were born.
A gatling gun?
I guess it's not quite parallel though, is it. But, you have loading, firing, and cooling all running simultaniously.
My opinion of the "Guns Kill People" theory. I have guns. I haven't killed anyone.
If my life is threatened, I will use those guns. Otherwise, those guns are as safe as any other paperweight. If my life is threatened and I don't have a gun, I'll defend myself the best I can. Hopefully the other guy won't have a gun. Throwing a paperweight at a guy with a gun just makes him mad.
Cars kill people. Floods kill people. Lightning kills people. Lunitics in airplanes kill people.. Why don't we have people protesting against the existance of cars, airplanes, and the weather?
Americans claim we're safer if we don't have guns.. Guns were an essential part of the American Revolution. We as Americans gained our freedom by fighting for it. Without guns, we'd be a heavily taxed bastard colony of England still.
So, yes, I have guns, and I will keep them. I will remain safe.
For Y2K, people were asking to come stay with me, because I could be well defended. You all hate guns until you need one to protect you.
I particularly like that us Evil Doer's have no morals. So, we have nothing against having dozens of mostly naked sex slaves wandering around on our [Moon Base || multi-dimension craft || Mountain hideout || Undersea Lair]
:)
And of course, we can drink and get laid by 'em any time we want. I bet SuperMan is still a virgin. What a pansy. Poor guys, they'll never get to experement with drugs either.
Back to the time machine. I have to pick up my iPaq 90900 from 2050.