Category: Random Ramblings

Anything that catches my fancy as a topic I want to cover. Truly random crap.

On the DC gun ban ruling

I’ve just read the best commentary on the DC gun ban ruling I’ve seen (out of the very few places that have covered it) over at the Reason magazine web site. As the real root of the article, the author wonders why the federal appeals court ruling the gun ban unconstitutional is “interpreting the Second Amendment broadly,” as The New York Times reports. After all, as he points out, actually protecting free speech rights or unreasonable search and seizure rights would not be seen as overly broad interpretations of First or Fourth Amendments.

This oddly bifurcated view of an enumerated constitutional right helps explain why the gun control debate in this country is so acrimonious. When one side considers the Second Amendment a nullity and the other side thinks it counts for something, there is no safe middle ground.

. . .

The court did not say Americans have a right to own anti-aircraft missiles or nuclear warheads. It did not even say they have a right to carry guns publicly (although that does seem to be implied by the “bear” part). It said they have a right to keep guns in their own homes for self-protection.

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The Geek Hierarchy

While reading something totally unrelated to geekdom, I stumbled on a link to The geek hierarchy chart. Now you can check out what level of geek that dorky guy who sits next to you is. I figure myself to be about a level 4 geek, as I max out on the chart just one level below what is shown in this clip from the chart:

geek-hierarchy.jpg

[tags]The Geek Hierarchy, I’m a level 4 – what are you?[/tags]

The effects of a nuclear attack on US cities

While scanning through stories on Digg tonight, I saw this link to a ZDNet article on the effects of a nuclear attack on various American cities. The article examines a Center for Mass Destruction Defense (CMADD) simulation of the catastrophic impact a nuclear attack would have on American cities. The complete study paper is 33 pages, and freaky scary to read over.

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Lies your mother told you

Headline ripped straight from the original article over at Nearorama. Learn the truth about some of the lies you heard when you were younger.

The Lie: Throwing rice at weddings causes birds to explode.

The Truth: Throwing rice at weddings causes birds to have something new and delicious and totally undangerous to eat. In fact, there are many species of birds in Asia who survive primarily on uncooked rice, which they take from fields. The myth had its start in a 1988 Ann Landers [wiki] column in which she discouraged readers from the practice. The USA Rice Federation (motto: “Proving There Is a Federation for Everything”) immediately debunked Landers’s story, but, surprisingly, Ann Landers had a broader readership than the USA Rice Federation.

The Lie: Hair grows back thicker and darker after you shave it.

Fun reading. Original post on Neatorama credits Mental Floss (specifically, the book Scatterbrained) with the goods on the goodies listed.

[tags]Lies your mother told you, Mental Floss teaches you the truth[/tags]

A coulrophobes dream game?

Joystiq has recent coverage on a cool new game sure to bring a smile to many coulrophobes: clowns falling down stairs. Billed as the ultimate physics game, one of the brains behind the game explains why it will succeed.

Yesterday, in his talk at the Independent Games Summit, Matthew Wegner beat up clowns. To be specific, he showed a physics sim clip of a dozen full-costumed clown ragdolls tumbling helplessly down a spiral staircase. Wegner, head of the physics game site Fun-Motion, called clowns falling down stairs “the ultimate physics game.” Why? Because it’s a lot easier to identify with clowns in peril then, let’s say, a bunch of shapes. Besides, it’s just hilarious. Later on, Wegner also showed a sim of a few hundred cows falling through a mess of painful looking barriers. Also very excellent.

Physics, clowns, and stairs. Really, what else do you need?

[tags]Clowns falling down stairs, A coulrophobes dream games[/tags]

White House pledged Plame leak investigation – no investigation performed

I can’t say I’m surprised, are you?

Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who took over the helm of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in January, took a long look at the Valerie Plame affair today and found that the White House never conducted an internal security investigation of who leaked the formerCIA agent’s identity, despite a pledge by President Bush to do so.

Duh! No politician is going to perform an investigation, or at least a well-managed investigation, when the damning evidence will lead back too high into that politician’s close ranks of advisors, aides, or peers and close colleagues.

A snip from the (much longer) letter Waxman sent to the White House concerning the responsibilities of White House representatives and questioning the failure of those representatives to perform legally required actions.

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Bill to give DC full priviliges of Congressional spot

It seems the Democrats have been working on a bill in the House of Representatives which wouldgive the District of Columbia a full rights seat in the House (there’s more to the bill, but I’m just zoning in on the big target of the bill – bear with me, please). Part of the argument for the bill is that denying DC residents full Congressional representation is unconstitutional. On the surface, that seems like a reasonable claim (to me at least). From the discussion of the bill, we even get:

“Continued disenfranchisement of more than half a million Americans is unconscionable, indefensible and wrong,” said Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md.

Republicans have been delaying the vote on this bill because the Constitution states that congressional seats are to be apportioned among the statves, and DC is not a state. Republicans, however, finally agreed to move forward with the vote with one ammendment to the bill. What ammendment? Well…

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Congress-critters show unusual intelligence in recent vote

Tuesday we received confirmation that the Senate has chosen to repeal the law allowing indefinite duration temporary (i.e. permanent) appointments of U.S. prosecutors without Senate confirmation. Next will be moving the legislation through the House of Representatives. This was part of the response to the firing and replacement of 8 U.S. prosecutors last year. In case you are wondering, the 2 votes opposed to reclaiming legislative review of appointments were from Republican Sens. Kit Bond (Mo.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.). If the repeal passes the House, the previous 120 duration will be restored.

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Worth1000.com Attack of the Clones contest #11

Recently, Worth1000 had an Attack of the Clones contest. Some of the entries are really good. Naturally, I really liked the entries with multiple Jessica Alba shots, although the multiple Katherine Heigl shot is probably my favorite in the group. Check out the contest results for some really great photochopping (and shorter link if that’s broken) of easy-on-the-eyes images. Here are the full contest details:

In this contest you will clone any famous person in such a way that they appear to be interacting with their twin (as demonstrated in the themepost).

The rules of this game are thus: You are to take any famous person and “clone” them. The clone should interact with their twin in the image in such a way as that the interaction looks real, not like you just took the original and mirrored it. NOTE: We only want images of FAMOUS people, not an image of your weird Uncle Carl wrestling with himself. As always, quality is a must. You’ll have 48 hours for this contest, so make your submission count.

[tags]Worth1000.com Attack of the clones contest[/tags]