Looks like the Illinois gun/magazine ban has been smacked down

 awesomeness, Forward!, news, politics, weapons  No Responses »
Apr 282023
 

Given that this ridiculous bill is *clearly* unConstitutional, it was largely inevitable, but it’s nice to see it happen. Of course Illinois will doubtless continue to fight for this nonsense, eventually dragging it before the Illinois Supreme Court and then doubtless before the US Supreme Court when the bought and paid for Illinois SC rules in favor of the bill. But it looks like, for now, reason has temporarily prevailed and Illinois residents can once again buy and transfer perfectly legal inanimate objects.

 

As Americans, we have every reason to celebrate our rights and freedoms,
especially on Independence Day. Can the senseless crimes of a relative few be so
despicable to justify the infringement of the constitutional rights of law-abiding
individuals in hopes that such crimes will then abate or, at least, not be as horrific?
More specifically, can PICA be harmonized with the Second Amendment of the
United States Constitution and with Bruen? That is the issue before this Court. The
simple answer at this stage in the proceedings is “likely no.” The Supreme Court in
Bruen and Heller held that citizens have a constitutional right to own and possess
firearms and may use them for self-defense. PICA seems to be written in spite of the

clear directives in Bruen and Heller, not in conformity with them. Whether well-
intentioned, brilliant, or arrogant, no state may enact a law that denies its citizens
rights that the Constitution guarantees them. Even legislation that may enjoy the
support of a majority of its citizens must fail if it violates the constitutional rights of
fellow citizens. For the reasons fully set out below, the overly broad reach of PICA
commands that the injunctive relief requested by Plaintiffs be granted.

I do wonder if there will be a rush among Illinois residents to buy standard capacity magazines and AR-15’s before the next round of political hackery overturns this injunction. And will in-state and out-of-state businesses sell?  It seems to be legal, for now, for businesses to do so… but this is Illinois we’re talking about, and no amount of corrupt chicanery is too much for the shrieking baboons who run the state government. I can see them trying to harass businesses and customers *now*, and then when they get their way again, retroactively harassing businesses and customers.

 

Plaintiffs have satisfied their burden for a preliminary injunction. They have
shown irreparable harm with no adequate remedy at law, a reasonable likelihood of
success on the merits, that the public interest is in favor of the relief, and the balance
of harm weighs in their favor. Therefore, the Plaintiffs’ motions for preliminary
injunction are GRANTED. Defendants are ENJOINED from enforcing Illinois
statutes 720 ILCS 5/24-1.9(b) and (c), and 720 ILCS 5/24-1.10, along with the PICA
amended provisions set forth in 735 ILCS 5/24-1(a), including subparagraphs (11),
(14), (15), and (16), statewide during the pendency of this litigation until the Court
can address the merits.

The ruling is readable HERE.

 Posted by at 6:12 pm

“2001” Laptop: TLAR

 art, awesomeness, history, photography, science fiction  No Responses »
Apr 262023
 

Both the phone and the typewriter arrived today. The phone, as can be seen, seems to fit just about perfectly, indicating that the Samsonite briefcase is the correct one (though a number of virtually trivial details are different). The phone has a cord that seems to be pretty permanently attached, but I am loathe to just lop it off. My goal is to keep all the vintage bits as intact as possible, so I’ll either disassemble the phone or go straight to making a silicone mold of it and casting it in fiberglass. I hope to remove only a few keys from the typewriter, assuming I can figure out how to remove them without damaging them, then mold/cast resin copies. Other than a cracked frame the typewriter seems intact and functional. And while there is about zero chance I’ll ever use a typewriter again… I cringe at the idea of wrecking such a nifty bit of functional analog mechanical genius.

The phone and the keys are the wrong color, so casting copies seems to be the correct way to go in any event. This would also open the door for a very limited run “kit” for those vanishingly few who want this. I plan on making the parts out of a combination of cast resin and fiberglass; hand laid up fiberglass cloth components would be strong, light and *hollow,* allowing those with a mind to to install electronics. A functioning keyboard and monitor would be spectacular, though a functional fiberglass phone seems maybe a bit dubious.

 

 

 

 

Note the obligatory feline photobomb.

