I agree. Just because something is done one way for a long time, does not mean it should stay the same. The military must change with the times, or be left behind as an antiquated, draconic organization to which no one would volunteer.
Intervention has been done before, it'll be done again. Just look a the recent DADT case.
The military runs itself, but it does fall under the Department of Defense after all. If things need to change, I guarantee Congressional representatives and mainstream media will find out about the issues and exert pressure to see those changes through.
As an Army veteran, I've always gotta have a jab here and there to and from my brothers in the Marine Corps. Marines have a special place in the military -- NO ONE is quite at the same level as them. I always give credit where due, and have utmost respect for all of our service members. Thank you for your service.
Keep on keeping on, devil dog!
As a member of the military each and every service member is considered a diplomat. By wearing the uniform they represent the United States of America, regardless of rank or position.
There are still rights; if you commit a crime while out-of-uniform and off-duty, you will be tried as any other American in a civilian court. Don your uniform, or do it while on-duty and you enter a whole new ballpark.
The difference between a civilian organization and a military organization is training and discipline. It is a necessity that the military be effective, and therefore required that they possess both discipline and training to complete their mission. Call it whatever you want, but discipline is defined as "acting according to a set guideline of behaviors" -- that's a pretty broad term and requires ZERO brainwashing to accomplish. Volunteer service members are not brainwashed; they're dedicated to a cause which is higher than self. Your lack of understanding of this fact does not constitute anything immoral or unethical, as you suggest.
Also, you obviously haven't been to war. To be "less than human" is nowhere near a grasp on its truth. The most accurately I can describe it is short periods of complete chaos followed by relatively long periods of utter boredom. Imagine spending a few weeks or more in a desert doing a duty that no one else will do, taking care of yourself and your brothers-in-arms and living through some of the most austere conditions on the planet, and then you'll have a leg to stand on. Ah but wait, we have volunteers who will do this (and who are currently doing and will do this in the future), so that you don't have to. As an 8-year veteran, I say "you're welcome."
Hah! I guess 40 minutes after its posting is pretty late on/. I hear you man. Those who haven't served, or haven't been around the military community just have zero clue as to how things actually run. The military is generally comprised of morally upstanding citizens who want to serve their country. They sure don't do it for the money or the glamor! It's actually a very small community; by pure happenstance I've run into the same people in 4 different countries, including my uncle in Iraq who I hadn't seen for 10 years prior.
The military does far more good than ill -- and the ones who do ill are few and far between. They just make the news headlines.
Anyway, my OP wasn't intended to be a panacea to the problem; it was merely to educate some of our less-informed members as to how the UCMJ system works.
One thing I haven't seen though, is whether the Court Martial is the Summarized, General, or Special type?
The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) supersedes civilian law when dealing with members of the Armed Forces: Army, Air Force, Navy (Marines included here, even though they hate being told that they're in the Navy:P ) & Coast Guard.
When enlisting or accepting a commission, you swear an oath to uphold all of these laws and much, much more. You forgo your Constitutional rights -- this is one of the reasons that military service is considered making a sacrifice. You accept a new set of rights which are outlined in the UCMJ. What a Private First Class thinks is of no concern -- Privates are for doing, Sergeants are for making sure things are done, and Officers are for thinking (in a nutshell). His only obligation is to follow the lawful orders given to him by his seniors.
Whenever something is done by a Soldier, it is often covered by multiple Articles of the UCMJ. For example, mouthing off to a senior NonCommissioned Officer may violate the following:
Article 91. Insubordinate conduct toward warrant officer, noncommissioned officer, or petty officer.
Article 92. Failure to obey order or regulation.
Article 117. Provoking speeches or gestures.
An interaction as simple as "Private Smith, take out the trash." -- "Fuck you Sergeant Jones!" is clearly more complex than one guideline, and is that NCO or Officer's duty to interpret and punish accordingly.
The same laws which protect the United States and its allies also protect each service member. He will receive a fair trial through Courts Martial, and may be found guilty or not. If he has been found to (intentionally or unintentionally) disclose sensitive or classified information, he will pay accordingly. Each charge will be looked at both individually and collectively as to its intent and results. The military takes care of its own.
