NSLog();

The world has seen it time and time again: taking away the gun rights of the general population increases violent crime rates. Why? Because criminals will always have guns, and if they know the general population is unarmed, well, then that just makes it all easier:

Australians spent at least half a billion dollars to collect and destroy hundreds of thousands of legally owned guns, and the result? No decrease in violent crime, armed robberies up by 166%. These disturbing trends have given a new weapon to the North American gun lobby, which also points to a dramatic drop in violent crime in the U.S. during the same period, as state after state -- 20 in the past two decades -- relaxed the rules for carrying concealed handguns for personal protection.

Go ahead and read it yourself. The case will come down to one thing: was her life in danger at the time she shot the robber? If he was about to drive away, then no. I cannot shoot a burglar in the back as he races across the street after invading my house. I can, however, shoot him while he's performing a felonious act.

Was the robber still in the process of committing a crime for which the deadly use of force is allowed? That's up to the court system to decide. In Florida, I imagine she'd be cleared of any charges fairly promptly. As to why she feels bad, well, should I ever find myself in the situation where I have to shoot someone who is beating me nearly to death, well, I don't imagine I'll feel much remorse. My hand - and choice - will have been forced by the violent acts of a criminal.

Guess what José brought me today?

Bill may have liked Napoleon Dynamite, but I thought the movie was a bomb. I laughed at exactly one scene - the election speech dance scene - and only because it the dance was so well and unexpectedly performed that it caught me off guard. I didn't feel like laughing at the shoving of tater tots into a pocket for later consumption. I didn't feel like laughing at Uncle Rico throwing a football. I didn't feel like laughing at the grandma riding dune buggies.

Then again, I'm not 16 anymore, either. I was, however, the oldest person in a full theater. Had I not been there, Arion at 22 would have been the oldest. Napoleon Dynamite may actually be one step below potty humor. 😛

I like offbeat - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is my favorite movie, after all - but Napoleon Dynamite was simply an exercise in boredom.

This is exactly the kind of thing I think that I hate most about President Bush:

They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.

I don't like that we have a President who can't say "nuclear" properly, or one who can't get the "fool me once" quote right. I think that, among many other things, the President of our country should be an established public speaker. Clinton Charisma might be a bit too much, but at least the man could speak. So could Reagan and Kennedy (John F., not the lameass Ted). Nixon could deliver a speech.

Yes, it's easy to get what the President meant to say - that we never stop thinking too. But that's not what he said. This isn't near enough to get me to change my vote, but I'm with everyone who despises that our President can't seem concentrate for five seconds at a time while delivering a speech.

Question: What do you think of the katie.com debate?

My Answer: I hope that Katie Jones sticks it to the Tarbox. Not to diminish what happened to Ms. Tarbox, but what she (via her lawyer) seem to doing to Katie Jones are quite deplorable in and of themselves. Rename the book. Let Ms. Jones alone.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

I went to the driving range to hit some golf balls today. I've gotta build up my blisters (and later, calluses), after all.

I slowed down my swing a little bit and checked the massive slide forward I was making with my hips. "Turn, don't slide" got me to a nice, soft, high fade. Most people would have been very, very happy with this shot, but I am not. I play a high draw, and I'm going to keep working on my swing until I can produce it again. It's a short tweak away in one of several areas: foot position (and the angle of my feet, specifically, the front foot), lateral movement of my head, grip and/or wrist rotation, or simply the slot into which I do or don't drop my arms at the onset of the downswing.

At my prime, I played a slightly strong grip, a stance that was open by about 15 degrees, and I dropped the club vigorously to the inside on my downswing. I played nearly every shot at the middle of my stance, and the open stance led to a high ball flight while the strong grip corrected for the open stance (as did the slight inside-out swing). I had everything: the ability to work the ball, a soft, high shot that went for a very moderate and very controllable distance, and some power to respond.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 658); »

We're working through the German translation for PulpFiction and we've hit a sticking point: there seems to be no adequate German word for "subscription" (or "subscribe").

The French word for "subscription" is "abonnement." It's the same in German, but it doesn't quite fit. Any German speakers out there (and be aware that Andy is from Austria, and thus knows it pretty well himself) care to comment?

Question: Have you ever set something up in advance of a date in order to escape?

My Answer: No - though I have been the caller in many instances. I never really dated. Like, ever. I think I've been on, oh, five dates in my lifetime perhaps?

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Currently, the individual pages on this blog do not validate. I blame MovableType for a lot of it. I'm trying to use XHTML 1.1 (and the MathML specs because MT insists on using "target="). I'm sure I could fix a few things here and there, but I'll never get rid of, say, the "valign" crap.

MovableType is rather, rather annoying sometimes.

Hey, to save you all the trouble of posting on my blog with the same old crap I've been hearing for the past five or six months, I've created some campaign posters for you all.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 104); »

So sayeth Florida's laws:

Dates Registration Closes for 2004 Election
Presidential Preference Primary......... February 9, 2004
Primary Election .............................. August 2, 2004
General Election .............................. October 4, 2004

I have mailed my registration in to vote in the general election. For Bush. 🙂

My early computer memories could fill a book, but folklore.org reminded me of a few that surface only rarely. I'm listing them here for myself so that they may serve as a stronghold against the rising tide of forgotten memories. In no particular order…

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 1147); »

Question: If you could go back to high school to relive one event exactly as it happened, what would you pick?

My Answer: My senior year I shot an 88 in the first round of district qualifying for the state golf tournament. Earlier that summer I'd won the Erie County junior golf championship (in the 17/18 age bracket as a 17-year-old) and had competed in a few state-wide tournaments. I shot a 69 in the second round (who knows how I even made the cut?) to finish one shot out of the top five. The course was new to me, but I simply played like crap on the first day. A 75 on that course (some course in Sharon, PA - I still have my yardage book somewhere) would have put me into first by a good margin - eight shots or so, if I recall correctly.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

No comment.

Question: Which do you use more: your cell phone or your land phone? Do you even have both?

My Answer: I use both equally, though when I move to PA I may simply drop the land line idea or go with just a local land line. Those only run about $25/month, right? Of course, I'll also be dropping my DirecTV and TiVo. And… some other crap. Anyway, I pay about $50/month on each.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.