To The Metal

After yesterdays animated discussion, I was standing in the local taco joint looking at the day’s Times Herald Record…

Swan Lake tot dies from hunting accident; NYC man charged with manslaughter

Apparently a negligent douchebag hunter was not only using a bait trap, but after hitting one deer, he fired off a second round that missed, went through the thin walls of a trailer, and shot a 16 month old in the neck. Now I adore hunters, but this guy was a scumbag. He was firing within 500 feet of a building that he did not own, which was occupied by people he did not know. This guy should get the needle. There’s a difference between an accident - and a crime which was the result of negligence.

The thing that caught my attention, more than the tragic story - is that it didn’t take long for an opportunistic politician to make news by proposing to ban high powered hunting rifles like the one that was used in the killing of the toddler.

After child’s death, Sullivan to consider ban on high-powered hunting rifles

The story clearly outlines that the hunter who used the gun was a negligent jackass. Since we can’t ban jackasses, I don’t see why we should have to ban guns. They’ll surely find another way to screw up while the majority of .300 Winchester Magnum rifle owners use them responsibly. If anything, what must be revisited - is the 500 foot restriction. I think it’s patently absurd to allow anyone to fire a weapon that powerful within as little as 500 feet away from a home.

The maximum effective range of a .300 Winchester Magnum is 1270 yards, or 3,810 feet - meaning that if you’re good enough, and shoot at something 3800 feet away with this rifle - you could hit it hard enough to kill it.

The law which mandated the distance requirement could be modified to perhaps lessen the likelihood of a similar occurrence, however banning the gun itself is a slippery slope which should be avoided at all cost.

How the GOP lost my vote.

You know what? !@#$ the big 3. Let them declare bankruptcy. I’m sure all my Socialist pals will cry foul at letting economic nature take its course, but I really don’t care. I was against the original panic bailout, and I’m against this one too.

These automakers cranked out huge, inefficient vehicles, raking in profit hand over fist until Katrina hit and the upward spiral of fuel prices made carting 3 kids around in a Ford Excursion pretty !@#$ing stupid.

What was the stopgap? Hybrid SUV’s. So now instead of getting 19mpg, you get 20mpg. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. You can get that same (or better) bump in MPG by avoiding jackrabbit starts and keeping your tires inflated properly. None of that changes the fact that you’re driving a vehicle that weighs nearly 3 tons.

So the fuel price went up, and suddenly cars like the Prius didn’t look so crazy. Smaller vehicles with higher MPG (look at Europe where fuel is about $6 a gallon on average, they don’t drive effing SUVs, and they aren’t running out of kids) became popular, and what did Detroit have?

NOT A !@#$ING THING. The focus was on big trucks, big suv’s, and big cars. The scraps were set aside to build the Calibur, Focus, and Cobalt. I’m sure they’re nice cars in their own right, but generally American offerings fall short in their compact cars when it comes to refinement (which is why I drive a VW).

Once that big SUV fad died, which was inevitable, they were screwed. Their next solution? The Volt. Neat concept. Electric motors drive the wheels, tiny gas motor keeps the batteries charged. 100mpg, and $40,000 sticker price. Are you !@#$ing kidding me?

Let them go bankrupt, fire off the CEO jerks who lacked the foresight to know that the solution was more efficient vehicles – not more trucks, and maybe rise from the ashes with a new found respect for the free market.

Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2008

I found this during my looking around this morning. It interests me that this
furor about a possible re-institution of the assault weapons ban seems to be
swirling after Nov. 4th, but we heard nothing like the current outrage in June
and July when this was authored by Republicans, and introduced to the
appropriate congressional sub-committee. What’s worse, this re-authorizes the
the vague language of the original, and is similar to the wording set forth in
the NJ Attorney General’s guidelines for the enforcement of this states own ban.

In my own opinion, restricting armor defeating ammo types and calibers might
make sense. Let’s be honest, who needs a FN 5.7 or a .50 BMG Barrett except the
military? If nothing else, the price of the ammo alone makes it impractical for
any kind of sporting, and your average calibers are much better for defense
applications. Outlawing 100 round drum magazines might make sense, because one
doesn’t reasonably hunt deer OR target shoot with 100 continuously fed rounds I
would argue that you don’t effectively defend your home that way either (though
some “Soldier of Fortune” types might disagree…). Mandating that manufacturers
take specific measures to prevent easily transforming a semi auto into a full
auto would make sense to me, because then you would prosecute individuals who
defeat those safeguards on a much more specific basis of what IS dangerous,
rather than what APPEARS to be. You would prosecute manufacturers who don’t meet
a set of specific standards based in the interest of professional responsibility
and public safety, rather than on an arbitrary list of cosmetic features.