If you turn off all Blackberry signals, the next time you reboot you will still find them in the "off" position. It may still be able to receive signals (GPS, etc.) but it will not transmit unless you reactivate those functions... in theory.
Robert Heinlein - Starship Troopers
"Is it possible to abolish war by relieving population pressure (and thus do away with the all-too evident evils of war) through constructing a moral code under which population is limited to resources?
Without debating the usefulness or morality of planned parenthood, it may be verified by observation that any breed which stops its own increase gets crowded out by breeds which expand. Some human populations did so, in Terran history, and other breeds moved in and engulfed them."
Perpetual balance with Nature -- this is not natural. The way Nature [and the universe, effectively] "balances" things out is by wiping out populations, not subtle and controlled limitations on breeding and death. I don't recall seeing any live dinosaurs for the last ~65M years. We'll either find room to expand elsewhere (Terraforming, colonization, etc.) or we'll bide our time until we our natural genocide/extinction.
OP would have to somehow affiliate himself with one of those organizations. Even an intern can be considered for some kind of travel pay, but I doubt they'd fork over the money for someone who is not an employee in some capacity (paid or non).
Agreed about conferences. They can give you a great bit of insight into your potential future market, for good or ill. Larger conferences also have more people higher up the food chain, so you may be able to impress someone who can offer a solid job too. Worst case scenario is you're out a few hundred bones, but you'd have probably enjoyed the conference at least. It's a gamble; you can come out on top or stay even...no real losses to be had.
having their facial skin peeled away in preparation for surgery
I used to watch stuff like that on PBS and TLC/Discovery (back when those two channels ran more than just "reality" shows -- though I do love Dirty Jobs). I remember them literally having the face of a baby removed because he had some kind of deformation in his skull which needed to be surgically corrected, and I couldn't stop watching. Creepy as all get out, but also unequally interesting. Also saw a former Playboy model (then 50+ years old) get the outer layer of her facial skin singed off with a LASER.
There's a big difference between malevolent actions depicted in horror movies/games and things that are just unusual to see; reality or fiction does not have as much to do with it -- you know that the guy with the chainsaw is a psychopathic murderer, and that the doctor on the TV special is truly trying to save the life of the individual under his knife. They both cause equal or equivalent amounts of pain ("suffering" through surgery recovery is surely no comfortable process) but the intent and will of the actions, or at least our interpretations thereof, determine how we react and are excited or interested by such things.
Oddly enough, 2/3 of those choices were not displayed on my screen. So it is possible that there is a larger pool of games in each era/genre, but for some reason we are only seeing 3 at a time from said pool.
You've got a good point there. Many gamers tend to use the term "shooter" loosely. However, when genres are crossed I don't like to get anal retentive on what to call things; rather than "first person platformer with puzzle elements", it's just easier to say "shooter". If I were describing the game to someone who didn't already know about it, I wouldn't lump it into that category -- I'd describe it more closely to what you stated above, focusing on the facets of play that seem more interesting and/or unique.
A shooter can be anything from the crappy $10-at-release "Marines: Iwo Jima" type of generic WW2 sniper roles, to games in totally different directions like Portal (a game in which you didn't physically shoot any bullets yourself), so it's already a pretty broad term. Much like how RPGs have become anything with a level-up type of system, rather than their original Games where you Played in a Role.
Well said. Just like destroying COMSEC in the military -- you can have the two privates complete and sign the blocks for destruction, but the supervisor should always be verifying. After all, it is his ass if things turn up missing.
That's what killed it for me. I bought Demigod around the same time I got VistaX64. Of course I checked for a solution on the Impulse forums, where Stardock stated they "had no plans to support x64 systems in the foreseeable future".
Not sure if it's actually supported now, or you just got lucky (some people did still run it normally even when I was checking it out). Hopefully the former, though the lack of Stardock's insight is still disappointing...I've been running 64-bit systems since 2004 and to see things in 2009 still completely unsupported was crappy.
That being said, I like the level design and flow of Demigod. The hero selection was limited, but diverse nonetheless. I especially liked that you could choose how to spec your hero, as well as which items to purchase to augment them - I think I ended up using Oak most of the time because of his versatility.
