Dec 192012
 

LockMarts Area Defense Anti Munitions laser being tested against a tethered rocket, from a range of about a mile:

[youtube 3pO2A5oJyX0]

ADAM, unlike many laser or gun systems, does not appear to be that big of a system… a box 12 feet long, 8 feet wide and 10 feet tall for the weapon and power system on a relatively small trailer. Radar is elsewhere, and probably fairly sizable.

[youtube gJ0l4Hcks7c]

 Posted by at 10:54 am
Dec 192012
 

Here’s CNN’s Soledad Obrien taking on John Lott on the topic of gun crime. Note that the title of the posted video, “Soledad takes down John Lott” is not in any rational sense accurate. She comes off as a screeching harpy, chucking ill-conceived questions at Lott and not allowing him to answer them. He provides facts in a calm manner; she has nothing but vitriol and irrtional fear. And to top it off: to comfort herself after being forced to converse with someone who squashes her world view, she goes to… Deepak Chopra, The Biggest Bullcrap Mystical Douche In The Universe.

[youtube Oms0lqQQoGY]

We can expect a *lot* more of this in the coming months. Lots of talking heads, authoritarians, nanny-staters and the like want to have a “discussion” about gun control, but this interview is a microcosm of what they really want: a chance to shout down anyone who doesn’t agree that civilians should be rendered harmless. And then run off to the comforting nonsense of newage spiritualism, while mocking stooopid right-wingers and their reliance upon God.

ADDITIONAL: Behold the dignified interview stylings of CNN’s Piers Morgan:

[youtube n9z1wfgNf9E]

 Posted by at 10:12 am
Dec 182012
 

The Department of Justice put out a report in February that describes the statistics of violent death at school. One of the interesting findings is that between 1992 and 2010, the general trend has been slightly down. This despite an increased number of younglings and a supposed increase in the violence of culture.

2012, sadly, will bump the numbers up a bit.

The 1990’s were fairly flat, with around 30 kids killed at school per year. But then it dropped in half for the 1999-2000 year. My guess would be that this was a result of people paying attention after Columbine.

While most of these deaths are of course tragedies (I’m betting, though, that some were lil’ thugs getting greased by other lil’ thugs), the numbers are a lot smaller than what you might expect. According to THIS, in 2007 3,345 children (defined as age 0 to 19) died via homicide… with 21 being killed at school. That’s 0.63% of all murdered kids being murdered at school.

A bit of a problem arises when you define a 19-year-old as a “child,” though.

 Posted by at 10:56 pm
Dec 182012
 

Now Read This:

Utopian for Beginners

It’s a lengthy article, but really quite fascinating. A man invents a language… something many before (like J.R.R. Tolkein) have done, but this language, Ithkuil, seems to have some really interesting properties. It’s a labor of love over a number of decades, done Just Because. The inventor of the language finds that there is a thriving interest in his language in Ukraine. He even got invited to Kiev for a conference. All was going well, the inventor was proud of his language and the admittedly surprising popularity of it… until he finds out just who the people are who are adopting his language.

 Posted by at 10:27 pm
Dec 182012
 

THEHOMEGUNSMITH.COM

Which provides information, including plans, on how to build things such as 9mm submachine guns out of standard steel tubing. Seems that the British feller (yes, BRITISH) who ran the site up and died here a few years back, but other people are keeping the site up.

Take it for what it’s worth: there are posts written there (such as this) that describe the experiences of Brits who did no more than simply download the instructions from this site. If they are to be believed, apparently the British police see downloading a PDF file from a publicly accessible website as sufficient cause to raid your home. So, FYI.

Also: you can buy the guys book from Amazon (the reviews are positive):

And there’s also this:

And this:

And this:

The point being: guns are not exactly rocket surgery. Couple these sort of home-workshop guns with rapid prototyping, and pretty soon some pretty quality sub-guns will be just a few hours work away.

Disclaimer; all the books say that they are for academic study only. Don’t you dare actually make a gun. That would be naughty.

 Posted by at 8:54 pm
Dec 182012
 

The recent spate of mass shootings has brought mental illness to the fore. Well, there’s more to being a nut than gunning down a bunch of folk… there’s also Grade-A Paranoid Delusions. Such as what’s on display in this video, some guy claiming that minor details barely visible in “The Dark Knight Rises” somehow led to the Aurora and Sandy Hook shootings.

[youtube p41_5KLhApg]

Oh No! “Sandy Hook” appears on a map! Clearly that made some kid go bugnuts!

Bah.

 Posted by at 6:14 am