Hey Guys!

Got back yesterday evening.  I already miss the mountains etc…

The pic in this post is of me looking at Mt. Hood from the top of Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain on a hike I did a few weeks ago with my sister. Pretty badass views of a handful of mountains once you reach the top.

Now I need to get down to business and start posting again…. SO much stuff to go through.  I have some things to post about from my holiday related to the topic of the blog, those will come at a later date.

Thanks again for all your support. I look forward to once again helping you kill time, and hopefully have a laugh or two on a daily basis.

-Mike

Hilarious. I wouldn’t want to be on patrol with those ANP jokers though.

I gotta hand it to Al Jazeera for getting these exclusives.

If I was one of the guys from the 82nd Airborne it would take all my restraint to not pull out my rifle and put a few rounds through that bong.

Blogging will resume tonight or tomorrow.

I don’t trust the security of hotel WIFI connections, and other public internet access, so if your comment got held for moderation for an extended period of time while I was gone the last few days, it should be approved now.

Also, I am going through my emails and will reply to everyone who emailed me shortly.

I see that you guys are having quite the discussion on the ATF Decrees An Airsoft Rifle A Real Firearm post.  I’ll have to go through the comments later on and read your thoughts.

Thanks a lot!

-Mike

Looks like it would be an interesting place to work.  A few hundred cameras is a long way from the amount in the UK… but still I imagine that is their goal.  Pretty troubling that they feel there is actually a requirement for that.

Another related ’60 minutes’ episode on homegrown terror:

In case you need an excuse to visit Starbucks:

Remember it only runs until May 16th!

More info on their website – HERE

Just when I thought I finally shook the Frappuccino monkey off my back, they pull this.

I seriously used to drink about 5 Venti double blended java chip Frappuccionos per week.  Realizing that not only was that habit costly, but also terribly unhealthy I switched to drinking decaf iced Americanos once or twice a week. Thank god my metabolism hasn’t slowed down.

Also, funny story… I walk into Starbucks today to take advantage of this deal, and it appeared that the large (oh excuse me.. VENTI) size got bigger.  I dismissed it as my imagination at work, but then I got home and did some googling.  The new Venti is called a Trenta, and is actually 31 oz. rather than the normal paltry 24 oz.

Looking at the Starbucks Frappuccino nutritional data page, I notice one glaring omission…

It appears Starbucks doesn’t offer this flavoring ( yet ):

Starbucks, the hearts of gun owners are already won… but please just impress us one last time and give us bacon syrup.

It would actually likely be disgusting, but that wouldn’t stop me from trying it.

For those thinking the Bacon Torani Syrup is another one of my clever photoshops – think again, it’s real!

But I digress… my point is, go enjoy a half price Frappuccino, and go armed.

If you think the pen is mightier than the sword watch this:

…. I need to see a pen that can beat that!

Looks like a lot of fun, but a likely trip to the hospital if you are not careful.

The sword is $550 at Cold Steel ( HERE ).  At that price, it looks like I’ll have to keep my non weirdo status (and my limbs), and live vicariously through the video.

Hat Tip: Geekologie

10 Minutes worth of cheesy quotes from Arnold Schwarzenegger:

A lot of career gun use and glorification from the governor of one of the most restrictive states when it comes to gun laws.

The anti-government Hutaree group, which described itself as a ‘Christian warrior’ group, allegedly planned to kill a police officer, then attack others during the funeral.

Source – L.A. Times

Hutaree Militia website – HERE

They have 4 videos up on YouTube (HERE).  For the most part, the videos just look like some average guys having a bit of fun by emulating a military style of dress and training.  There are a couple of things I raised my eyebrows at, one being the burning of the UN flag in the “Huratree Z-01″ video.

Taking a look at their website, under the About Us section there are definitely signs of religious fanaticism.  Is there anything threatening though? Definitely not as far as I could see.

I always wonder in situations like this what the actual evidence was that they were planning an attack.  Perhaps someone that was scared of the training they were doing, and the views they have, and decided to try to get them into trouble? Maybe not.. but that definitely seems like a possibility.

If an attack actually will actually be prevented by arresting these people, I applaud a job well done.  Though, if this is a case of a group of people getting into trouble with the law because their views and practices differ from mainstream society, that is very troubling.

I don’t normally wear t-shirts, but for this one I’ll make an exception:

Though, if anyone asks me if it’s “Ed Hardy”, I’m going to say “But it ain’t even got no skulls, fuggetaboutit!” and then never wear the shirt again.

Available at the NRA Store – HERE (I hope they ship quickly!)

Hat Tip: Linoge

Blog postings will resume. Hope everyone had a good Christmas.

I have a few pre-compiled Christmas related posts up my sleeve, but other than that I’ll likely be too busy to spend any time on the computer.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas!

-Mike

Damn, and I was just in Los Angeles.

From their website LAGangTours.com:

The mission of LA GANG TOURS is to provide an unforgettable historical experience for our customers with a customized high-end specialty tour. We will provide customers with a true first-hand encounter of the history and origin of high profile gang areas and the top crime scene locations in South Central, Los Angeles. Each tour bus for LA GANG TOURS will have a guide from the South Central areas who has gained hands on knowledge and experience of the inner city lifestyle.

Best quote from the L.A. Times article:

“I’m not saying you have to stop shooting each other,” Lomas said. “Just allow me a certain time in the day. . . . Just let the bus go through.”

Sounds Dangerous.

Interesting though…

When I first heard about Google wave I was excited to see something new from Google.