What really attracted me to LoL was the metagame -- you as a player are the "Summoner" who levels up over the course of numerous matches; you select your champion to control each game and play in the moba/DotA style. No other moba has a metagame anywhere near League, which is why I've now got 1200+ games under my belt in about a year and a half. The fact that it was free definitely attracted me initially, although I've since spent money on it -- I buy games I like to play. You can buy it retail, or download it for free.
If you like Demigod (I did too, until I learned that Impulse wouldn't run on 64bit Windows 7 or Vista -- maybe this has since changed) you should check out League of Legends. It's absolutely free, has a TON more content, a huge player base, and is actually a high-quality game. You can get everything available with in-game currency which is earned through playing -- the only exception is that you must purchase "Riot Points" in order to buy skins for your champions (heroes), but they provide purely asethetic value and no advantage in-game.
It wasn't meant to be the end-all of gun control arguments. Hell, it wasn't even meant to be extremely in-depth with multiple sources cited. I don't have that kind of time or patience. But if you'd actually read the link I provided, it cited 2 dozen sources from where they got their information -- many non-biased, gun-neutral sources. It's also the Gun Owners of America, not providing for UK statistics. Call up the 'bama BS rule my UK claim, or link your info. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5712573/UK-is-violent-crime-capital-of-Europe.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-25671/Violent-crime-worse-Britain-US.html
There are always going to be weapons if people desire to possess them - you can't physically stop everyone from doing everything. There will always be a black market for such things, or basement manufacturing, etc. Removing all guns makes the people with knives king.
Ironic that you chose to pick Houston and New York to counter my points on the cities. Houston has one of the largest (if not the #1) metro areas in the entire US, with a whole lot of areas that are ghettos and impoverished. I've been there one more than one occasion and have seen enough to know that it isn't the best place in the world. It's also got a higher-than-normal poverty rating because of the refugees from Hurricane Katrina in 2005; pack in a whole bunch of poor people without homes, food, jobs, or insurance and you're bound to increase crime.
Now take for example Austin, TX - about 30% of the population (~650k vs. ~2m) but proportionately 1/3 of the crime rate; using the same site you provided to garner that information. It's also only a couple hundred miles from Houston, so you can't claim that whole area in Texas is exceptionally violent. New York City boasts average-or-worse rates for violent crimes at 1.23x the nat'l average, so I don't know where you were headed with that one -- forcible rape statistics are lower (.55), but robbery is 1.43x average. So, they can take your money at gun/knife point but you're less likely to get fucked in the process.
Not knowing who has a gun and who doesn't will have the largest effect.
Bingo. These types of criminals know that a law-abiding citizen will not be carrying a gun in a city/state which does not allow it. This is just one reason why violent crime is more prevalent in those areas, all other conditions being equal.
Actually, studies and statistics show that most well-armed populations have extremely low rates of violence and murder. Conversely, look at the UK where illegal gun violence and murder rates are through the roof in many areas. http://gunowners.org/sk0802.htm
Washington D.C. and its direct metropolitan portion of Prince George's County, Maryland is one of the worst cities in the US for violent crime. One of the very reasons for this is actually the strict gun control laws. The same goes for Chicago. What about Los Angeles? All these cities are supposed to be "safer", so say gun control advocates.
What people don't realize, or don't care to acknowledge, is that criminals don't care if they're breaking the law. Which is exactly why they're "Criminals". Why would a "Gun-free zone" make anyone any safer? The single best defense against violent crime is an informed and armed population. Criminals want to take the path of least resistance; they're not going to break into a house KNOWING that it could very well be their last, when easier undefended targets are nearby.
Why do I carry a gun? Because I can't carry a cop.
Seriously though, training to the point where everything is a natural rhythm is hugely different than just having the knowledge of how to perform an arm bar, a joint lock, or any set of moves or strikes. It isn't quite "instinct" but it's more than just a reaction. The worst part is where people have enough training to create this type of muscle-memory, but not enough practice to make it extremely effective -- the equivalent of a pilot's 200th hour.
