Olympics

You would think that with all their sand, Saudi Arabia could put together a first rate womens beach volleyball team.

Irish view on our election!!

We, in Ireland, can't figure out why people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.On one side, you have a pants wearing lawyer, married to a lawyer who can't keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer who goes to the wrong church who is married to yet another lawyer who doesn't even like the country her husband wants to run.

Now...On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name appropriately starts with "Mc", married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship.

What in the Lord's name is hard about this decision??

(Thanks to GNT for passing this on to us!)

Or maybe...

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/07/30/connecticut-latest-to-go-after-rating-agencies/

Connecticut AG files against bond ratings companies for "unfairly" lowering municipal bond ratings for Connecticut public entities.

Perhaps my perspective just comes from my being in a county with a terrific bond rating, but maybe the problem is crappy fiscal policy and depreciating assessment bases in Connecticut that makes bond traders nervous about the towns and cities of Connecticut?

Reporters hurt at gun press conference

Three journalists were hurt when a gun went off at a press conference called by Chinese police to highlight the success of a gun-control campaign.

The press conference in Nanchong in Sichuan province was to publicise the results of a campaign by the city's police to seize illegal weapons, the Beijing News reported.

According to Zheng Chongjun, deputy head of the political division of Nanchong police, some of the reporters asked to take photos of the guns seized, the newspaper reported.
One of the police officials mishandled a homemade weapon, releasing the trigger and dropping it.

It was unclear from the report whether the gun contained bullets or shotgun pellets but it said one journalist needed surgery after being hit in the ankle, crotch, and chest.

~The Austrialian, Monday, July 18, 2008

(Many thanks to The Brain for finding this for me!)

Setting up for DC Guns, Part II

The DC mayor's office has released their proposed legislation in response to the Heller decision. The proposal is notable for how narrowly they attempt to limit the effects of that decision. For instance, handguns are (essentially) permitted only in a home and going to and from the many places you need to take the gun to get it properly registered. Licensure of persons (including proof of good vision) and firearms is required, you have to leave the gun with the police until they run full analyses on it, and no time limits on the city or police at any step. And amazingly, handguns must always be unloaded and disassembled (or trigger locked? the grammar isn't very clear to me) except when actually being used for self-defense ("while it is being used against reasonably perceived threat [sic] of immediate harm to a person within a registered gun owner’s home"). Fortunately, you will be happy to know, you do not need a separate carry license for carrying the handgun in the home while engaged in actual self-defense. There also appears to be an "amnesty" provision to allow registration of previously owned revolvers, but not semi-autos.

Apparently, DC really wants to pay Alan Gura more attorneys' fees for round two...

Over-specific law of the day

Note below, where only a handful of Virginia localities are given authority to put up "Yield to Pedestrians" signs.  This is one of the things I like about being a "Dillon Rule" state - localities can't even blow their noses without specific authorization to do so.

Va. Code § 46.2-924. Drivers to stop for pedestrians; installation of certain signs; penalty.

A. The driver of any vehicle on a highway shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian crossing such highway:

1. At any clearly marked crosswalk, whether at mid-block or at the end of any block;

2. At any regular pedestrian crossing included in the prolongation of the lateral boundary lines of the adjacent sidewalk at the end of a block;

3. At any intersection when the driver is approaching on a highway or street where the legal maximum speed does not exceed 35 miles per hour.

B. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A of this section, at intersections or crosswalks where the movement of traffic is being regulated by law-enforcement officers or traffic control devices, the driver shall yield according to the direction of the law-enforcement officer or device.

No pedestrian shall enter or cross an intersection in disregard of approaching traffic.

The drivers of vehicles entering, crossing, or turning at intersections shall change their course, slow down, or stop if necessary to permit pedestrians to cross such intersections safely and expeditiously.

Pedestrians crossing highways at intersections shall at all times have the right-of-way over vehicles making turns into the highways being crossed by the pedestrians.

C. The governing body of Arlington County, Fairfax County, the City of Fairfax, the County of Loudoun and any town therein, and the City of Alexandria, may by ordinance provide for the installation and maintenance of highway signs at marked crosswalks specifically requiring operators of motor vehicles, at the locations where such signs are installed, to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians crossing or attempting to cross the highway. Any operator of a motor vehicle who fails at such locations to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians as required by such signs shall be guilty of a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of no less than $100 or more than $500. The Commonwealth Transportation Board shall develop criteria for the design, location, and installation of such signs. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any limited access highway.

I don't care where you're from, that there's funny...

Robber kills himself drawing on homeowner...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/crime/stories/DN-robber_19met.ART.West.Edition1.b6bdbe.html

Privacy Policy Haiku

Google may resist clouding its home page with a link to its privacy policy, but I have no such aims. Here is what you can expect from greatblackangus.blogspot.com

You don't know if I

(or another) watch your tracks.

So pretend we do.

How to stop famine

The Niger River, which provides water to many countries in subsaharan west Africa is drying up, according to the BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7375109.stm. This will cause hardship for the millions of people who depend on the Niger's water for agricultural, industrial, and residential use.

According to an alarmist study, increased man-made Global Warming would add moisture to this area. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7227080.stm ("Greening of the Sahara/Sahel").

Save lives. Increase your carbon footprint.

Historical fact

Few people today realize that Noah was famous as an Ante-Semite.

RIP Tristram Cary (1925-2008)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/news/080424_news_01

Film and television composer who scored electronic and orchestral music for cult BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who and the Alec Guinness Ladykillers.

First honorary blackbelt in veterinary jujitsu?

People should know how to defend themselves from animals. This is one of the basic primitive skills. (See, e.g., the wolf attack in Conan the Barbarian. Then stop after the wolf attack. The rest of the movie is bad for you.) I refer to this art as veterinary jujitsu, though I have yet to actually assemble any instructional formula (and probably am insufficiently motivated to actually do so...).

In the following article, however, you will see an example of someone who excels at this art:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7327984.stm

It kind of sticks in your craw...

"What doesn't happen when you are drunk?"  --A great Russian (click for story)

Superlaser coolness

Article at http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/04/texans-build-wo.html

Scientists at UT/Austin, with help from the National Nuclear Security Administration, have built a petawatt laser (1*10^15 watts) which they intend to ramp up to about 1.5 petawatts.  They report that is enough power to simulate the inside of a supernova, and they can maintain it for a few femtoseconds.

Swedish Authorities to Help Virgin Galactic with Regulatory Barriers

I love how far a little ingenuity goes in law. "Spaceships are basically hot air balloons. Have a tax cut."

Swedish Authorities to Help Virgin Galactic with Regulatory Barriers

via Res Communis by PJ Blount on 4/1/08

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From Space.com:

PARIS - Swedish authorities planning to host flights of the Virgin Galactic suborbital space plane hope to lower the costs and regulatory barriers to the operation by having it classed as a sounding rocket and given the tax advantages of hot-air balloon flights, Swedish and Virgin Galactic officials said April 1.

The press release from the Swedish Space Corporation is also available.