Current events in the UK

A body was recovered, the victim presumably died from injuries to the neck and face. A man died of undisclosed injuries after being attacked, yet another person is in critical condition following an assault ...

So when I was going through my blogroll this morning, I spotted a true gem over at sharp as a marble. Where he spots a news article with something interesting to say:

• Guns are always available and stemming the flow of weapons remains an almost impossible task.

Some people knew this before, some have been saying so all along. Some people have been in denial for some time now. I'd say others have known but keep denying it because of ulterior motives.

Point to proof, a man used a handgun to try and rob a bank just now.

This weeks knife crime alone is enough to fill a blog. One kid was stabbed to death after a party, don't conuse him with the OTHER kid that was stabbed at a party and died. Q:Did you hear about that kid that got stabbed to death at the party - A:Which one?

Two men were stabbed, one died in what is called "not a random attack". Earlier, yet another teen was stabbed to death in London.

If anybody was wondering, arsonists *do* still kill people, large amounts of illegal drugs are still being confiscated and few people bat an eye at either.

You can't have it.

Here's a guy who knows how to get the point across!



Brought to you thanks to kaiservontexas who will appreciate your visit

Assassins creed, part two

So, I did get it to work, runs perfectly now.
Other than the sometimes crappy console-camera, it handles sweet. Amazing game!

So ... yeah I pretty much wasted the entire day on that ... thank god for media center automatically recording anything worthwhile on TV so I don't even need to bother doing that.
There *is* also a feature that lets me schedule blog posts but I neglected to use that one. I am not sorry :p

I promise that the good and trusty current events in the UK post will be up tomorrow, maybe I'll snoop around the newspapers tonight and see if anything catches my eye.

Assassins creed

Trying to get it to work X(

It was great fun while it lasted ... stabbing crusaders in the back scaling buildings and all, but it just keeps crashing on me :(

I'll be blogging about something tomorrow.

Very interesting read:

Handgun wounding factors and effectiveness.
(For law enforcement dissemination only)

An FBI publication concerning the effects of gunshots and how to achieve the desired results during a gunfight. A very interesting read if you ask me!

Dealing with pigs ...

No, not our boys in blue, hogs, pigs, boars and the like.

Wild pigs are an old ace in California, I even blogged about them slightly in the past. And right now, they're at it again. Dozens of pigs are sometimes seen wreaking havoc in peoples gardens and yards.
The authorities are allow people to apply for permits that would allow them to shoot these critters.

I was under the impression that you could shoot feral hogs without a permit if they're causing property damage, guess I was wrong.
Either way, pork ribs and bacon are yummy, their population needs culling and meat is expensive ... it's an omen.

Correction on boat homicide

Updated news reports have removed a shooting from the events that concluded with the death of 39-year-old Albert Edward Driscoll III of Edgemere, who was supposedly shot on a boat.
It may not have been a defensive shooting or gun homicide after all, but a stabbing or other type of altracation.

I'd like to apologise for any wrong information passed on, and remind everybody, myself most off all, that even the mainstream media is not infallible when it comes to spreading information.

Russia recognizes rebels ... with poor trigger control.

So people are condemning Russia for recognising South Ossetia and Abkhazia as nations, broken away from Georgia. They declare two regions as nations, and the Russians are catching flak from everybody who disagreed with them on various other issues that have nothing to do with this, like from me:

What on earth are you thinking recognising this woman pictured with the worst trigger control in the history of photography as a resident of a sovereign state:


(picture from CNN, found here)

Honestly, I halfly expect that the safety on the other side of the reciever is one notch down.
If you're going to have your picture taken for the international press, and you're posing with a rifle that's got a magazine in there, keep your booger hook off the trigger!

On another note: I have no opinion on the local politics as I am not familliar with the region. The political content of this post is there for satire, I do not support either the independance of either state, or the preservation of the greater Georgian nation ... I don't care either way, ok?

Boat burglar blasted.

(A correction to this post was issued on the 27th of august, turns out it was not a shooting)

A defensive gun use can occur at your house, place of work, on the road and as it now turns out: on your boat.