Maybe you missed the part where I stated that the TROOPS should not be neglected or penalized, downgraded, or barred from any of the care, training, or equipment that they've rightfully earned and deserve. I'm talking about the guys and gals in uniforms and boots digging their own latrines, pulling guard duty and patrols in 145F weather in head-to-toe covering with 75+ lbs of gear and armor, and generally enduring and persevering in the shittiest conditions you can possibly imagine. Not the Gov't Senior Executive who is sitting in a TOC in Baghdad with his Blackberry and Starbucks bullshit making 5-10x the salary of the grunts on the streets (literally).
There are plenty of agencies and processes within the DOD that can trim the fat. I stated as much earlier. But don't take away from the troops themselves. They are the single resource we cannot replenish indefinitely and/or easily - human life. I'm not just armchair quarterbacking here, I have been in the shit and know full well what the difference between a prepared, well-equipped military can do vs. a bunch of "moderately less effective" troops. Work on making logistics more streamlined, cut out unnecessary communications bandwidth (VTC is a huge waste, for example), quit the useless, overlapping bureaucratic nonsense which delays and convolutes everything, stop printing so much redundant paperwork and go digital, etc. There are thousands of ways to cut back, and the troops should be the absolute last on the DOD list, because when you need them now you can't send in troops you don't have, or who aren't ready for the task.
...is to allow the private entities which own the servers, networks, technology, and businesses to manage it themselves.
For many organizations, the internet is about profit, growth and accessibility. Those organizations have an obligation to ensure the functional operation and security of their systems, if they'd like to say doing what they do. No connection = no revenue. Having government involvement with the internet will hinder one or all of those facets, even if the intent is for the betterment of society and the world. Just like the economy -- eventually it will right itself without too many dicks stirring the pot.
In short, Secretary Clinton, GTFO of its business.
Slashdot Mirror
That's what the Chain of Command is for.
I agree. Just because something is done one way for a long time, does not mean it should stay the same. The military must change with the times, or be left behind as an antiquated, draconic organization to which no one would volunteer. Intervention has been done before, it'll be done again. Just look a the recent DADT case.
The military runs itself, but it does fall under the Department of Defense after all. If things need to change, I guarantee Congressional representatives and mainstream media will find out about the issues and exert pressure to see those changes through.
As an Army veteran, I've always gotta have a jab here and there to and from my brothers in the Marine Corps. Marines have a special place in the military -- NO ONE is quite at the same level as them. I always give credit where due, and have utmost respect for all of our service members. Thank you for your service.
Keep on keeping on, devil dog!
As a member of the military each and every service member is considered a diplomat. By wearing the uniform they represent the United States of America, regardless of rank or position.
There are still rights; if you commit a crime while out-of-uniform and off-duty, you will be tried as any other American in a civilian court. Don your uniform, or do it while on-duty and you enter a whole new ballpark.
The difference between a civilian organization and a military organization is training and discipline. It is a necessity that the military be effective, and therefore required that they possess both discipline and training to complete their mission. Call it whatever you want, but discipline is defined as "acting according to a set guideline of behaviors" -- that's a pretty broad term and requires ZERO brainwashing to accomplish. Volunteer service members are not brainwashed; they're dedicated to a cause which is higher than self. Your lack of understanding of this fact does not constitute anything immoral or unethical, as you suggest.
Also, you obviously haven't been to war. To be "less than human" is nowhere near a grasp on its truth. The most accurately I can describe it is short periods of complete chaos followed by relatively long periods of utter boredom. Imagine spending a few weeks or more in a desert doing a duty that no one else will do, taking care of yourself and your brothers-in-arms and living through some of the most austere conditions on the planet, and then you'll have a leg to stand on. Ah but wait, we have volunteers who will do this (and who are currently doing and will do this in the future), so that you don't have to. As an 8-year veteran, I say "you're welcome."
Hah! I guess 40 minutes after its posting is pretty late on /.
I hear you man. Those who haven't served, or haven't been around the military community just have zero clue as to how things actually run. The military is generally comprised of morally upstanding citizens who want to serve their country. They sure don't do it for the money or the glamor! It's actually a very small community; by pure happenstance I've run into the same people in 4 different countries, including my uncle in Iraq who I hadn't seen for 10 years prior.
