Tacoma Mall Shooting

What I don't get is that no one--not even the 11-year Army veteran--was carrying concealed at the mall?!!

Washington is a shall issue state. I'm ALWAYS carrying at that mall. (And anywhere else that it's legal to do so.)

As usual the P-I's (Probably Incorrect) reporting is a bit off too. The food court is not in front of J.C. Penny's. It's at least 100 yards from J.C. Penny's to the hallway intersection that leads to the Food Court, which is another 100 yards further down that corridor.

If you live in a state that recognizes your Second Amendment right, by all means, avail yourself of the opportunity. Not just for the safety of yourself and your loved ones, but it's the duty of responsible citizens to contribute to the safety of their communities as well.

Not to go off half-cocked, but make sure that you are trained to use your side arm and don't go looking for a fight. Hopefully, you'll never have to draw a weapon in such a situation. But if it is warranted, be prepared.

Singapore Sling

OSM News covers an AP story about an Aussie (named Nguyen) that is facing death for a drug trafficking conviction.

Two points...

First, when are dumbass drug smugglers going to get the hint that trafficking in drugs in SE Asia is a very, very bad idea?!! How dense--or mebbe high?--do ya have to be to strap some heroin to yer keister and hop on a flight to Kuala Lumpur/Singapore/Bangkok? Spell it with me kiddies,
A-M-S-T-E-R-D-A-M. Get it?

Second, Sinapan Samydorai, a spokesman from local civic rights group Think Centre contributes the following.

The government here seems to be unnecessarily cruel without any mercy given to those who have made an honest mistake. Why not give the person a second chance?

Strapping 384 GRAMS of heroin to your butt and your luggage is NOT a honest mistake.

Grabbing a bag that looks just like yours, but that is stuffed with drugs--THAT is an honest mistake. Mr. Nguyen made a choice. Even, if as reported, it was to help his brother--it was an extremely poor choice.

Murtha Fogger

The Astute Blogger has the call for the apparent game of political dodgeball that Murtha and Pelosi are playing.

He refers to it as "MurthaGate", I prefer "Murtha Fogger".

(Incidental to a link from AlarmingNews about the launch of ORM.)

STOP THE MADNESS

(Via Power Line)
Here's is a petition to sign that calls for the Congress to shut up and put up.

Excerpt: "We the undersigned believe it is time to unite this country. These baseless political attacks must stop. We are at war! 160,000 US Armed Forces are in Iraq fighting and winning. They deserve better. We call on Democratic leaders to stop the attacks on the President and our troops. And we call on Republicans in Congress to do a better job of stopping these attacks and stand with the President and our troops as well!

We will deliver this petition the day of the Presidents next State of the Union address in 2006."

Sacre bleu!

Instapundit has an update on UNSCAM--the Oil-For-Food scandal at the UN.

France, Russia, and China are in up to here with Saddam and Annan.

I wonder where else they've lain down with dogs.

Poor Chirac must've been disappointed that he couldn't figure out a way to participate in the Sino-Russian Military Exercises recently with his partners in crime.

Shoot me now, please.

Barbara Boxer is ramblin' on on Fox...seems we're just falling apart.
Iraq, the deficit, the hurricanes, we're doomed.

I have to believe it's spin...she cannot actually believe that the majority of the Republican party really wants a more moderate Associate Justice on SCOTUS, can she? If Sen. Boxer's take is representative of her party's core values, then Glenn Reynolds is right...it's not so much that the Republicans are strong, it's that they suck less. A lot less in this case.

I liked Miers' apparent support for the Second Amendment. It happens to be my touchstone for elections, appointments, and life in general. It's the main reason that I'll be voting for Condi Rice in '08 instead of Giuliani. I love Rudy, but I just can't support anyone who supports gun control. I really can't think of any likely candidates that I can get behind...unfortunately I'll probably have to write her in.

The World Just Stopped Spinning

OK, ok, ok, ok, ok.....

Alan Dershowitz and Ann Coulter just AGREED regarding the (as yet) lack of indictments regarding the Valerie Plame case!! (This on Neal Cavuto's show on Fox.)

