June 09, 2016
May 19, 2016
We did it!
My fellow Americans, we have exceeded parity! There are now 11 guns in private hands in this country for every 10 Americans!
And all because of Obama. Every time he starts talking about "common sense gun control" gun sales go up another notch. Ammo.com declares Obama to be the greatest gun salesman in America, and I think they have a point.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at
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It's been a pretty clear sign that a significant portion of the country figured out he couldn't be trusted about half way through 2009. Though the ammo shortage has more to do with overtures that the Democrat-controlled Congress made, which started a rolling over-buying, which lead to still running shortages.
(Granted, the Obama Administration also botched up a lot of the core components of several important cancer medications and nearly lead to a critical shortage there, as well. But the media couldn't bring themselves to ever write those stories honestly.)
Posted by: sqa at May 19, 2016 08:25 PM (If+FS)
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Unfortunately, most guns are concentrated in the hands of small number of gun collectors. So, we still have a pitifully small ratio of gun owners for the population.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at May 19, 2016 09:19 PM (XOPVE)
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Even Gallup polls still claim 41% of US households have at least one gun, and it seems reasonable to assume quite a few are refusing to answer. And there's still plenty of data supporting an increase in first-time buyers, especially women.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at May 20, 2016 12:09 PM (eRXAl)
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The graphic I linked to says,
More than 20% of firearm owners have purchased their first firearm within the last five years.
There are certainly a lot of people yet who don't own guns, but the image of the lone crazy who owns an entire arsenal is left-wing propaganda. (Yeah, there are a few such people but they don't own the lion's share of firearms in private hands.)
Gun ownership is mainstream and always has been.These sales figures are real, and politicians know about them. It's people voting with their wallets, to the tune of several hundred dollars each, and that's a pretty heart-felt vote. And the longer it goes on, the louder it speaks. Tens of millions of people are making very clear they don't want to lose their Second Amendment rights, not by demonstrating in the streets, but by quietly visiting gun stores and spending money there.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at May 20, 2016 12:56 PM (+rSRq)
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I remember about 15 years ago, a relative of mine had expressed doubt about the percentage of households with at least one gun. She'd grown up in a house with guns, but hadn't had one around since then. Her husband coughed quietly, and then told her about his bolt-action .22 (securely stored where no curious grandchildren could get to it). They'd been through two or three moves without her ever noticing it.
...and now she's encouraging him to pick up something a bit more appropriate for protection.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at May 20, 2016 07:28 PM (eRXAl)
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Well, that's comforting. I wish to see a gistogram, but that is not possible to know without a massive registration effort. Although... It should be knowable in strict registration states like Maryland, minus gangbangers.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at May 21, 2016 09:01 PM (XOPVE)
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at May 21, 2016 09:40 PM (+rSRq)
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The numbers in that graphic are not useful. They just took 42 percent of the total US population, ignoring the 74 million children (and the 5.8 million felons...). Gallup polling claims 46% of adult men and 23% of adult women own guns, which would give ~87 million. I'd treat that as a lower bound, given the politics, but 136 million looks way too high.
...unless the Democrats win this year...
-j
Posted by: J Greely at May 22, 2016 04:18 AM (eRXAl)
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I think nobody knows for sure. And I suspect that's a good thing.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at May 22, 2016 09:24 AM (+rSRq)
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at June 01, 2016 07:49 AM (XOPVE)
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James, now a happy resident of Texas (but he hasn't been through a summer there yet), just bought
a new carry gun.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 01, 2016 01:30 PM (+rSRq)
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I've got little reason to lie about it; The government knows of at least *some* of my guns, and as I'm living in South Carolina now, I'd be more of an outlier if I didn't own any.
The polling figures for gun ownership are undoubtedly on the low side, and I'm pretty sure the figures for how many guns are owned on average are substantially low, too.
Posted by: Brett Bellmore at June 01, 2016 01:36 PM (l55xw)
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May 17, 2016
Let's don't go there
John Kovalic is a very witty man and a very good comic artist, with a very distinctive style. His original claim to fame is a comic called "Dork Tower". It updates online when he gets around to it, based on how busy he is with paying work. He also brings out volumes of it, which are not collections of the online stuff. That, too, is "when it happens".
He's a terrible punster. Just awful. Monumental. And I want one of these.
He's buddies with Wil Wheaton, which is kind of cool. They go way back. (Probably met at a gaming convention.)
What he is probably most famous for now is doing the art for various games, in particular the Munchkin series from Steve Jackson. Jackson and Kovalic have a very long and successful business relationship going back at least 15 years, and at this point Kovalic has done more than 5000 Munchkin cards for Jackson, plus working on other things (e.g. Chez Geek). He's also worked for other publishers, about which more later.
One of the more recent versions of Munchkin is "Munchkin Zombie" and there was one card in it that Kovalic simply could not bring himself to do. He writes about it here.
What I find interesting about this is that he has done "kids in danger" before, but that was a long time ago. In particular he did the art for a game called "Kobolds ate my baby". It's a very silly game. (No, I haven't played it; I don't do that anymore.) But the original cover art is a kobold chasing a woman carrying a baby in her arms. And the baby is reaching out to the kobold.