A 21 ear old man was rudely awakened from his sleep as multiple criminals tried to pry their way into his boats cabin. The exact events that ensued aren't known yet, but one of the burglars, one Albert Edward Driscoll III of Edgemere, ended up shot and deceased. His death has been ruled a homicide, but no formal charges have been filed. I hope this shooting was justified and that it is recognised as such.


(Killings by police officers in the line of duty, fatal incidences of self defense and other justifiable/excusable action are all classified as homicides)

An invasion of your property and a possible treath to your life is a very serious matter. Odds are very low that you'll ever have to defend your life, but an attack may occur anywhere, and if your have chosen to carry a means of defending your life, carry it wherever you can.

Current events in the UK

Welcome once again to the gun debate critic on sunday, as I take a look at the current situation in the gun control paradise of the UK. Gun control is non-existant according to the crooks, and it aint no paradise either. Let's have a look:

Starting off with a hint of mystery, a body was found on the roadside ... a family man who had gone missing. Murder, suicide, accident ... the police are investigating.
The police also speak of mystery themselves as they for witnesses to help clear up a death in a pub.

To account for a lack of working gun control: one man was shot to death in Birmingham, another was gunned down in Dublin. Two people were injured in a shooting (also in Birmingham), and the gun that was used to kill someone last week has been recovered.
It's not all guns ... one man managed to shoot himself with a crosbow, he'll live. Accident or botched suicide? I wouldn't know either.

A man remains in critical condition after a stabbing, a teenager was stabbed to death, as was a senior citizen, another man is critical ... the list goes on and on ...

This is NOT a peaceful place!

Getting away with a felony.

Suppose you willfuly and intentionally planted your fist in someones face ... that constitutes assault. A felony that -under the current legal system- should land you before a judge and a jury of your peers, because you simply do not walk around hitting people, do you?

Well, the law it would appear isn't equal for all of us.

The major of Detroit who I can only guess leads his violent urban centre by example was charged with multiple assault charges. Now the DA is making him an offer, drop your title and you'll get away with it. Give up your job, and this violent crime you carried out against a fellow American will go completely unpunished.

Not to overdramatize, the good Major faces ten felony charges in two seperate criminal cases, but still. How would you feel if a charge for assault against you or a loved one (spouse, child) was being used as tender in a deal. The crime perpetraited against you or your dear ones will go unpunished, but fear not! This man, who when opposed by even the most incompetent of adversairies in the next election would not get re-elected, will have to give up his job.

How would you feel?

And don't tell me how this will allow them to better prosecute him, if the fact that he's a major would stand in the way of bringing him to justice for TEN FELONIES, than we've got seriously bigger problems.

Video of a close quarters shooting

Here's a video of a cop who's moolighting as a security guard when the shop he's guarding is robbed by three criminals, at least two armed with handguns.



I got the impression that those criminals didn't originally inted to kill anybody. Rather than just shooting the cop, one of them tells him to give up his gun (imagine that, thugs disarming the law abiding). But then the policeman pushes his attackers gun away from him before delivering two rounds point blanc into the chest.

A criminal will just use your gun angainst you my ass!

I'm not sure if he should have gone outside, he only opened himself up to more gunfire in my opinion, but in the end, he walked away without a scratch and there were three thugs off the street. Good show!

killing in a fit of rage ...

People are killed in a fit of rage, there is no oint in denying it. What I'd like to deny here today is that removing firearms from the scene would prevent such a thing.

Students can be under a lot of stress, I would know, and stress is killer. But then again, I've never felt -through stress and rage compelled- to kill another human being in a fit of rage. Somebody else did however:

• A law student who stabbed his guardian 56 times because she had pressured him to resit his failed exams was jailed for life yesterday.

  David Quartey, 22, was convicted of murdering Victoria Anyetei, 54, in a “frenzied attack of enormous brutality” as she waited in her car to take him to college for extra tuition.

You can read the entire story here. My point is, that people kill people. We've been doing so since we were still feasting on wooly mammoths, back when swords and longbows were the assault weapons, and I'm confident we'll continue to do so long into the future. I would very much like to put an end to that, alas, I can only start with myself.

Other people claim that they can put an end to other peoples behavior. One way is by passing legislation against itmes associated with crime. Ban guns to prevent gun crime, ban knives to prevent knife crime, ban drugs to prevent drug crime.
It's never: ban guns to prevent murder or homicide in a fit of rage, and if it were, it would be a failure, as people kill other people in a fit of rage without guns just the same.

