Month: July 2022

Deterrent

Crime, Law and Order

Am I the only one sick of news reports of people murdering out of love?  I know that it’s probably due to my choice of news outlets — who never miss a chance for a sensational “Romeo Kills Juliet!” story — but this seems to be becoming a distressingly-familiar story:  Boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl tells him to get lost, boy murders girl.  Or the reverse:

Blaze Wallace is charged with the murder of Samuel Mayo, 34, in Lower Richmond Road on Monday, July 18. They had become engaged in June.
‘Witnesses have confirmed there was an argument that evening between the victim and the defendant and the defendant tell Mr Mayo to “pack his bags and leave” approximately 45 minutes before he was fatally stabbed.’
Police attended the one-bedroom flat Wallace had shared with her fiancé for the previous six months and she was arrested on suspicion of his murder at 2.25am in the early hours of July 19.

By the way:  the murderous bitch was a lawyer, not some drugged-up hooker.

After all this nonsense, I can only say that I rejoice in this legal decision:

An Egyptian court is planning to broadcast the live hanging of a killer who stabbed a student to death when she turned down his marriage proposal.
Mohamed Adel, 21, was found guilty of murdering his Mansoura University classmate Naira Ashraf when she turned him down, with the court sentencing him to death on July 6.
The court has now called for his execution to be broadcast live to deter similar crimes from happening in future.

We need more of this, and I’m not just being bloodthirsty, this time.  One of the reasons for public executions was that people could see the consequence of murder.  I know that some (e.g. professional hitmen) might be unswayed by the prospect of their lifeless bodies swaying in the breeze, but for the amateur killers like the two scumbags above, there might just be a little hesitation before reaching for the carving knife.

I know, I know:  in today’s fainting-couch culture, people would be traumatized by the occasional public garrotting — but that’s precisely the point, isn’t it?

Murder is a horrible, ghastly business, and the less it and its consequences are sanitized, the better for society as a whole.

How To Sell

Gun/Ammo Tests, Marketing / Advertising

Got the usual email from the folks at Lucky Gunner for 7.62x39mm ammo (among others), and I want to highlight the product blurb from the manufacturer.  Note the highlighted parts:

The big “knocks” against inexpensive “39” ammo are that:

  • the steel casing can damage a gun’s action (it doesn’t)
  • steel casings can’t be reloaded like brass casings can (true)
  • Berdan primers are corrosive (not anymore), and
  • a lot of ranges (e.g. the one where I used to shoot) won’t allow steel / alloy-steel bullets because of potential damage to the backstop.

Every single issue is addressed in the copy — nay, not just addressed but trumpeted.  As marketing/advertising copy, it’s absolutely brilliant.

I know that 40c/round is expensive compared to the old 15c price bracket, but these are different times we live in.  And for AK owners, like I used to be, this looks like a decent bargain.

And who the hell reloads 7.62x39mm anyway?

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

Funny Stuff, Old Fartism

Sent to me by Longtime Buddy Mervyn:

AAADD – Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

This is how it manifests . I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing. As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the front verandah table that I brought up from the mail box earlier, just after the mailman had made the delivery.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I put my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage bin beside the table, and noticed that the bin is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

How to replace a jean button – that looks like a jean button. But, then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway (and the mailman picks up the mail at noon) I may as well pay the bills first. So, I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only 1 check left. My spare check book is in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke I’d been drinking earlier this morning.

I know I was going to look for my check book, but first I need to push the Coke can aside so that I don’t accidentally knock it over. The Coke is warm, so I decide to put it in the refrigerator to make it cold again. As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the dining room table catches my eye — they need water.

I put the Coke on the dining room table and discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to put more water in the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the table, go to the kitchen sink to get a jug and fill it with water and suddenly spot the TV remote on the window sill. Someone left it there.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I’ll be looking for the remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the window sill, so I decide to put it back in the living room where it belongs, but first I’ll water the flowers. I pour some water in the jug, but spill some on the floor. So, I set the remote back on the kitchen bench, get some towels and wipe up the spill. Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

– the car isn’t washed
– the checks aren’t written for the bills to be paid
– there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the dining room table
– the flowers don’t have enough water,
– there is still only 1 check in my check book,
– I can’t find the remote,
– I can’t find my glasses,
– the garbage hasn’t been taken out
– and I don’t remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all day, and I’m really tired now. I realise this is a serious problem, and I’ll try to get some help for it.

As I replied to Mervyn, that’s actually quite a productive day… for me.

There They Go Again

Technology

Apple was never shy to overprice their under-performing computers, but this has to take the cake:

‘Apple Computer A’, the prototype for the tech giant’s first ever computer, is up for sale – and could sell for more than half a million dollars at auction.  Considered ‘lost’ until recently, the prototype was hand-soldered by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in 1976, the year the company was established.  The ‘rare’ and ‘historic’ item is essentially a circuit board covered in chips and wires, embossed with the words ‘Apple Computer A ©76’.

Steve Jobs would be proud.

Dept. Of Righteous Shootings

Righteous Shootings

I don’t normally feature early reports on this kind of thing because circumstances may change after further investigation, but it’s a slow news day, so here we go:

Law enforcement received a 911 call indicating someone had allegedly tried to break into the home and had been shot. Pickaway County deputies arrived to find the alleged intruder was deceased inside the home.

On Monday morning, Pickaway County Sheriff Matthew O. Hafey used a Facebook post to provide further information, noting the 911 caller reported a male had broken into the home.

Hafey outlined, “Upon the Deputies’ arrival, a male was found to be deceased inside of the home.”

Good Guy 1, Goblin 0.  As it should be.