Re: Really?

"There are no background checks if you buy from a gun show. There are places where background checks are weak"

Two problems here:

First, your statement displays ignorance of the facts. Most vendors at gun shows these days hold FFLs (Federal Firearms Licenses) and are required to conduct NICS checks on buyers, even at gun shows. The only transactions in which background checks are not carried out are private sales between individuals, where state law permits such. In those cases it is the nature of the transaction that eliminates the NICS check, not the venue.

Second, your implication that universal background checks, even for private party transactions, would be desirable displays ignorance of economics. Given that there is no practicable mechanism for an individual to obtain a NICS check on another individual (and, given privacy concerns, nor should there be) the imposition of such a rule would leverage existing gun dealers into the position of gatekeepers over all transactions. This would inevitably lead to rent seeking, with "transfer fees" increasing dramatically as happens whenever government grants one group a monopoly. This effective increase in the price of all used guns would, in turn, drive up the price of new guns, creating a spiral which would inevitably lead to the situation in which only the rich could afford guns, as mentioned above.

Re: Just political bullshit

Mr Manning has hit the nail on the head. For those less well versed in US Realpolitik, here's a brief explanation.

Guns are what is known as a "wedge issue" (abortion is another). Both main parties, The Crips and The Bloods, use wedge issues to good effect.

The process is as follows:

1. Some incident leads to a wedge issue getting heavy rotation in the mainstream media.

2. Congresscritter mouths some empty bollocks related to said wedge issue. It doesn't have to be practical, sensible or even desirable - just related, even tangentially.

3. That portion of the electorate on one side of the issue puts what little critical thinking ability that it has on hold and unquestioningly supports said critter, regardless of any other evil that it may be doing. Simultaneously, said critter gets heavy rotation in the media on the back of the original incident.

4. ?

5. Profit!!!

As I say, they all do it and the electorate rewards them for it - so there's not much hope of any change any time soon.

"Yes i am suprised they have ditched Google Wallet..."

I think you may be confused. They are ditching Google Checkout but keeping Google Wallet.

FWIW, the migration has already started, internally. My last but one payment for Google Voice was processed via Google Checkout, but my last payment (a couple of weeks ago) was processed via Google Wallet.

Re: Erm.

Yes and the specs for ATMs in the UK mandate "mag stripe fall back" in addition to a PIN reader.

That's not always implemented, though, as I found out the other week...

Re: On the subject of ATMs

OK, but why are drive-through ATMs labelled up in Braille?

"The big concern is COVERT recording, and that horse has already bolted."

I'm not sure that that's correct. It seems to me that the real concern is *ubiquitous* recording - as promytius points out, our society is built upon certain assumptions, which ubiquitous recording coupled with Internet dissemination would shatter.

How do you buy somebody a surprise present, when footage of you buying it is going to pop up in their rss (or whatever) feed? Now consider going to the clap clinic, the oncologist, the local nick to whistleblow on some criminal who knows where you live, or no end of other activities.

David Brin has published utopian visions of "the recorded life", see any amount of dystopian SF for a counterpoint.

As that bloke in "Lord of War" was fond of saying...

... "I prefer it my way."

Re: Sweden seems such a nice place

They invented sex, you know!

God, I miss Eric & Ernie...

Re: It's like watching Fred West and Ian Brady having a fight...

You could swap either name out for Peter Sutcliffe and the sense of it would remain unchanged. They were all very bad men.

Re: Hardly a scientific approach.

Statistically, is is though. Since almost everything that government does tends to enrich the politically connected few at the expense of everybody else, it follows that "science" which supports a government programme is more likely to be fabricated at the behest of vested interests and therefore false, while that which opposes it is more likely to be honest, since it has no bunch of crooks to please and therefore stands a better chance of being correct.

Re: I hate Chuck Norris.

Really? He speaks very highly of you.

Re: How much for how much?

"The back of this here envelope suggests the PGMs would be a by-product of making structural metal alloys. You don't run a business for the by-products, but they can be nice to have."

That's a very good point. By way of an earth-bound analogy, copper refiners like Asarco currently make a tidy extra profit off Gold and Silver. Those metals are present in such small quantities that it wouldn't be worth processing the ore just for them alone, but when they fall out of the copper refining process they're almost free money.

Re: Subscriber service class

Very informative - thanks!

I had been about to praise this initiative as reminiscent of the old X-prizes, but from what you say it's a previously solved problem and therefore redundant.

Six Sigma?

Are Capita ITS going into manufacturing, then?

Re: How is this not extortion?

Whether it is, or is not, Blackmail is a very interesting question. Just this morning, I read a rather detailed blog on the subject, by Prof. Volokh, admittedly addressing US rather than German law.

http://www.volokh.com/2012/08/21/blackmail/

While I know little of German law, I can't help suspecting that the hints about prioritising "touchy cases" might prove to be their downfall.

Re: And the first steampunk

"A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!" - Indeed, Sir!

I met him once, very briefly, when he handed me a camera and asked me to that a photo of him with a friend.

He shall be missed.

Re: Frequent flyer mileage

"Unless the participants fly at least several times a year such a poll is just useless."

Agreed - experience is necessary for having an informed opinion.

The problem is, a survey of frequent fliers would likely return the opposite result to that wanted by whomever commissioned this survey. Just look at all the ranting on Flyertalk, for example.

Re: Good news

There is, of course, an exception to the exception; namely when said theatre is actually on fire.

The shape of ICBMs

Colin Powell tells a story about a signing ceremony for some disarmament treaty or other, where they had a US Minutman (IIRC) and a USSR SS-20 on display.

Apparently his wife's first comment was "Why is theirs so much bigger than ours?".

Re: Russia's MVD "K" Administration

"Oh, by the way, I know that Народный Комиссариат Внутренних Дел is spelled with N, not M :)"

I know that too - hence the "I'll get my coat" icon. Still, at least somebody got my feeble attempt at humour. :)

Cheers

ЛПБ

Re: I am not a lawyer...

OTOH, many trademarks are held by different companies in different territories - look up some of the old board games, for example. In such cases, you'd clearly want the EU based holder to get the domain.

I agree that this appears a clumsy way of going about that, however.

Re: Shall we just...

Well, Judge Death was one of the four Dark Judges, along with Fear, Fire and Mortis. He was certainly the leader and probably had the idea first, though.

Judge Fear used to open the gates on his helmet and say "Gaze into the face of Fear". To which Joe Dredd once replied, in his indomitable style, "Gaze into the fist of Dredd!"

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kouopijcQr1qzgwhvo1_500.jpg