Go do something cool today!

I’m was invited to be on the beta program for wattvision’s product, and the hardware arrived today.  It is a small sensor that attaches to the outside of your meter, and a small box that connects via wifi to the internet.  took about 30 secs to install, and it works pretty well.

I’m walking through the back yard, and I find this 16 Meg memory stick, laying in the dirt.  I pick it up, and plug it into a card reader.  It shows as blank, but using some recovery software, I find 8 pics.  Boring pics, but still amusing.  A small window into the lives of those that lived in this house before me.

From the paper this week…

Some of you will get a laugh out of this.   Looking back through emails from the past, I stumbled upon an email that we all got a laugh about…  One of the early on hires at Voxeo, didn’t really fit in with our corporate culture, and he was sure everything we were doing was wrong.  Finally, we were freed from him, and this is a personal email he sent to myself, the CEO, and another employee.  Good stuff.  We had about 1/2 day of laugh from this one.  Those that know him, will laugh remembering.

From SMFeiner@aol.com

To rob@robpatton.com

Dear Rob. You are most welcome. As I do not remember uttering any kind words to your face, but only civil, professional interaction, always with tension and undisguised mistrust.

Mark

He went on publicly to talk about how Voxeo would be out of business in 3 months, and he would get the last laugh.  Well, its been 7 years and 3 months.  He must have meant 8 years and 3 months.  That must be it.

Who is to be blamed for this?  Higgins!

The single most important thing for you to understand is that while the vast majority of guns in the hands of Americans are never used to kill or hurt another human being, they are indeed designed for that purpose. And though we target shoot or hunt, we will ultimately acknowledge that. Well, most of us. I don’t really want to pretend to speak for everyone but there are other gun owners here who will probably agree with what I am saying:

For gun owners, the context is important.

One gun is found in a desk drawer by a child, who kills his little brother with it in a deplorable gun accident.

One gun is used to shoot a fascist in Spain, in defense of a village.

One gun is used by a pregnant woman to kill a carjacker.

One gun is used to kill a rival drug dealer on the street.

One gun is used by a radical leftist political group who shoots an armored car guard.

One gun is used to shoot that same leftist political group down when they take hostages and begin firing at police.

One gun is used by a hiker who is attacked by a bear in Alaska.

One gun is negligently discharged and kills another hunter.

One gun is used to kill a home invader, who is in turn armed himself, with an intent to rape one of the residents.

For those who oppose guns, or hate guns, all guns are one thing: killing.

To gun owners, context is everything - that is to say, defense of innocent human life from one who tries to violate another’s right to life (and/or liberty).

As a gun owner, I consider the blanket rejection of guns to be simplistic and, without being overly strident, infantile. It would be nice to live in a world without violence. I do not believe that disarming people who are responsible, who would never initiate a criminal or violent act against another person, will do anything to serve this goal. It is odd to me that so many of those who most despise the State - the US government, would turn around and at the same time insist that only this same government be allowed to own arms, to the exlusion of responsible citizens. To me that indicates a contempt for one’s fellow man and a bizarre, childlike faith in the government. What are agents of the government? Men and women - just like civilians.

We who you will find online arguing in favor of the Right are not gang members. We are not criminals. We are not, for the most part anyway, Travis Bickle wannabes, lying in wait, hoping we have a chance to use our weapons on someone.

We believe that guns equalize good people and bad people. We believe they are a disincentive to bully and victimze other people. We believe their presence in prudent and judicious hands are a deterrent.

Most of us believe in caustic, malevolent evil - which almost always comes armed. Most of us believe in the right to defend the life one oneself and other innocent people against that evil.

If you want to really understand American gun owners, you will first have to understand that “gun culture” is not one thing - the inner city streets and the Second Amendment crowd almost never meet - they are two completely separate worlds. That is something those who hate guns and gun owners refuse to see, more than anything else.

For this reason and the reasons stated above, we do not view guns or gun ownership as a single thing: we abhor the decontextualization of gun ownership and resent the way we are stereotyped or lumped in with psychopaths and criminals, where the use of a firearm in self defense is grouped in the mind of some anti-gun people as the same thing as cold blooded murder.

We see a gun as a neutral, inanimate object, until it is picked up by a sentient human being.

We support the right to keep and bear arms because we believe the good guys ought to be armed, if not in numbers and firepower superior to, then at least at parity with criminals, and, god forbid, a tyrannical government run amok.

As those who believe we ought not to be armed should basically surrender to any armed criminal believe we live in a fantasy world when we assert that fighting back is not only our right, but is the prudent thing to do, we look with equal disbelief at those who think we should take the word of armed criminals that if we just cooperate, everything will be just fine.

We believe this because we believe in the right to one’s own life, and the means to defend that life. That is really all it comes down to. We do not believe that it is privilege granted by the State. We do not believe we have any obligation to seek consent from others to own weapons. We believe it is a right all men and women have, and would have, whether the US Constitution enumerated it in the Second Amendment or not.

(Again, if any gun owners disagree, I’m arguing for my camp, not necessarily for every gun owner. Feel free to downvote me if you think I’m way off base - these are the reasons I believe in gun ownership.)

Incidentally, as for background checks: I am theoretically for denying firearms to those who would misuse them for criminal intent. 100% for it, but with the caveat that any such regulations are not used to register (thereby enabling confiscation of) firearms or otherwise alert the government as to who has guns and who does not have guns.

