01 October 2024

Tuesday Links - 1 October

Tam at View From The Porch starts us off with a history lesson. That time we almost got blowed up...

A number of y'all are probably familiar with the time a Soviet Colonel saved the world from nuclear war by staying calm and listening to his gut instincts.

Professor David Yamane at Gun Culture 2.0 - “Shooting isn’t just about pulling a trigger; it’s about control, focus, and responsibility” (Fall 2024 Student Range Visit Reflection #5)

This is the fifth of several student gun range field trip reflection essays from my fall 2024 Sociology of Guns seminar. The assignment to which students are responding can be found here. I am grateful to these students for their willingness to have their thoughts shared publicly.

Tam at Cars Gone By - 1970 Ford Mustang Convertible

That 351 Cleveland had to lug roughly 3400 pounds of Mustang down the road, the bulk of it over the front wheels, so you had understeer for days, which you could turn into oversteer by glancing at the throttle and thinking heavy thoughts.

The Other McCain - Media Mourns Loss of Terrorist Leader

After much blowback — were college interns working the weekend copy desk? — Associated Press has changed that headline, but what was the logic? How does the journalistic “mainstream” reach a point where a bloodthirsty Jew-hater like Hassan Nasrallah gets such a fond send-off from AP? Dig the euphemism in the lead paragraph, where Hezbollah is described as a “Lebanese militant group” when, in fact, they are a gang of Islamic terrorist thugs sponsored by Iran which, to their credit, the AP more or less admits farther down in the story.

Wombat-socho with a report on the end of the fantasy baseball season - FMJRA 2.0: Wait Until Next Year

Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 29 September 2024: Virtual Aquarium Edition

In the ongoing legal dispute between Apple and Epic Games over Apple's theft of 30% of everything, Apple was ordered to produce a million documents relating to changes to the App Store.

Apple asked for an extension to that deadline, following its habit of dragging out unfavourable cases forever. (Tech Crunch)

The judge was not having it.

Natasha Biase at The Publica - GERMANY: Train Conductors Told To “Skip Foreigners” During Ticket Checks So They Won’t Become Violent

After noticing an uptick in threatening situations involving “newcomers” and train conductors, a letter was issued to Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow explaining that the railway had begun to notice that migrant passengers would board trains without tickets and would threaten staff if asked for proof of payment.

Ace at Ace of Spades HQ - US Dockworkers Set to Strike Tomorrow; Biden Refuses to Intervene

Why isn't Kamala negotiating personally? She says she can fix all of the failures of the past three and a half years.

Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Raimondo, last seen calling for the "elimination" of Trump, says she has no f***s to give about the impending disruption of supply lines.

And last we get sad news from Meep - RIP, M. Stuart Grace, 1961-2024

Stuart, my husband, died suddenly this evening.

We met in 1996, and were married October 14, 2000 [UPDATE: whups… a little mistake in the first draft, when I wrote 1996 on the 2nd date. He was persuasive but not that persuasive.]

His death was due to complications related to his metastatic prostate cancer, diagnosed in August 2017.

If you pray, consider her children, daughters Heather, Chase, and Siobhan, and son Diarmuid. The world is a scary place after you lose a parent, no matter the age.

Chicago Ditches ShotSpotter to Expected Results

One dead, and 2 injured in areas previously monitored by ShotSpotter. Woman, dead for at least a day, found murdered in alley previously served by ShotSpotter - CWB Chicago

A woman was found shot to death in a South Side alley on Saturday morning after a resident called 911 because her body had been in the same place for about two days.

Chicago cops found four shell casings in the alley, which was monitored by ShotSpotter until Mayor Brandon Johnson terminated the city’s contract with the gunfire detection system earlier this week.

Why did Johnson cancel ShotSpotter? Because he's an idiot. Alderman, the law-abiding citizens, cops, and his hand picked Superintendent of the PD tried to get him to reconsider that decision, but he hates cops, and anyone and everything that isn't the Chicago's teachers union.

At least two other victims survived being shot this week in areas previously served by ShotSpotter even though nobody called 911 to report gunfire.

Hat tip goes to HeyJackass: ShotSpotter-less Weekend, and also to Second City Cop: As Predicted, who had this to say about a dead body lying in the street (or alley) for two days.

But this is some third-world type shit, brought to you by Conehead and the CTU "progressives" who own his ass.

See the HeyJackass! link for the weekend murder totals, and the SCC link for another comment on the situation with ShotSpotter.

Colion Noir Takes Two Newbies Shooting for the First Time

The best advice he gives is to start with a small caliber firearm. A friend of mine has .22 short pistol, that actually features a flip-up barrel that I try to borrow when I'm teaching. The barrel means you don't have to wrack the slide to load a round in the chamber to start. The spring isn't all that strong, but people, women, with small hands, can struggle with that when they are scared of the gun to begin with. Failing that, you can usually rent a .22 long rifle target pistol at the local range.

And while I know you love your polymer everyday carry pistol. A solid piece of metal, like .38 special revolver or a 1911 semi-auto, has less recoil. Recoil matters, when you are dealing with new shooters who are scared.

DO NOT - and yes, I have seen this done - hand someone a .44 magnum snubbie - as the first gun you are going to have them shoot. 1. It isn't funny. 2. they will hate guns and vote against everything gun owners want and need for the rest of their lives, all because you acted like an idiot. Maybe you aren't acting. Handle the situation like a sane adult. I know it is hard; make an effort to at least pretend to be a sane adult.

This is Colion Noir's video Taking An Anti-Gun New Yorker & Brit Shooting For The First Time

The State of the US Air Traffic Control System

It isn't like Air Traffic Control is important, or anything. Ancient US air traffic control systems won't get a tech refresh before 2030

The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) air traffic control (ATC) systems are perilously out of date, but don't expect replacements anytime soon, says the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In a report released Monday, the GAO said that 51 of the FAA's 138 ATC systems – more than a third – were unsustainable due to a lack of parts, shortfalls in funding to sustain them, or a lack of technology refresh funding to replace them. A further 54 systems were described as "potentially unsustainable" for similar reasons, with the added caveat that tech refresh funding was available to them.

Go read the whole depressing thing.

Hat tip to Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony and Daily News Stuff 25 September 2024: Launchtime Doubly So Edition

US air traffic control systems are fucked. (The Register)

That's it. That's the story.