Remember that.

A pound of cyanide ... freely for sale?

So a poor man is found dead in an expensive hotel, dead from cyanide poisoning (technically cardiac arrest or respiratory failure I think, but lets not split hairs), a pound of cyanide was recovered at the scene, that's enough to kill eighty people and then some.

First terrorism was suspected, but now police have decided it was suicide.

A couple of toughts:
People continue to demonize guns as suicide tools, but the substance he supposedly used is readely available to all:

• Denver police spokesman John White assured that the kind of cyanide Dirie had could be purchased anywhere, since it's the primary ingredient in rat poison.

Which also begs the question: doesn't this mean that an ideal weapon for mass murder is simply out there? Where are the million people marches? The "terror gap" websites and the like?

Nanny state: Mandatory noise pollution

Sure, people like to diss the California administrations for their inability to control violent crime, racial tensions and illegal drug traficking. They sneer at their homeschooling policies and building codes and their liberal laws concering substances that remain illegal at the federal level ... but try to make fun of this:

Some folks are concerned that the new hybrid cars are so quite, that blind people may not be able to detect them in traffic. This perceived hazard is something that the California legislature simply must deal with!

• (California Legislature) has passed a bill to ensure that the vehicles make enough noise to be heard by visually impaired people about to cross a street.

Mandatory noisemaking for cars. I always thought those "loud pipes save lives" bumperstickers were a funny gimmick, well, some Californians would seem to agree ...
So ... spoke rims and an ace of spades*? Whistles built into speed holes? Can't wait to see how this turns out.

*on the wheel or on the stereo, either one will do.

nothing brings the world together like simulated murder

Saywhat?

So I was just over at cracked dot com reading an article about olympic sports that somehow didn't make the cut for appearing in the Bejing games. Sports like canefighting and speedskiing.
The article ends with dueling with pistols ... for true, cracked claim that dueling with pistols was once an olympic sport, and it's true! They weren't killing their competitors of course, they were shooting mannequins.

The poll linked to shows that 32% of the people who took the poll would like to see it on the olympics once again! And those are ABC readers! (note: *I* read ABC :p)

So, combat shooting at the olympics anyone? I'd try to qualify!

Woman stabs ex-boss in the head

A woman was angry with her former superviser, former because he'd fired her not long before. So she
snuk into his house, found him sleeping in his bed with his wife besides him, and she stabbed him in the head multiple times. The wife who was promptly awakened defended the life of her beloved* husband by hitting the other woman over the head with a baseball bat.

In the video here, a neighbour vocalises her ability and willingness to do basically the same, but with a firearm.
I applaud her!

*I presume

Current events in the UK

Welcome once again to the gun debate critic on sunday, current events in the UK.

It's been a rather shocking week, as a heavely pregnant woman was attacked in her home! She was bludgeoned over the head and seriousky injured. Fortunately, her child was allright, doctors induced labour and brought the baby healthy to this oft horrible place. In response, police are stepping up their activities in the neighbourhood. I applaud their efforts, but I also regret that they can only do so after the facts. That's not the polices fault, that's just the way it is I'm afraid.

The twenty third teenager has been killed in Londen, a 17 year old was killed with a single stab of a knife. The same day another teen was killed in an unrelated incident. Knife attacks are no reason for city officials to consider their city dangerous it would seem ... "sure, a woman was stabbed, but this place is perfectly safe otherwise, I swear!". Perhaps she's lucky ... another woman was raped at knifepoint by multiple attackers.

To illustrate the administrations failure at keeping guns out of the hands of kids, a 13 year old was found in posession of a handgun, ammunition and sound supressors. The gun may be a Makarov Baikal-442, which may very well have been procured in eastern Europe and smuggeled into the UK.
In a display of justice after the horrendous fact, a young drug dealer was sentenced after shooting three people dead with a semi-automatic mac-10, and then stabbing two people after that. He regrets ... running out of ammunition.

And once again, a petrol bomb was used to attack an inhabited construction, the house of a law enforcement official.

Banning guns, not quite working great if you ask me.

No less than lethal

Yet another man has been killed by what manufacturers still try to pass of as less-than lethal.
A man was seen ...