I watched the first video Google put out where they branded it as a revolutionary way to communicate.  It definitely looks like it has potential to save a lot of time and increase productivity in certain situations.

A condensed version of the original video Google made highlighting the features, can be watched below:

I misunderstood the original video I watched, so when I first got my Google wave invite a couple of days ago I was pumped to get onto some gun related waves.  Of course I didn’t realize that the whole wave system is not public, and you have to invite people to join a wave.  Boooooooooooo…

Bare minimum I thought I’d at least be able to get on some “9mm v.s. .45″ or “why the desert eagle .50 (DEAGLE) is the best gun evaahhhhhh” wave debates… but no….

There I was with my shiny new Google wave window open, and no one to talk to.

When you sign up for an account they give you 8 invites, so I decided to invite my dad to join so we could try it out.

We had a small conversation using the akward interface, and both quickly lost interest.

If I was still in university doing group projects I’d definitely give it another try.  Since I am not, I likely won’t spend any more time trying to figure it out until it gets out of its beta “preview”.  Hopefully the user interface will be more intuitive by then.

This picture really sums it up:

For those of you that are not completely turned off of by my poor review and are looking for an invite, you can email me, I have a couple remaining.

This looks like fun:

On December 4th I blogged that DARPA was holding a competition (On Dec. 5th) where you could win $40000 in prize money.

My Predictions:

My guess is the correct answer is submitted in less than 30 minutes, on behalf of some sort of tightly knit organization.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I wonder if anyone is planning on playing dirty and attaching a bunch of fake decoy balloons at various locations throughout the U.S. … If that is the case then maybe my prediction of 30 minutes isn’t realistic.

The Winner:

The Red Balloon Team of M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

I find it unsurprising that M.I.T. won, considering the people that go there are obviously very intelligent.

What I do find surprising though is the lack of information released by M.I.T. or DARPA about the details on the network that was established that led to the win.

There is a useless PDF that the DARPA site links to – HERE and all it says it it took “less than 9 hours”.

The FAQ of the M.I.T. Red Balloon Team offers some insight into the process, but still doesn’t give any details about how many people ended up signing up and how they eventually won.

Kind of anti-climatic considering I thought there would be a lot of fake balloons launched, and other random hi-jinx.  Well maybe there was, but who knows, because like I mentioned earlier there seems to be absoultely no information about the progression of the contest.

Here is the map from DARPA on where they placed the 10 Balloons.  I wonder what their problem was with the central U.S.?

DARPA Network Challenge

The competition kicks off Dec. 5 at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, when DARPA ( Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ) will display 10 8-foot, red weather balloons at undisclosed, publicly accessible sites around the continental United States. The balloons will remain at their locations throughout the day, until sunset.

The first person to identify the precise latitudes and longitudes of all 10 balloons will win the prize money.

Norman Whitaker, deputy director of DARPA’s transformational convergence technology office, conceded that it would be nearly impossible for any one person to pinpoint every balloon within the designated timeframe. But if the competitors worked together as teams – using social networking forums made possible through the Internet – it is possible, he said.

My guess is the correct answer is submitted in less than 30 minutes, on behalf of some sort of tightly knit organization.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I wonder if anyone is planning on playing dirty and attaching a bunch of fake decoy balloons at various locations throughout the U.S. … If that is the case then maybe my prediction of 30 minutes isn’t realistic.

Good luck to everyone that is participating.

More information on the contest – HERE

Get A Life – Bin That Knife

is what these bins that are all over the UK read.

Source: SgtRock333 (flickr)

I previously blogged about the knife ban in the UK, but did not know about this initiative.   While reading about this today something else came to my attention… apparently “regular” police in the UK do not carry guns!  Only “special” units get them.

Anyway back on the topic of knife surrender bins, I have a couple of questions:

1) Do criminals actually use these?

2) Do criminals ever break into them to steal knives?

3) What do the police do with all the knives they take in?  Melt them down?

4) Why is the bin so big?  Even if people are depositing machettes and samari swords it still seems a bit large.

5) What is the ratio of garbage to knives on an average collection day?

6) If you got caught by the police with a knife, could you just claim “I was just on my way to a bin”, or is there some sort of special house to bin transport bag you need in order for that excuse to work?

7) How many ironic stabbings / knife heists occur right next to these bins?

John Allan Muhammad (The D.C. Sniper) will be executed today in Virgina at 9pm by lethal injection.

Giving this guy a lethal injection is far too humane if you ask me.

Hopefully that P.O.S. Fort Hood shooter is next in line.

D.C. Sniper Wiki Link – HERE

Source: AFP

What a terrible day November 5th was.

I was not around to blog about the events at Fort Hood as they unravled, but in my absence my fellow bloggers definitely picked up the slack.

SayUncle has a time line of the media shenanigans that happened throughout the day – HERE

The suspect Nidal Malik Hasan is reported to be hospitalized.

There are reportedly 13 dead, and close to 30 wounded. – LINK

Thank god for Sargent Kimberly Munley for putting an end to it. – LINK

While watching the latest episode of my favorite show “The Big Bang Theory” (Season 3 Episode 6) on November 2nd I noticed the upside down flag.

According to U.S. Flag Code:

The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

Source:  USFlag.org – United States Flag Code

The flag would appear right side up from Sheldon’s perspective if the laptop screen were closed.  Interestingly enough the “Go Daddy” logo (pictured below) appears right side up from the current viewpoint when the laptop screen is open.

I wonder, was this accidental or intentional?