A vague blanket like this one just leaves the individual law enforcement
officer, and subsequently the larger legal system open to endlessly litigate and
interpret a law that is too broad. I may not agree with the NRA’s seemingly knee
jerk reactionism and implied ethos of “gimme my guns or else”, but this
legislation is irresponsible for everyone, because it doesn’t set out to resolve
anything, but to give the appearance that it might (ie. the study it mandates to
be performed by the AG as regards the bill’s supposed impact on crime.)

Don’t be afraid of Obama’s supposed anti-gun stance, but be afraid of this
bill, because it looks like these Republicans were looking to promote their own
anti-gun agenda well before anyone knew the election’s outcome!

It’s pretty big, so click it to see the full image.

When the heck did power supplies for computers get so expensive?

My video card was acting up while playing WoW, since it is the kind that requires a connection to the PSU, I wagered a guess that the PSU was finally reaching its end of life. I felt around the back, and the fan really wasn’t moving much air - and the air it was moving was pretty hot.

I gave it a quick clean with the canned air, but there wasn’t any improvement. So I headed over to the manufacturer’s website to get the output specs so I could check them with my voltmeter… Turns out they were all outside the specs (not good).

It was late on a Friday, so my only guess for where I could get a new one was Best Buy… I checked and the options that came up were $140 and $160. My jaw dropped. I’ve spent - at most - $50-$60 for my PSU’s in the past (haven’t had to buy one for about 6 years now). I did some more looking on the site and found a good one for about $100 from Thermaltake. I usually prefer ANTEC, but I wasn’t spending $160 on the thing.

Picked it up, dusted and cleaned the entire machine, swapped it in - and the video card is working like a champ again… Still can’t get over the price though.

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For the past 13 years which I have driven local roads, I’ve had the unfortunate experience of striking an animal while driving more than once. I’ll admit it, I’ve hit cats, dogs, deer, and other creatures and it kills me every time it happens. Each time, I stop, I call the Police – I do the right thing.

Driving home from the gym tonight, I was behind a big bad Ford Explorer who was in such a rush… that when they hit the deer in front of me, cartwheeling it across the road into a heap on the side – kept driving. Oh, he knew what he did, he flashed his high beams on for a moment to make sure his precious lights still worked… but kept going.

So I called the police. Turns out that if you strike an animal, it is up to the driver to call them and report it. They don’t have to stop. I don’t understand how in God’s name anyone can do such a thing. It doesn’t make sense to me, it simply does not compute. The best the police could do is send an officer out to put it down if it was suffering. That’s it.

I know that deer can be a nuisance… But for God’s sake have some human decency and make sure it isn’t suffering!

So last night I’m ready for it, I’m going to go buy the latest WoW expansion pack, “Wrath of The Lich King” at midnight at my local 24 hour Walmart. So I throw in disc 1 of Smallville season 1, and figure I’ll head out at around 11:30.

2am I wake up to the theme song from Smallville looping, and go to bed.

I’m getting old.

Now my self-hating Liberal cohorts might say this is a GOOD idea, as now that we have an inbound Democrat majority, peace on Earth has broken out and all of our problems can again be solved by government without question.

Participate In Federally-Funded Road Survey, Make $895

So here’s the deal, the federal highway fund is losing money left and right because you evil Americans finally wised up and realized that maybe a Ford Excursion isn’t the best commuter vehicle. Their solution? A per mile tax. That’s right, you drive a mile, you pay the Fed.

How shall they implement this? GPS vehicle tracking. Think you’re beating the system in that Prius? Think again. Even if they DID pull this off, I doubt it’d affect the tax on fuel, as history has shown that the Fed generally never eliminates a tax, but when it cuts one - the states, counties, and localities usually jack up their taxes to compensate.

I believe the best solution would be to privatize the highway system, eliminate the fuel tax, and stop this onslaught of 1984esque BS. The economy is in the crapper. Americans are watching their money closer now than ever before. Take advantage of the strong dollar, the ever lowering cost of fuel, and cut the shackles off the American highway.

There isn’t a single thing the government does now, short of national defense and law enfarcement, that cannot be done better and more efficiently by private industry.