• under the influence, knocking on people's doors, while screaming for help.

... a regular menace to sciety.

When police arrived at the scene, they told him to put his hands behind his back. Because he did not comply fast enough for the police officers tastes, they tazered him three times, killing him.
The article makes no mention of anybodies life being in danger, not the officers lives, nobody else, he wasn't trying to run, I do not see a single reason why they should have deployed a taser on him.

Once again, a man has lost his life because a tool that was supposed to be used under no corcumstances other than those meriting the use of a lethal weapon was used to obtain complience ... id est: torture.

No, you may be asking: One post I bash tasers because they're not effective, the other I bash them for killing people. My beef is with tasers, you don't know what you're getting yourslef (and somebody else) into: They may not work, they may kill somebody ... you just don't know.

Guns can fail too, but generally, if your aim is good, you'll get a pretty predictable result ... you know what to expect.

Thank god he didn't have a gun ...

Police are looking for a man who got into a fight with a DJ, and ended up cutting his eyes out.

...

No, not a sick joke, he cut the guys eyes out, blinding him.

Thank god he didn't have a gun huh? He could have seriously injured the guy.

Gun > Taser

Last time it was a police officer who shot and stopped an attacker who had a stun gun, now I've come accross a normal citizen who was the victim of a carjacker. After the man resisted, the criminal was able to shoot him multiple times, despite being shocked with a taser just moments before!

Less than lethal weapons have their worth and their place, but if my life were on the line, I'd prefer a firearm

Don't worry about your guns ...

We'll protect you ...

Gun > Taser

Linked to by Robb Allen

A police officer with a firearm, a criminal with a stun gun, the law abiding person in posession of a firearm comes out on top.

Hazmat and common sense ...

Today I'll talk about a very serious issue, something that can lead to horrible accidents, something that could easely be used as a weapon of mass destruction: legitimate household chemicals.

A woman feared her children had fallen ill at the hand of a set of chemicals used for pool maintenance. As she brought her offspring to the emergency room, she figured it would be a good idea to bring the chemicals along so doctors could use the information to better help her children.
She did not realize that by doing so, she exposed a large portion of the hospital to those very same chemicals, multiple members of staff got sick as well.

Read the story here.

Now, what she did was ... not entirely tought through to say the least, but what mother would not be eer so slightly in panic if you childerne are sick? She tought she was helping, and she basically had the right idea, but not quite.

If you fear that you've been adversly affected by chemicals, do not bring the actual substances! Ideally you could take an empty container or the labels with you, or snap a couple of pictures with a digital camera or cell phone.

Don't drag chemicals with you that are dangerous, and especially do not risk cleaning agents to get mixed, some very common chemicals you use at home may ract with eachother and form highly dangerous agents. People fall ill every year, some even die because of improper use of around-the-house-chemicals.

Current events in the UK

Welcome again to the gun debate critic on sunday, current events in the UK.

Starting off with a hint of mystery as often before, two people were found dead with serious head injuries, cause unknown or otherwise undisclosed at the moment.

I'm glad to see justice come down hard on the 16 year old killer of a fourteen year old boy, stabbed him to dead him for giving the other "a dirty look". Mind that a life sentence hardly ever means spending life in prison on this side of the ocean. If anything, maybe these harsh punishments will turn youngsters away from violent crime ... if only:

A small gang of "Brady Children" attacked a middle aged man, who survived but needed medical attention for a skull fracture. Do think of the children!

There have always been some who tought criminals would simply pick on easier targets with guns unavailable to the law abiding, an example of this can be found in this incident, where a woman was assaulted and robbed by an unarmed attacker. The victim ended up in the hospital. Another woman was robbed at knifepont.

Others predicted that criminals would simply switch to other weapons, this has again been confirmed as a band of criminals carried out a robbery armed with a hammer and a stun gun. Another pair of criminals carried out half a dozen of robberies with a large kitchen knife and a metal bar amongst their weapons. And yet another group of criminals used a machete and knives to attempt a robbery during which they stabbed a security guard in the ass.
I suppose some will be glad to see criminals moving away from guns I suppose ... ah wait:

An apparently random shooting proves that guns are still available to the criminal element in the UK, a spent shell would indicate that the gun used was a semi-automatic firearm. Another shooting brought the teenage death-count in Londen up to 22, with many more dead outside of the capitol.