That was long before his daughter was born, and I wonder how he feels when he thinks back to it? (Probably something like "Well that was then and this is now.")
All I can say is that I'm very happy for John and Judith that their daughter (now 7) is happy and healthy and growing up nicely.
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April 20, 2016
The ultimate geek joke
"Schrodinger's Panties" (based on characters from KonaSuba, it says)
Just to make it a bit more surreal, there really ought to have been a reference to Magritte's "The Treachery of Images", such as "This is not a pair of panties..."
(because, of course, it's a drawing of a pair of panties)
Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at
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And now the phrase "collapse the wave function" is a microaggression!
-j
Posted by: J Greely at April 20, 2016 01:15 PM (CLiR9)
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Microaggression, hell. It's sexual harassment and boderline rape!
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 20, 2016 02:10 PM (+rSRq)
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Quantum bareassment.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at April 20, 2016 04:09 PM (CLiR9)
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Or quantum embarassment...
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 20, 2016 07:10 PM (+rSRq)
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Or quantum embarassment...
Sounds like an episode of Infinite Stratos 2.
Posted by: cxt217 at April 20, 2016 07:40 PM (+/NuK)
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April 04, 2016
April 03, 2016
April 01, 2016
Bearding the lion in its den
The Stanford Review has gone where no one has gone before. (I'm linking to Powerline's copy because it's nearly certain Stanford Review will be forced to delete the original.)
Ultimately, the only effective counterattack against SJW foolishness is the horselaugh. This is the first substantial shot I've heard of. Here's hoping it won't be the last.
It would have been better if written in chalk on Stanford sidewalks, of course, but you can't have everything.
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But I won't be surprised if we hear that people are chalking "Half-lives matter" at Stanford.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 01, 2016 05:16 PM (+rSRq)
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7. We DEMAND that Stanford ends its use of European languages, since they are inherently colonialist. We recommend Xhosa, Zulu, and interpretive dance as alternatives for person-to-person communication.
Skip the Xhosa and Zulu. Those will be considered "culturally appropriative" as soon as English is banned. Interpretive dance for everyone.
And everyone is free to interpret everyone else's dance as they desire. Imagine... no more hurt feelings.
...and no more communication, but sacrifices must be made!
Posted by: Mikeski at April 01, 2016 05:53 PM (BKBr8)
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Every time I looked at these SJW activists, I am reminded of Mao's Red Guards in the Cultural Revolution.
I am also reminded of the fact that the Red Guards, and the SJW movement, have gotten as far as they did or have because they were convenient to someone in power. Once the SJW have outlived their usefulness, they will be suppressed by the people who used them who also happen to possess far more firepower and authority - just like the young people who joined the Red Guards ended up. The luckier ones found they had wasted a decade of their lives for nothing to show for it. The unlucky ones ended up in the same camps they had sent their victims. The unluckiest of them all were executed by the PLA. And frankly, anyone cynical enough to use the SJW cadre will not be the merciful type when those cadres become dispensable.
Posted by: cxt217 at April 01, 2016 05:59 PM (ZpBp9)
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"Every time I looked at these SJW activists, I am reminded of Mao's Red Guards in the Cultural Revolution."
Properly so, I think. Looking at what's been going on at Trump rallies, I think the left decided some time back that they needed shock troops, and set out to recreate the Red Guard. The issue that's troubling them now is that they didn't come with an off switch, they go off and do thuggish things even if it's counter-productive.
Posted by: Brett Bellmore at April 02, 2016 03:11 AM (l55xw)
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March 29, 2016
March 27, 2016
Spring 2016 previews
Random Curiousity
Instead of doing a full preview, MetaNorn did a "Picks" post.
UPDATE: My current plan is one ep each of Onigiri, Netoge no Yome etc., Pan de Peace, and Hai-Furi, and then hope at least something good pops out.
UPDATE: Maybe I'll add Wagamama High Spec to that list. At least it looks like it might be a source of cheap thrills, what with all the main girls being top heavy.
UPDATE: So I guess my schedule is:
Pan de Peace Mon 4/4
Onigiri Wed 4/6
Netoge Thu 4/7
Hai-Furi Sat 4/9
Wagamama High Spec Mon 4/11
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March 09, 2016
Tar and feathers
Charles Lipson:
The electorate is furious. It's furious with Washington, Wall Street, hedge funds, big banks, lobbyists, fat cats in corner offices—all of them cutting special deals for themselves while average folks are left out. Voters know their real incomes are down. They know their retirements are in jeopardy, their kids are loaded with college debt, and everybody is looking at a tough job market. We are not in a recession, mind you, and employment is actually growing. No matter. All across the country, voters are saying, "We're mad as hell and we aren't gonna take it anymore.†That's why the most damning indictment this year is to be called an "establishment candidate.†The second most damning is to receive Mitt Romney's endorsement. If there was a ballot option for "tar-and-feather the lousy SOBs,†it would win in a landslide.
Exactly so.
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And yet, I will bet that greater than 90% of congressmen facing election this year, will be reelected.
Posted by: Boviate at March 09, 2016 04:25 PM (XRvFv)
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