 Posted by at 6:53 pm

“2001” Laptop: And so it begins…

 art, awesomeness, cats, critters, photography, science fiction  No Responses »
Apr 252023
 

The first artifact has arrived, a Samsonite briefcase. I am *largely* certain that this is the correct case; there are certainly a largish number of them readily available on Ebay. There are some minor differences between this one and the prop, most of the differences explainable as modifications: the key locks have been removed and replaced with featureless aluminum disks/cylinders; the tabs on the prop have concave ends rather than just squared-off ends. There is a small placard affixed to the middle of the briefcase… I can see “Honeywell,” then something that might be numbers, and then “EXECUTIVE.” The interior lining needs to be removed and the whole thing cleaned, the metal polished and the metal base that the handle is fixed to painted black.

And, of course, the current residents evicted. This took about five seconds; it is a box, after all.

I will wait a little bit before launching into a full preparation. The intercom/phone should be the next item to arrive, and if it fits in this case as it should, then I’ll be off to the races. If it doesn’t… well, I’ll need to rethink the case, I guess. Pretty confident, though.

 Posted by at 6:50 pm

“2001” laptop: tripod

 art, awesomeness, science fiction  No Responses »
Apr 242023
 

Pretty sure I got this component nailed:

 

This appears to be a “Pyramid” compact tripod. There are a bunch of ’em on ebay in the United Kingdom, largely for reasonable prices; but international shipping is anything but reasonable these days. Fortunately I found a vaguely reasonably priced tripod in the US that, while not called out as a “Pyramid,” appears to be exactly the same thing:

Features to note, common to the prop and to the “Pyramid”:

1) black shafts

2) silver caps on either end

3) Black elliptical rubber “feet”

4) Rounded ends on bottom caps with knurling

5) Slightly enlarged diameters at the tops of the upper caps

The prop tripod seems to be either missing the top camera-platform, or it’s folded down out of view.

Once again, I’d *swear* that somewhere along the line I saw a photo of the prop with the camera removed and set up on the tripod. Anybody have any pointers to that…

 

 Posted by at 11:47 pm

Quint’s Monologue

 art, awesomeness, critters, history, youtube  No Responses »
Apr 242023
 

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this, but I never fail to be impressed with the delivery. Steven Spielberg, director of “Jaws,” gave Robert Shaw permission to write this monologue about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis (after the great John Milius had a crack at it). Shaw then delivered it, reportedly, drunk. And it’s one of the most amazing bits of understated acting in film history. One of the details I’ve always liked is how Hooper goes from jovial to “Oh Crap” in one breath when Quint says that his removed tattoo is of the USS Indianapolis.

 

I’m a bit disturbed that so many of these reactors are unaware of the story of the Indianapolis. But given how ignorant so many people are about so many things anymore, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

 

“Jaws” is still eminently watchable, one of the great films of all time.

 Posted by at 8:53 pm

2001 laptop: first success

 art, awesomeness, history, Hmm..., science fiction  No Responses »
Apr 222023
 

Thanks to commenter “Mr_Hiena: ” the phone component of the “laptop” appears to be a Bogen TQ12a intercom:

 

Fortunately there were (“were“) two of these on eBay. The two were identical to each other, but *not* to the unit shown above; the unit above, and the one in the “laptop,” have little tabs on the handset rest (which is also taller in the prop unit) that aren’t on the ebay units. This difference could be fixed easily enough, along with changing the color. However, they otherwise seem essentially the same, including the hatchwork on the back of the handset.

One component down…

 

 Posted by at 5:22 pm

Starship: RUD

 AARRRGH, awesomeness, news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Apr 202023
 

Well, it got off the pad. That’s good. But at least six of the engines didn’t seem to be burning, and the whole stack started tumbling just before stage sep… and then the stages didn’t sep.

 

 

But it got not just off the pad, but away from the pad, and made it a good way toward first stage burnout before things went sideways. So… a qualified woohoo.

EDIT: Just saw a different launch angle: It clawed its way off the pad at something of an angle. The thrust vector seems to have been off from the beginning; SpaceX is probably lucky they didn’t lose the pad.

Seems relevant:

Six of the 33 engines weren’t running:

 

 

 Posted by at 8:46 am
 Older Entries  Newer Entries