One of the responses to these dozens of dead children has been to crack down on knife posession, continued actions remain a way to put people behind bars. One arrest per hour was the average of an action in Essex, though 75% of those arrested were arrested for drug crimes. One might dispute the effects, three teenagers were hospitalized for stab wounds yesterday, as well as a man in his twenties.

Once again, fire fighters have come under attack by youths, this along with the recent "spate" of firebombings may prove to be a great danger in the long run. But it need not all be firebombings and molotov coctails, dousing somebody in gasoline and setting him on fire isn't unheard of either.

History of my homeland

What is the price of a mile?



A common hobby in the place where my grandfather moors his boat is digging up remnants of either world war that's been fought here, remnants are plentifull, but memories are running thin and past horrors are being forgotten.

out shopping, the art of war, Georgia

So I went out shopping today, and I picked up a bunch of Alice Cooper CD's, as well as Sabatons "the art of war".

I'm listening to it right now ... they managed to blend Sun Tzu's writings quite well with their music! Before the number "40:1" (the casualty ratio between the nazi Wehrmacht and the Polish defenders of the Westerplatte), a female voice quotes Sun Tzu that conquering in battle alone does not suffice to be a victor in the end. (winning without doing battle is to be desired, true words)
For sure, if in every battle you suffer casualties at a fourty to one ratio, you'll not likely win the war.

Later, this is essentially repeated in the song Talvisota, which is about the Finnish war in WWII, you all remember "Finland, be afraid", right?

So, listening to this music, I put the international news up on a browser tab, to see houses in Georgia set ablaze, Russian sources claiming over 2000 fatalities in the Southern Ossetian Capital alone.
If anybody invlolved in the conflict is reading this, let me quote Brodén to whom I'm listening right now:

• How many wasted lives? How many dreams did fade away?
  Broken promises they won't be coming home
  Oh mothers wipe your tears your sons will rest a million years
  Found their peace at last as foe turn to friend and forgive
  And they knew they'd die

Seriously, you know how this will eventually end, small details such as the final borders and other geopolitcal details aside ... small details in comparison to the human pain suffering, and the grief by the survivors of the dead.

Dial 911 and die

Another person who called 911 for assistance has died, as the dispatcher sent rescue to the wrong house.

First they lost 18 minutes figuring out the right street, but even after the confusion (Wells ... Wales, I can see the confusion) it took another 19 minutes before an ambulance was dispatched!

This person died from medical issues, maybe she could have been saved.
Imagine the same situation with somebody beating down your door, or with an abusive spouse ... a burglar or anybody else who intends to injure or kill you; how long would it take for you to get through to the operator, would he/she be able to send help immediately and how fast would help arrive?

Survive untill it does.

Firebombing spree? blame it on video games.

So about a month ago, multiple verhicles ware set on fire by criminals with firebombs. Now, the confessed culprits are in custody and they blame ... grand theft auto IV, a video game.

what, "I didn't mean to, the video game made me do it!" ?

Seriously, at some point their parents should have told them that setting other peoples stuff on fire is a big no-no right? Should the store cashier not have been a little suspicious about some kid/kids checking out glass bottles, rags/fabric and lighter fluid? I'm not blaming the cashier, don't worry, he/she did her job and it is not a cashiers job to make sure kids are well brought-up.

This does show how easy it is to construct such a deadly weapon, all it takes is a trip to the local grocers according to the news report. In reality, a glass bottle of coleman fuel would make a rather crappy incendiary weapon, but they did their intended purpoe so I'll just keep that can of worms shut.

Now we can expect another run on GTA:IV, "it teaches our little ones to make molotovs, eeeek! Ban it! Ban it! Think of the children."

First off, minors shouldn't be playing that game, and parent should be taught the habit of checking esrb rating, (pegi.info for y'all brits), or even better: "what they play".
Secondly, where was all this stuff before? People have been doing some pretty (omitted) things since way before video games, and the games of ages past weren't quite the peacefull platform hopping, cuddely entertainment that people like Jack Thompson seem to think of it.

As a matter of fact, Cracked.com released an article about the worst games from before.
I guess release in 1995 meant that "phantasmagoria" didn't make the list (Video, not for the faint of hearth!)