Holy Crap!! I even agreed with Prof Dershowitz' self-admitted Libertarian slant. He actually said that his Libertarian bent "trumps" his Liberal leanings! (OK, it's just in relation to the Plame/Libby/Rove thang, but still!)

I'm dizzy...must go drink Java...

John Stossel and Crooks On Guns

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Myths About Gun Control By John Stossel shows gun control is not effective in controlling the access of criminals to guns.

Check it out for Rev. Al Sharpton's ridiculous comment.

Go buy a gun. Learn how, and when, to use it. Carry.

Have a nice day.

(I'm currently carrying a SIG-Sauer P226, 9mm with a 15-rnd magazine.)

Once again, with feeling...

In TCS: Tech Central Station - Over-Humanizing the Enemy Dr. Helen Smith (AKA the Insta-wife) addresses the perils involved in approaching our enemies with empathy and compassion.

Indeed, as a forensic psychologist, Dr. Smith has found that father-rapers and child-killers of the most violent sort only respond (positively) to a show of strength--coddling them and caving in to their demands only makes the ultimate consequences deadly.

This article first appeared over a year and a half ago. It's time to refresh our memories.

Woo-hoo Two!!

Apple - iMac G5 is here!! iSight camera built into frame, thinner overall, faster processor, new software (Front Row!!)!

SAME PRICE!!!

Go, drool, buy.

Woo-hoo!!

Apple - iPodis here!!! The video iPod is here!! The video iPod is here!!
Did I mention that the video iPod is here!!

Why are you still here? Go...LOOK!...drool...

Still livin' in the Ukraine

Sound Politics: October 2005 Archives suggests that the corrupt election officials are still at it. They're not releasing logs that may show that computer records for the coup, ahem, election were altered after the fact.

Well, the First Amendment hasn't done the job so far...what's the next amendment again?

Hanlin's New eBook

Engadget.com has the poop on the new Hanlin eBook Model V2. An alternative to the Sony LIBRIe, the eBook doesn't appear to incorporate DRM.

Now how far through War and Peace can you get before the power runs out?

Of Mice and Men...Mutants, that is...

Wired has an article about the incredible ability of some altered mice to regenerate damaged tissue.

These mice have regenerated amputated digits, damaged heart, liver, and brain tissue and have even passed this newly acquired ability on to their offspring!!

Even more amazing, when researchers injected normal mice with cells from the mutant regenerators the normal mice gained the ability to regenerate!!

Looks like these mice are the first live version of the Marvel X-Men's Wolverine. Look out, Kitty...

Microsoft subs "Blogcast" for "Podcast"

(Via The Cult of Mac Blog)

Pretty much closing the barn after the horses have fled, Microsoft employees avoid using "Podcast" and sub the term "blogcast". (This is attributed to the Seattle Post-Intelligence also known as the Seattle PI...of course, here in the Pac NW many consider that to represent Probably Incorrect.)

Now, call me kooky, but it's called a podcast because you send the content to an iPod. As in broadcast, where you cast the content broadly. Notice the content itself isn't addressed, just the destination of transmission.

"Blogcast" suggests the type of content (one doesn't send the content typical of a podcast to a blog, after all) rather than the destination.

More importantly, how do they expect me to watch a blogcast on my iPod shuffle?

Besides, how does Microsoft think all the window manufacturers felt after they came out with Windows waaaaay back when? Did Andersen and Pella shift their product marketing from "windows" to "Planely Transparent"? Nope.

Strangely, I can't find any official Microsoft podcasts on the iTunes podcasting site. Mebbe there's something in their Communist-Dictatorship-Friendly blog portal...

Pigoen Poo Pegs Poor Parisian Powerbook!

A Parisian Powerbook pegged by pigeon poo in the Jardin Du Luxembourg.

Podcasts rock!!

Apple's newest version of iTunes provides a seamless interface to manage your subscriptions to podcasts. It's amazing for its simplicity and its built-in index of current podcasts. Everything from the President's Weekly Radio Address (formerly known as Podcast One) to some guy named Al Franken.

I subscribe to the Battlestar Galactica (presented by the executive producer), Halo 2 Podtacular, and a variety of other podcasts.

