For Halloween!

A quick lesson on Zombies from those who attended Zombie University!

This One’s for Sean…

So, I kind of batted at Joan in my Priceless video but it wasn’t really a good solid hit.  It was more of just a fun video.  Joe took a good solid swing here which I felt was on the right track but the more I thought about it, more needed to be done.  I had piles of video of pumpkins blowing up between 2010 and 2012.

Sean posted a comment when Joe did his first post on Joan’s PSH stating we should have a self contained video that explained her break down and put everything in one easy to see spot.  Well I did just that.  Now while overall this really didn’t need to be made, it was more practice and work with the Adobe tools.  The learning curve is steep but doing projects, no matter how pointless is how you get over them.

So this one’s for Joan!

Besides, it’s quite fitting since it’s Halloween with the pumpkins and all.

Interesting Map

So I stumbled across this from Kiro TV in Seattle today.

image

That is the distribution of CPL licenses by zip code.  The deeper the red, the more self reliant the community.  What I found interesting is major urban area’s had a much lower rate, with Seattle having a rate as low as 1%.  What is most telling about that though is that when you get into the rural areas there is a realization you cannot depend on the police.  I’m not making that up either:

“People understand it might take a while for the sheriff to get to Lyman,” Hills insisted.

Mayor Debbie Heinzman also runs the local tavern. She agrees that “everybody has guns” in Lyman to protect themselves and their property.

Next I’d like to see a map that overlays property and violent crime rates by zip code.  Correlation doesn’t equal causation, but I think it would still be an interesting thing to see.  Doubly so since I’m sure it would counter the “more guns equals more crime” myth as well as the “concealed carry means blood in the streets” myth.

I’m reasonably sure this would be the case because:

KIRO 7 Investigators calculated only 2.8 percent of Seattle residents, overall, have sought the right to carry.

In the six zip codes to the east of I-5 (the International District to Capitol Hill, to north of the UW) the number is even lower — just 1.6 percent.

I lived in Seattle for 2 years in the U-District and there wasn’t really a day that went by that I didn’t hear about either violent crime or property crime.  There is an anomaly in that theory as Kent, which is not exactly the nicest part of the area, has a carry rate equal to where I live.  Even worse is Tacoma, which high urban area also has a much higher carry rate than the state average.

So when you pull all that in, it’s like the gun is merely a tool and what really matters are the people carrying it and what their intent is.

Earworm Wednesday – 10/31/2012

I was trying to think what would work well for Halloween and stumbled across this.

Yup, that’ll do.

The Keep – Slow in Reverse

ESS and Boomershoot–Volume 4

Yes I make a couple appearances… You can see me on the left as Rolf decides to juggle the explosives.  What I love is the story of the history of the anvil launch.

You learn something new every day… It does for some reason really make me want to get a cannon.  I wish I had 7 grand.

SSCC #444–NYPD

I saw this last week and I kept trying to come up with something to put with it and then a reader bumped it to me over the weekend.  This one is just disturbing in so many ways.

A New York City police officer who allegedly planned to kidnap, cook and eat as many 100 women has been arrested following a joint NYPD and FBI investigation.

This one makes the count because of the following:

Gilberto Valle III, of Forest Hills, Queens, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, according to a federal criminal complaint, as well was using the National Crime Information Center database to access unauthorized data.

This is why I have serious issues with databases created even with the most noble of intentions.  Just because the intent is good at the beginning or even the majority of users doesn’t mean that it cannot be turned by one individual set upon evil.  The details are just sickening.

It makes me wonder if he came across this(NSFW, Not Safe For Work, seriously do NOT click at work!  What can I say? GBC has corrupted me.) and didn’t realize that was all fake.

This is disturbing and sickening on so many levels.

State Sponsored Criminal #444: Gilberto Valle

Because the state exists to enable criminals and cannibals to find their unwitting victims to prey upon.

via Lone Wanderer for the reminder.

Stuff is Stuff…

I got an email from my mom about a friend, our parents also happen to be friends, I went to high school with who is currently living in New York.  I was thinking most of my friends made it through this without much of a problem, evidently not so.

Would you please let everyone know that Heather is okay.   She lost everything last night to the 12 foot storm surge but is safe.  They stayed in their house and had to sit out the storm on the second floor. The fires in the Breezy Point neighborhood were just across the road and luckily didn’t get to her side of the street.  Things are still burning but they have it under control.   There isn’t any way to contact her as they are trying to conserve their phone power since there won’t be any electricity for several days.

I’m glad she’s OK and while she may have lost possessions, she at least came out alive and didn’t have to deal with fire compounding her issues.  I don’t know how prepared she was to deal with the aftermath, hopefully this overall is just a bump in the road.

Take stock of what you have and be thankful.

This has to be some sort of sick joke…

First, this video describes my emotional state quite well right now.

Now why would I have Nerd Rage right now?  Well, the wife just sent me this:

The Walt Disney Company announced Tuesday it is acquiring Lucasfilm LTD and will produce a seventh “Star Wars” film, targeted to come out in 2015.

I’ve checked my calendar 15 times, it still doesn’t say April 1st on it, because honestly if this was I’d be laughing.  But don’t worry, it’s not just Episode VII coming out!

“Star Wars: Episode VII” is targeted for release in 2015, with Lucas serving as a creative consultant. More feature films are expected to continue the saga.

What The !@#$ is left to tell!?  Seriously, you went back and told the story of the rise of the evil empire, which honestly lets admit it, could have been left to our imaginations.  George went and remastered the originals  screwing them to the point where he attempted to claim that Han didn’t shoot first.  We all know that’s a LIE.

Seriously how badly do they have to kill this series?  Seriously WTFO?!