A couple of kids who haven't been properly raised if you ask me ...

Is that a real cop?

Cnn has got an article showing how easy it is to imersonate a policeman, and how you might be able to tell the difference.
Interesting read to say the least ...

• There have been several case of women being abducted and raped by thugs impersonating police -- and most departments are very sensitive to people's legitimate concerns on this score.

• This is pretty scary, since we're all taught to obey the commands of law enforcement officers -- and when a police-looking car is trying to get us to pull over, every instinct tells us to comply.

Firebombing, not just for limeys

• "The methodical and calculated steps these extremists took showed blatant disregard for the safety and welfare of our community,"

Said police chief Skerry, whose name does not instill fear. He was talking about presumed animal rights activists who firebombed a mans house and also set fire to his car.

I've only just recently written an article on firebombing, here's some more:

Guns are "dangerous" which is to say they've got abuse potential in part because they can be used to kill at a distance according to many gun control activists. Well, firebombs do not even require a line of sight! They can easely kill multiple people, cause enourmous amount of property damage and may end up causing a serious multy-building fire in the inner cities.

Demonising guns is not going to be the answer to the violence epidemic that plagues most of the world.

Beliefs you can ... believe in?

Fresh from pundit chicken:



see Obama pictures

I remember when change was about something else, other than (neo)socialism:

What's "mota policia" in Chinese?

Bringing shame to all mexican gangsters armed with what amounts to an overowered .22, Chinese terrorists from the Xinjian province managed to kill 19 policemen before being captured.
(ABC,CNN)

Their weapons?

1. Heavy trucks
2. homemade explosives
3. knives

Heavy trucks as seen in Israel in recent history, homemade explosives available to all with the inclination of learning how to make them, and knives which are supposed to be the scorn of England.

Nineteen fatalities, that's considerably "better" than the average school shooter stateside, and the dead were trained policemen, not high school/collge kids who are constantly drunk or on drugs (according to those who whish them banned from CCW).

The truth in Olegs words

Oleg Volks site, a human right once convinced me of the merits of the gun rights movement, he got me to hop off on this side of the fence so to speak. Still, I took his words with a grain of salt, cautious not to assume anyone telling the truth.

One thing on his site that would definitely be up for discussion is the following piece on his page concerning aesthetics:

• Guns are used to kill lots of people in the US every year. They're much more convenient for killing than, say, a knife or a crowbar, and marginally more convenient than, say, a Buick or a gasoline bomb.

That last part is what I'd like to focus on today, the manner in which a gasoline bomb (molotov coctail) could be used to kill somebody, or rather -as I like to use reality as my witness over my imagination- I'll show you how somebody was killed in an intentional fire.

• After an arguement, somebody set fire to a womans apartement, effectively killing her and seriously injuring her son.

Arson kills, and dead is dead. Had he shot her, she could have died, had he stabbed her, she could have died ... she would have been dead. No more, no less, lost to the world all the same save but for the choice of casket, an open coffin is out of the question now I suppose ... unless she slowly died of smoke inhalation ...

This is not a horse ...

• "If there's anything history has taught us, it is that the adoration of one great leader, forwarding him as holding the solution to all problems is the hallmark of fascism"
  

Dozens sit idely by as man is stabbed over 50 times, decapitated

You've all heard about what happened on that greyhound bus by now, if not, check out sayuncle or the munchking wrangler.

I'd like to point to a similar event where somebody was stabbed dozens of times, but the people around did in fact fight back, and the victim ived to see her assailant tried in a court of law.
In case you weren't around back then: this is what a stabbing looks like.

Self defence, to include the defence of people around you, saves lives!

Monitoring kids: done

After two weeks of pulling ten and a half hour shifts for no money watching peoples children and keeping them entertained, I'll be having some spare time again!

It's been a great two weeks, lots of fun with the kids, a lot of them I see walking through the streets, one of them who lives just around the corner (cutests little girl ever who yells hi whenever I'm in sight) ... I try to chip in for the neighbourhood and this is the way.

But now I'm off to some time of lazing it out and rubbing my feet, and some less halfassed blogging too.

Oh yeah, I directed a play wearing a comical ghilley suit today, I'll see if I can get the video up if I get my hands on it.