There were those who supported the NICS background check because records of those checks were supposed to be destroyed after a certain time - that is, the government was supposed to destroy records, having been run on law abiding citizens, after a certain period.

Guess what happened?

The State simply cannot serve as a clearinghouse for the very means by which - theoretically speaking - the State is supposed to be challenged and destroyed, in the event of tyranny, which “more reasonable, non paranoid” people (their kind of terms) say can’t happen here….

Dayton, Ohio police say that a 72 year old man was driving down the road at 6 PM on Saturday, when 24 year old Phillip Anderson cut him off.  Anderson is alleged to have then jumped out of his car and pointed an AK-47 at the elderly man, saying “give me all you got.”  The 72 year old robber victim, who had a concealed carry permit, is said to have pulled out his own handgun and shot Anderson in self defense.  Anderson, who survived, faces aggravated robbery charges.  The 72 year old concealed carry permit holder was unharmed, and will not face charges for defending himself.

Few unarmed senior citizens can fight off a younger, stronger, and faster attacker - even if that attacker is unarmed.  When those criminals are armed (which is often the case, since criminals ignore gun control laws), elderly victims are at an even greater disadvantage.  The result is often terrible for that senior citizen, as well as their loved ones.

Armed senior citizens, on the other hand, have the best possible chance of defending themselves against attack by criminals.  This armed 85 year old woman held a home invader at gunpoint, and made him call the police on himself.  This armed 93 year old man shot a home invader in self defense after the home invader began to attack him.  This armed 70 year old woman held an intruder at gunpoint until the police arrived to arrest him.  This armed 91 year old man used his handgun to fend off two home invader who had broken in and threatened his wheelchair-bound wife with their guns.  This armed 84 year old man used his handgun to stop a criminal who repeatedly tried to enter his home through the front door, back door, and a window.  I could go on with more examples, but the point should be clear: gun ownership saves lives every day and allows crime victims stop even the strongest of criminals.

Two robbers in Milwaukee picked the wrong store to rob.

Police say that 2 robbers, wearing masks and gloves entered a Milwaukee food store this morning at 10:45AM and announced that they were going to commit a robbery.  One or two customers then opened fire, hitting both robbers.  One robber died on the spot, and the other robber escaped a short distance down the street before dying from his wounds.  Police say that both suspects, whose names have not yet been released, had lengthy criminal records for armed robbery, weapons, and drug related crimes.

The 2006 Florida Statutes

Title XI

County Organization and Intergovernmental Relations

163.04 Energy devices based on renewable resources.–

(1) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or other provision of general or special law, the adoption of an ordinance by a governing body, as those terms are defined in this chapter, which prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting the installation of solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources is expressly prohibited.

(2) No deed restrictions, covenants, or similar binding agreements running with the land shall prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources from being installed on buildings erected on the lots or parcels covered by the deed restrictions, covenants, or binding agreements. A property owner may not be denied permission to install solar collectors or other energy devices based on renewable resources by any entity granted the power or right in any deed restriction, covenant, or similar binding agreement to approve, forbid, control, or direct alteration of property with respect to residential dwellings not exceeding three stories in height. For purposes of this subsection, such entity may determine the specific location where solar collectors may be installed on the roof within an orientation to the south or within 45 degrees east or west of due south provided that such determination does not impair the effective operation of the solar collectors.

(3) In any litigation arising under the provisions of this section, the prevailing party shall be entitled to costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.

(4) The legislative intent in enacting these provisions is to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by encouraging the development and use of renewable resources in order to conserve and protect the value of land, buildings, and resources by preventing the adoption of measures which will have the ultimate effect, however unintended, of driving the costs of owning and operating commercial or residential property beyond the capacity of private owners to maintain. This section shall not apply to patio railings in condominiums, cooperatives, or apartments.

History.–s. 8, ch. 80-163; s. 1, ch. 92-89; s. 14, ch. 93-249

Copyright 1995-2006 The Florida Legislature

A Waukegan man is in stable condition after being shot by the store owner he is charged with robbing.

Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Patricia Fix said officials are reviewing the details of the Sunday night shooting of Demitrius Newbill, 29. Newbill, who was shot in the chest, is at Vista East Medical Center.

Fix said Newbill, of the 500 block of Poplar Street, entered the Pasteleria Panaderia, 701 Yeoman St., about 8:15 p.m. The owner of the bakery told police Newbill had his left hand under his shirt and asked for a piece of paper and a pencil, Fix said.

Newbill wrote a note that said: “I have a gun. Give me all the money,” and handed it to the owner, Fix said.

The owner gave Newbill all the cash in the register, Fix said, and told police he believed he saw a gun in Newbill’s waistband as he did so.

Newbill then took the business telephone and cell phones from the owner and his employees, Fix said, and began backing toward the door of the store.

The owner told police he thought he saw Newbill reaching for the object in his waistband as he neared the door, so he took a .38 caliber revolver from underneath the counter and fired three times.

Police interviewed Newbill at the hospital, Fix said, and he admitted the robbery and that he told the store owner he had a gun.

Newbill, who was unarmed, has been charged with aggravated robbery and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Fix said police reports and witness statements are being reviewed to determine if anyone else will be charged.

The store owner has a current state firearm owner’s identification card, Fix said.

Court records show Newbill was convicted of robbery in 2003 and placed on probation, but he was found in violation of the probation and resentenced to five years in prison.