The military does far more good than ill -- and the ones who do ill are few and far between. They just make the news headlines.
Anyway, my OP wasn't intended to be a panacea to the problem; it was merely to educate some of our less-informed members as to how the UCMJ system works.
One thing I haven't seen though, is whether the Court Martial is the Summarized, General, or Special type?
The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) supersedes civilian law when dealing with members of the Armed Forces: Army, Air Force, Navy (Marines included here, even though they hate being told that they're in the Navy :P ) & Coast Guard.
When enlisting or accepting a commission, you swear an oath to uphold all of these laws and much, much more. You forgo your Constitutional rights -- this is one of the reasons that military service is considered making a sacrifice. You accept a new set of rights which are outlined in the UCMJ. What a Private First Class thinks is of no concern -- Privates are for doing, Sergeants are for making sure things are done, and Officers are for thinking (in a nutshell). His only obligation is to follow the lawful orders given to him by his seniors.
Whenever something is done by a Soldier, it is often covered by multiple Articles of the UCMJ. For example, mouthing off to a senior NonCommissioned Officer may violate the following:
Article 91. Insubordinate conduct toward warrant officer, noncommissioned officer, or petty officer.
Article 92. Failure to obey order or regulation.
Article 117. Provoking speeches or gestures.
An interaction as simple as "Private Smith, take out the trash." -- "Fuck you Sergeant Jones!" is clearly more complex than one guideline, and is that NCO or Officer's duty to interpret and punish accordingly.
The same laws which protect the United States and its allies also protect each service member. He will receive a fair trial through Courts Martial, and may be found guilty or not. If he has been found to (intentionally or unintentionally) disclose sensitive or classified information, he will pay accordingly. Each charge will be looked at both individually and collectively as to its intent and results. The military takes care of its own.
If you turn off all Blackberry signals, the next time you reboot you will still find them in the "off" position. It may still be able to receive signals (GPS, etc.) but it will not transmit unless you reactivate those functions ... in theory.
Robert Heinlein - Starship Troopers
"Is it possible to abolish war by relieving population pressure (and thus do away with the all-too evident evils of war) through constructing a moral code under which population is limited to resources?
Without debating the usefulness or morality of planned parenthood, it may be verified by observation that any breed which stops its own increase gets crowded out by breeds which expand. Some human populations did so, in Terran history, and other breeds moved in and engulfed them."
Perpetual balance with Nature -- this is not natural. The way Nature [and the universe, effectively] "balances" things out is by wiping out populations, not subtle and controlled limitations on breeding and death. I don't recall seeing any live dinosaurs for the last ~65M years. We'll either find room to expand elsewhere (Terraforming, colonization, etc.) or we'll bide our time until we our natural genocide/extinction.
My Kindle edition of The Gathering Storm is pretty lightweight :D
But yeah...Towers of Midnight is practically half a cinder block.
OP would have to somehow affiliate himself with one of those organizations. Even an intern can be considered for some kind of travel pay, but I doubt they'd fork over the money for someone who is not an employee in some capacity (paid or non).
Agreed about conferences. They can give you a great bit of insight into your potential future market, for good or ill. Larger conferences also have more people higher up the food chain, so you may be able to impress someone who can offer a solid job too. Worst case scenario is you're out a few hundred bones, but you'd have probably enjoyed the conference at least. It's a gamble; you can come out on top or stay even...no real losses to be had.
Apparently they're back in 1992? Haven't there been far gorier games released in Australia in the last 2 decades?
I'm glad they have a society which supports openness, freedom, and tolerance...in the same way the middle east does.
It's still there, in Leonardo, NJ. (yes, I realize you're referring to the movie script)
http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=quick+stop,+leonardo+nj&fb=1&gl=us&hq=quick+stop,&hnear=Leonardo,+NJ&cid=0,0,8946555155629108692&ll=40.41611,-74.05725&spn=0.007139,0.013797&z=16&iwloc=A
For more J&SB goodness, check out the Secret Stash in Red Bank.
having their facial skin peeled away in preparation for surgery
I used to watch stuff like that on PBS and TLC/Discovery (back when those two channels ran more than just "reality" shows -- though I do love Dirty Jobs). I remember them literally having the face of a baby removed because he had some kind of deformation in his skull which needed to be surgically corrected, and I couldn't stop watching. Creepy as all get out, but also unequally interesting. Also saw a former Playboy model (then 50+ years old) get the outer layer of her facial skin singed off with a LASER.
