As I said we would, yesterday we smoked a pork shoulder (also known as a Boston butt), a good-sized (supermarket) duck and added some hot Italian sausage while the smoker was going. Served with finishing sauce, and topped off with some pumpkin squares with whipped cream, it was a feast. Virtually completely paleo for those of you in to that. (Pumpkin squares with some artificial sweetener, and almond flour so paleo purists will scoff).
Even the leftovers are wonderful. Cold smoked duck (not this kind of cold duck) and pulled pork is excellent with some salsa. Had some smoked Italian sausage in an omelet this morning.
My son, by the way, says the obvious name for smoked duck and pork is "dork".
"Black boxes" on cars have gotten a bit of press lately, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposing broader use of "Event Data Recorders" starting 2014. Their "it's all for your safety" idea is to record critical parameters in the car in the moments before a crash.
In case you didn't know it, most cars made since about 1996 already have these. The problem with these boxes is that there are no security provisions built into them. Getting my Borepatch on, it's not that security was an afterthought, security was never thought of. What does that mean? The simplest example is that if you have the ability to wipe the memory of the transponder, it can't be proven you were doing anything wrong. And getting my Borepatch with a tinfoil Yarmulke on, if someone wanted to frame you, they can load the EDR with false information. As the author of that Design News article says, just enter "erase crash data" into the search bar on YouTube and you'll find a page of videos on how to wipe the memory in your EDR. A quick search on eBay finds a handful of boxes that clear the memory. The expert quoted in that piece said, "Last time I looked, there were 23 companies making products that allow someone to erase your crash data".
- vehicle speed;
- whether the brake was activated in the moments before a crash;
- crash forces at the moment of impact;
- information about the state of the engine throttle;
- air bag deployment timing and air bag readiness prior to the crash; and
- whether the vehicle occupant's seat belt was buckled.
If they don't put anything into the recorders to improve security, it will be a natural for a defense attorneys to dispute the control of the ERD to keep it from being filled with bogus data. As you might imagine, it has already happened that an ERD was wiped before information useful in a vehicular homicide case could be used.
Our friends at the JPFO link to an article at the South Dakota Shooters forums, where admin Kory has put together a graphic showing the number of school shootings since 1900. They color code the major gun control laws. Here's their graphic:
The media has pretty well chewed up Wayne LaPierre (warning for self-starting audio/video) for saying armed guards in schools would prevent more shootings. Of course, most of them - like felon in fact, if not charged, David Gregory - send their children to schools under armed guards. And, being the mainstream media, they never think to ask the police who respond, the trainers who train those police and the trainers who train those trainers what they think, probably because over 95% of them would want armed citizens in the schools. Maybe I'm crediting LaPierre with more strategy than he deserves, but I think his overall plan was that when people say "we can't afford armed guards" the answer is "just let those people with concealed carry permits carry on campus".
Interesting graphic.
ReplyDeleteThe problem, as Ron Paul stated it, is that La Pierre's suggestion opens the way for the possibility of a new TSA - federalized "troops" conducting searches and such at our schools, habituating our children to being groped and searched in the same way as anyone who flies commercial airlines. The kids will grow up thinking it is perfectly all right to submit to authority in that way.
ReplyDeleteArmed teachers, staff, and volunteer parents - with good training - are the way to deal with this issue, just as they do in Israel, where they haven't had a school attack since 1974.
I'm afraid I am a bit too cynical to believe that the NRA - which has helped write every major gun control law since 1934 - intends to help protect our liberties. They helped to write one of the worst laws ever passed, the Lautenberg Amendment, which allows the government to _RETROACTIVELY_ punish people for the "crime" of domestic violence (even a wife or husband slapping the other's face) even when it took place many years ago. The NRA didn't even tell its members until after the fact. (The prime reason I dumped them after being a member for over twenty years.)
Armed citizens are indeed the answer, but I really don't think the NRA was trying to push for that. They could have simply spoken of the Israeli method, and suggested that. As was done when arming pilots was first discussed.
Good points, all.
DeleteLike I said, maybe I'm giving LaPierre more credit than he deserves. I so desperately want to see someone think more than one move ahead.
As for the "kids will grow up thinking it is perfectly all right to submit to authority in that way.", as someone said, aren't schools a police state now? Didn't that psycho have to shoot his way in? Did you watch that video Bayou Renaissance Man had on school security? Maybe they're not getting groped, but I wouldn't bet on that. Schools look to be on lock down virtually always.
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ReplyDeleteLooks to me that the elimination of mail order guns and the introduction of the FFL causes casualties to increase.
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