Economic Stimulus

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Weerd Beard

This actually makes the stupid “Gun Buybacks” make sense!

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill into law that bars cities and counties from destroying guns turned over to police at community buyback events and instead requiring that they be resold….House Bill 2455 was designed to close a loophole in state law that generally requires seized firearms to be sold to licensed gun dealers.

I hate gun-buybacks because it does nothing to improve public safety, it costs the public money in police time, as well as whatever prizes they hand out for the guns, and it almost always destroys a few valuable antiques, and useful guns that could be used by people with more common sense.

This actually could eliminate most of that, given that the guns are being traded for a pittance, even if the state sells the guns for very low values, it will likely net a profit. All I need to see is that profit covering all the other state costs, and I’m fine with it, as the valuable guns will find a loving home, and the junk ones can still be sold for scrap if it can’t be sold.

Also I wonder if there will be less “Buy Backs” now that the end result is sending guns to loving lawful homes, not melting them down.

H/t AZRon

Posted in Guns, Politics | 5 Comments

More Fatal Breech of Protocol

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Weerd Beard

These guys aren’t angels, but still we have cops violating protocol and killing suspects:

A dozen Cleveland police supervisors face internal discipline charges stemming from a chase that saw officers fire 137 shots and kill a fleeing driver and his passenger, the city’s police chief said Tuesday….An internal police review showed that both officers and supervisors broke department policies. The chief said a review is continuing into whether any officers will be disciplined….Some officers also thought the two were armed and some told state investigators they were frightened and feared for their lives.

Both the driver, Timothy Russell, 43, and his passenger, Malissa Williams, 30, had cocaine in their systems and criminal records. But no weapon or shells were found in their car.

Drunk, on coke, and not stopping for officers. None are good decisions, but I don’t know if it warrants a hail of gunfire, also while the deceased weren’t angels, I’m curious how the cops decided they were such a danger.

I’m split on this one, it’s hardly the LA Death Squad shootings of anything that might be a pickup truck, but I am thinking of those cases.

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Posted in Safety | 5 Comments

Gun Control: Killing Jobs

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Weerd Beard

Well they can’t claim it makes you safer…but it can make you poor!

Arms manufacturers in at least two states with strict new gun laws are making good on their promise to move their operations — along with thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenues — to locales they deem friendlier to the industry.

In Connecticut, where venerable gunmakers like Colt and Sturm, Ruger & Co. have been joined in the last decade or so by upstarts like Stag Arms and PTR, reform of gun laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shootings has left the industry feeling unwelcome. Bristol-based high-end rifle manufacturer PTR Industries announced this month via Facebook that it would be taking its 40 jobs and $50,000 weekly payroll to an unspecified new state, widely believed to be Texas….AR-15 manufacturer Stag Arms could soon follow suit, along with Colt’s Manufacturing and Mossberg & Sons. The moves could cost the Nutmeg State 3,000 jobs as well as the estimated $1.75 billion in annual taxable revenues.

Thankfully we don’t need jobs or tax revenue, right?

Good job guys!

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Posted in Freedom, Guns, Politics | 5 Comments

“Gun Death” Lab Safety

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Weerd Beard

Ok this one makes me ANGRY! My current lab is almost all “Designated Lab Space”, and falls under lab safety rules. Pretty much the only places that isn’t “Lab Space” is common areas shared by all the labs.

This means when I’m doing data entry I can neither eat or drink. Can you tell me a time you need caffeine MORE than when you’re doing data entry? If I need a snack or a drink, I must leave my lab and go to a common space. It sucks, but its for safety, and that’s why this story pisses me off!

County prosecutors say a University of California, Los Angeles chemistry professor has been ordered to stand trial after a fire in his lab caused the death of a 23-year-old research assistant….Prosecutors say Sangji was in Harran’s organic chemistry laboratory Dec. 29, 2008, when she transferred a highly flammable material without wearing a protective lab coat. The material spilled and caught fire, causing severe burns.