There's a big difference between malevolent actions depicted in horror movies/games and things that are just unusual to see; reality or fiction does not have as much to do with it -- you know that the guy with the chainsaw is a psychopathic murderer, and that the doctor on the TV special is truly trying to save the life of the individual under his knife. They both cause equal or equivalent amounts of pain ("suffering" through surgery recovery is surely no comfortable process) but the intent and will of the actions, or at least our interpretations thereof, determine how we react and are excited or interested by such things.
Houston, we have a problem.
Oddly enough, 2/3 of those choices were not displayed on my screen. So it is possible that there is a larger pool of games in each era/genre, but for some reason we are only seeing 3 at a time from said pool.
You've got a good point there. Many gamers tend to use the term "shooter" loosely. However, when genres are crossed I don't like to get anal retentive on what to call things; rather than "first person platformer with puzzle elements", it's just easier to say "shooter". If I were describing the game to someone who didn't already know about it, I wouldn't lump it into that category -- I'd describe it more closely to what you stated above, focusing on the facets of play that seem more interesting and/or unique.
A shooter can be anything from the crappy $10-at-release "Marines: Iwo Jima" type of generic WW2 sniper roles, to games in totally different directions like Portal (a game in which you didn't physically shoot any bullets yourself), so it's already a pretty broad term. Much like how RPGs have become anything with a level-up type of system, rather than their original Games where you Played in a Role.
Well said. Just like destroying COMSEC in the military -- you can have the two privates complete and sign the blocks for destruction, but the supervisor should always be verifying. After all, it is his ass if things turn up missing.
That's what killed it for me. I bought Demigod around the same time I got VistaX64. Of course I checked for a solution on the Impulse forums, where Stardock stated they "had no plans to support x64 systems in the foreseeable future".
Not sure if it's actually supported now, or you just got lucky (some people did still run it normally even when I was checking it out). Hopefully the former, though the lack of Stardock's insight is still disappointing...I've been running 64-bit systems since 2004 and to see things in 2009 still completely unsupported was crappy.
That being said, I like the level design and flow of Demigod. The hero selection was limited, but diverse nonetheless. I especially liked that you could choose how to spec your hero, as well as which items to purchase to augment them - I think I ended up using Oak most of the time because of his versatility.
What really attracted me to LoL was the metagame -- you as a player are the "Summoner" who levels up over the course of numerous matches; you select your champion to control each game and play in the moba/DotA style. No other moba has a metagame anywhere near League, which is why I've now got 1200+ games under my belt in about a year and a half. The fact that it was free definitely attracted me initially, although I've since spent money on it -- I buy games I like to play. You can buy it retail, or download it for free.
If you like Demigod (I did too, until I learned that Impulse wouldn't run on 64bit Windows 7 or Vista -- maybe this has since changed) you should check out League of Legends. It's absolutely free, has a TON more content, a huge player base, and is actually a high-quality game. You can get everything available with in-game currency which is earned through playing -- the only exception is that you must purchase "Riot Points" in order to buy skins for your champions (heroes), but they provide purely asethetic value and no advantage in-game.
www.leagueoflegends.com
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5712573/UK-is-violent-crime-capital-of-Europe.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-25671/Violent-crime-worse-Britain-US.html
There are always going to be weapons if people desire to possess them - you can't physically stop everyone from doing everything. There will always be a black market for such things, or basement manufacturing, etc. Removing all guns makes the people with knives king.
Ironic that you chose to pick Houston and New York to counter my points on the cities. Houston has one of the largest (if not the #1) metro areas in the entire US, with a whole lot of areas that are ghettos and impoverished. I've been there one more than one occasion and have seen enough to know that it isn't the best place in the world. It's also got a higher-than-normal poverty rating because of the refugees from Hurricane Katrina in 2005; pack in a whole bunch of poor people without homes, food, jobs, or insurance and you're bound to increase crime.