As a matter of fact, I have pretty much managed to recover the much-lamented loss of Tech TV's Call For Help and The Screen Savers, both of which did not survive the transition to G4 TV. It's called, "This Week In Tech" or "TWiT". (You can also access it from Leo's website--follow the link from his name, below.)
From the description:

Join Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, John C. Dvorak, and other tech luminaries in a roundtable discussion of the latest trends in high tech. Winner of People's Choice Podcast and Best Technology Podcast in the 2005 People's Choice Podcast Awards. Released every Sunday at midnight Pacific.

In addition Leo LaPorte's KFI 640 AM (L.A.) radio show is available, commercial free and Kevin Rose and Alan Albrecht have two sets of podcasts. I say, "sets", because they have audio-only versions and VIDEO versions of both Systm and Diggnation. Check out their homepage Revision 3 which some people say refers to Tech TV being Rev One and G4 being Rev Two.

I'm even subscribing to a Chinese class and a French class, both via podcasts!

What has the Space Program/NASA/ISS/Space Shuttle done for us?

CNET News.com has the goods on a new breakthrough in the production of stem cells that may eliminate the whole embryonic stem cell controversy.

(H/T Instapundit)

Microgravity technology developed by NASA can multiply stem cells from a newborn's blood in large enough quantities to be used to regenerate human tissue, London scientists have found.

Telomerase and Stem Cells

Via Instapundit.

By making mice grow furrier coats, researchers have discovered that an enzyme known to serve as a last-ditch defense against cancer also activates adult stem cells, which the body uses to repair its tissues.

The insight could lead to new treatments for certain diseases, possibly even promoting hair growth in animals other than mice.

The research, reported by Steven E. Artandi and colleagues at Stanford University in Nature today, shows that adult stem cells can be activated by an enzyme called telomerase.

The finding is surprising because telomerase is well known in a quite different context, protecting against tumors by limiting the number of times a cell can divide. The new findings put the enzyme astride two major biological pathways, one that promotes the growth of new cells for maintaining tissues and the other that prevents the excessive growth that leads to tumors.

Telomeres have previously been thought to play a role in aging. They are structures on a genetic level that seem to reduce with each successive generation. In other words, they may be the "timer" that determines how long a given cell will continue reproducing. Telomerase evidently is the enzyme that reduces telomeres. This newly discovered role (activating adult stem cells) may provide a solution to slowing or stopping aging at the cellular level.

When Dolly, the cloned sheep, was created, the scientists discovered that her cells' telomeres were lacking the length that an actual 'newborn' sheep has. This suggests that clones of adult cells inherit the length of telomere that the donor cell possesses at the time of donation. (Philip Dick may have been prescient in Blade Runner, otherwise known as "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?".)

Mushroom Clouds

Instapundit.com - has an excerpt from Max Boot of the L.A. Times,

"It is hard to imagine how many more GIs and Tommies would have perished in 1944-45 had Anglo-American leaders flinched from using all the means at their disposal to hasten the end of the war. Indeed, if the U.S. had staged a blood-drenched invasion of Japan while holding back its atomic arsenal, President Truman would have been indicted for that decision too."

Actually, per the History Channel, our invasion plan for Japan called for the use of atomic bombs to clear an avenue of approach for our invading force to follow into the interior of Honshu! They were oblivious to the dangers of radiation back then and our troops would probably have ultimately succumbed to the exposure too. So, we would have used more atomic bombs in the course of an invasion of Japan than we did.

What is little known is that there was a coup attempt by the senior generals in Japan at the end. They did not want to surrender and took control of the country/armed forces. They had no plans to surrender even after both atomic bombs were dropped!

Ultimately, a conventional bombing raid by the US in the NW part of Honshu serendipitously eliminated the leaders of the coup, control reverted to the emperor, and Japan surrendered.

Furthermore, the Japanese had plans to attack San Francisco with a radiological "dirty" bomb on August 17th, 1945. There is speculation that had they succeeded the Bay Area would be uninhabitable even today. Fortunately for us, the required radioactive elements (heh, heh) for the attack were coming on a U-boat from Nazi Germany and were surrendered to the US by the U-boat commander. This was only after Germany had surrendered and the Commander decided to not continue the mission.