Now guilt needs to be determined by a court of law. Was this a student violating the rules, or was the lab run in such a way that violations of the rules were overlooked? I used to work with a man who would routinely be seen drinking coffee or eating a sandwich while running samples in the lab space. He was frequently reprimanded for this, he probably would have been fired if not for his senior position. If he had been harmed by his unsafe activities there would have been a paper trail and the blame would fall on him. Still I can see bad lab mangers not caring, or even not supplying protective gear, and that can encourage unsafe behaviors.

No matter, protective gear is a MUST! Wear your lab coats, wear your safety glasses, and no open-toe shoes in the lab! They don’t make you wear that stuff because dress-up is fun!

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Posted in Gun Death? | 2 Comments

Nice Video on the Gun Control Field

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Weerd Beard

I like how the point that there are countless laws on the books NOT being enforced is a good enough reason to NOT push for more laws is really getting the attention it deserves. Only took like 20 years to do it too!

Posted in Freedom, Guns, Safety | 1 Comment

Beard Science

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Weerd Beard

A neat article:

Researchers from the University of New South Wales, Australia took photographs of 10 men when they were clean shaven, at 5 and 10 days without shaving and with a full beard. They then asked 351 women and 177 heterosexual men to evaluate what they thought of the men in various phases of beard growth. Each face was rated for attractiveness, masculinity, health and potential parenting ability.

Women chose men with a heavy 10-day beard as the most attractive and both women and heterosexual men chose men with full beards as the best with perceived parenting skills. Men with light stubble (5 days of growth) got the lowest scores across the board from both men in women in all categories.

According to the researchers concerning 5-day growth “a threshold of density and distribution may be necessary for beards to function as an attractive signal.”

Researchers also tested women who were on contraceptive pills and determined that women who were highly fertile and ovulating increased their score of men’s masculinity rating compared to women not ovulating. But interestingly, the phase of fertility that women were in had no effect on their impression of a man’s attractiveness.

They conclude that stubble conveys maturity and manliness, with less aggressiveness implied by a full beard.

Interesting study, still I’d like to see it re-tried in a few other European nations, as well as maybe East Asia, and the Middle East, where facial hair are viewed differently to rule out cultural differences.

H/T Mrs. Weer’d

Posted in Biology | 3 Comments

When Your Only Tool Is a Hammer….

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Weerd Beard

….The World starts looking like a nail:

Yeah, well…probably not:

Er, “we know a gun check would stop him,” really? That’s quite the conclusion to draw, considering that A) the most recent update from ABC reports the only gun recovered so far from the scene of the Tsarnaev brothers’ shootout was a semiautomatic handgun with its serial number scratched off, suggesting that it was probably purchased through illicit means that wouldn’t have subjected to a background check no matter what; and B) the brothers somehow neglected to register for gun permits as required in Massachusetts, suggesting that they were pretty unconcerned with the law — as also evidenced by their blowing up a busy street with pressure-cooker bombs. (Not to mention, that “90 percent” figure is getting wildly overused as an indicator of public opinion that isn’t nearly as robust as it makes it out to be.) Lawmakers have been arguing over introducing some stringent coordination between the terror watch list and background checks, but let’s not make it sound like universal background checks would have definitively thwarted the Boston bombing nor are a reliable method for thwarting terrorism in general, shall we?

Hey, but they’ll try and make their agenda fit ANYTHING, because, well, they have an agenda, and little actual support for it anyway.

Posted in Freedom, Guns, Politics, Safety | 2 Comments

How I Live My Life

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Weerd Beard

The Four Rules, and the Scientific Method!

Posted in Biology | Leave a comment

Odd Gun: Wildey Magnum

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Weerd Beard

Actually handled one of these in a local shop, and they feel vastly better in the hand than a Desert Eagle. Its still a football bat of a gun!

Posted in Guns | 6 Comments

“Gun Death” Ritual Killing

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Weerd Beard

No way to sugar-coat this one:

Chile has arrested four members of an alleged cult accused of burning a baby to death during a human sacrifice ritual, officials announced on Thursday.

“We found bones that correspond” to those of an infant, said Miguel Ampuero, a police investigator, in comments made to Chilean radio.

Authorities said the baby was burned alive on November 23 at a farm outside the city of Quilpe, some 110 kilometers (70 miles) west of Santiago.

That’s all I have for that….

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