Now take for example Austin, TX - about 30% of the population (~650k vs. ~2m) but proportionately 1/3 of the crime rate; using the same site you provided to garner that information. It's also only a couple hundred miles from Houston, so you can't claim that whole area in Texas is exceptionally violent. New York City boasts average-or-worse rates for violent crimes at 1.23x the nat'l average, so I don't know where you were headed with that one -- forcible rape statistics are lower (.55), but robbery is 1.43x average. So, they can take your money at gun/knife point but you're less likely to get fucked in the process.
Not knowing who has a gun and who doesn't will have the largest effect.
Bingo. These types of criminals know that a law-abiding citizen will not be carrying a gun in a city/state which does not allow it. This is just one reason why violent crime is more prevalent in those areas, all other conditions being equal.
Actually, studies and statistics show that most well-armed populations have extremely low rates of violence and murder. Conversely, look at the UK where illegal gun violence and murder rates are through the roof in many areas. http://gunowners.org/sk0802.htm
Washington D.C. and its direct metropolitan portion of Prince George's County, Maryland is one of the worst cities in the US for violent crime. One of the very reasons for this is actually the strict gun control laws. The same goes for Chicago. What about Los Angeles? All these cities are supposed to be "safer", so say gun control advocates.
What people don't realize, or don't care to acknowledge, is that criminals don't care if they're breaking the law. Which is exactly why they're "Criminals". Why would a "Gun-free zone" make anyone any safer? The single best defense against violent crime is an informed and armed population. Criminals want to take the path of least resistance; they're not going to break into a house KNOWING that it could very well be their last, when easier undefended targets are nearby.
Why do I carry a gun? Because I can't carry a cop.
Maybe, but can she beat me in Modern Warfare?!
Seriously though, training to the point where everything is a natural rhythm is hugely different than just having the knowledge of how to perform an arm bar, a joint lock, or any set of moves or strikes. It isn't quite "instinct" but it's more than just a reaction. The worst part is where people have enough training to create this type of muscle-memory, but not enough practice to make it extremely effective -- the equivalent of a pilot's 200th hour.
Maybe you missed the part where I stated that the TROOPS should not be neglected or penalized, downgraded, or barred from any of the care, training, or equipment that they've rightfully earned and deserve. I'm talking about the guys and gals in uniforms and boots digging their own latrines, pulling guard duty and patrols in 145F weather in head-to-toe covering with 75+ lbs of gear and armor, and generally enduring and persevering in the shittiest conditions you can possibly imagine. Not the Gov't Senior Executive who is sitting in a TOC in Baghdad with his Blackberry and Starbucks bullshit making 5-10x the salary of the grunts on the streets (literally).
There are plenty of agencies and processes within the DOD that can trim the fat. I stated as much earlier. But don't take away from the troops themselves. They are the single resource we cannot replenish indefinitely and/or easily - human life. I'm not just armchair quarterbacking here, I have been in the shit and know full well what the difference between a prepared, well-equipped military can do vs. a bunch of "moderately less effective" troops. Work on making logistics more streamlined, cut out unnecessary communications bandwidth (VTC is a huge waste, for example), quit the useless, overlapping bureaucratic nonsense which delays and convolutes everything, stop printing so much redundant paperwork and go digital, etc. There are thousands of ways to cut back, and the troops should be the absolute last on the DOD list, because when you need them now you can't send in troops you don't have, or who aren't ready for the task.
...is to allow the private entities which own the servers, networks, technology, and businesses to manage it themselves.
For many organizations, the internet is about profit, growth and accessibility. Those organizations have an obligation to ensure the functional operation and security of their systems, if they'd like to say doing what they do. No connection = no revenue. Having government involvement with the internet will hinder one or all of those facets, even if the intent is for the betterment of society and the world. Just like the economy -- eventually it will right itself without too many dicks stirring the pot.
In short, Secretary Clinton, GTFO of its business.
Isn't Braid a single player game? That's not very social!
I see what you did there, Jonathan Blow.