Tomorrow his website and my wiki will be going black in protest of the Legislation known as SOPA or PIPA.  These pieces of legislation are designed to give the government complete control over internet access. The experts are in almost universal agreement that this would severely limit and change the internet and web as we know it. Others such as Congressman Lamar Smith say that the boycott is a publicity stunt.  I assure him the boycott is because we are afraid.  Afraid that he is attempting to make us inadvertent felons. Afraid that the government would have the power to strip us of years worth of labor and work, without so much as a day in court.

So I join Wikipedia and thousands of other sites in the hope that folks take notice.

I am sorry for any inconvenience.

Weird things in the News:

Marin County California Makes tough anti-tobacco stance but makes clear exception for marijuana:

Marin’s war on smoking was blunted Tuesday as a measure cracking down on tobacco and other “weed” was sent back for revision to make clear the crackdown does not include marijuana.

Companies are to facing fines for not using fuels that don’t exist.

When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law.

Righthaven Complains about “Scortched Earth Efforts” to Enforce Judgements

Obama warns that Republicans threaten the “very core of what this country stands for.”

Obviously we have different opinions on what the core values that the country stands for.

Just as Sarah Palin is so effective at delivering a message, Rick Perry, not so good. Last night he drew a blank trying to recall the third agency he would like to dispose of.  The media focus is on the delivery. A shame, his plan to get rid of the Department of Education. The Department of Commerse, and the Department of Energy is bold and would make a huge difference in our economy. The concept deserves debate and discussion, instead we focus on Perry forgetting the name of the third agency he wants to nuke.  Meanwhile Romney is declared to have done well in all the debates, but so far I haven’t heard any plans or ideas make us more prosperous and freer.

We are looking for a leader not a preacher.

Any one notice that the one guy who has a good message and great delivery, is the Newt, and he doesn’t seem to have much of a chance.   Also the Perry gaff did show a rare side of Ron Paul, He does have a sense of humor.

Sarah Palin,

Some people love her, while some people hate her, but there is no doubt that she is a powerful speaker and very few can deliver the message as well as she does, The Republican presidential hopefuls could learn a few lessons from her.

Go Sarah

On Oct. 7th Dennis Ritchie quietly passed away. Most people probably didn’t notice nor knew who he was.  This was the man that Co-invented Unix and invented the C Language.

Some people (myself included) have never used used or owned an Apple product, We have all used and benefited the from Unix and C,  While Jobs in particular got rich off Ritchie’s work, he didn’t even have to sue to do it.

“When Steve Jobs died last week, there was a huge outcry, and that was very moving and justified. But Dennis had a bigger effect, and the public doesn’t even know who he is,” says Rob Pike, the programming legend and current Googler who spent 20 years working across the hall from Ritchie at the famed Bell Labs.

On Wednesday evening, with a post to Google+, Pike announced that Ritchie had died at his home in New Jersey over the weekend after a long illness, and though the response from hardcore techies was immense, the collective eulogy from the web at large doesn’t quite do justice to Ritchie’s sweeping influence on the modern world.

Dennis Ritchie is the father of the C programming language, and with fellow Bell Labs researcher Ken Thompson, he used C to build UNIX, the operating system that so much of the world is built on — including the Apple empire overseen by Steve Jobs.

CNN’s GeekOut blog: Without Ritchie, you wouldn’t be reading this

“Pretty much everything on the web uses those two things: C and UNIX,” Pike tells Wired. “The browsers are written in C. The UNIX kernel — that pretty much the entire Internet runs on — is written in C. Web servers are written in C, and if they’re not, they’re written in Java or C++, which are C derivatives, or Python or Ruby, which are implemented in C. And all of the network hardware running these programs I can almost guarantee were written in C.

Unlike Jobs, Ritchie’s works were made available to the world. Unix was turned over to the academian world at Berkley, The C Language specification was released for all to see and use, he never sued anyone who used or enhanced his ideas.

Ritchie was the co-author simply named book “The C Programming Language“, The book is remarkable in its simpicity and clarity.  In 274  pages Ritchie and Kernighan laid out the Specifications for the language, a tutorial, and insiders look at buildind a language and an operating system.  All this in a book that can be understood by a technical novice.

The influence of The C Programming Language on programmers, a generation of whom first worked with C in universities and industry, has led many to accept the authors’ programming style and conventions as recommended practice, if not normative practice. For example, the coding and formatting style of the programs presented in both editions of the book is often referred to as “K&R style” or the “One True Brace Style” and, significantly, became the coding style used by convention in the source code for the Unix andLinux kernels.

I am not an Apple fan, but there is no denying that Steve Jobs was a great leader, and that he pushed the entire industry into being something better.  He was a man driven to give the world things that are better than what they had previously.

Steve Jobs had his failures, but ultimately he is responsible for building the wealthiest hi tech company in the world, and he did it his way.

Events and a downturn of society will often spark protests. The massive bailout/stimulous bills and passing Obamacare triggered the TEA party party demonstrations. A poor economy and high unemployment is what really triggered and fueled the Arab Spring.  Wall Street failed us and got its bail out fundings three years ago.  I think its fair to say  that the Occupy Wall Street organizers are a little slow. While its pretty clear what  Occupy Wall Street is protesting, but so far their list of solutions is limited.

Contrast this with the TEA party. The response was immediate after the passing of the second wall street bailout, and they were clear about what they were protesting and they had answers. “Smaller Government” and no more new taxes.  Even the name, Occupy Wall Street,   suggest that the group and organizers are more about the protest than they are about getting results. The T.E.A partys name as everyone knows is unambiguous Taxed Enough Already. Their goal pretty clearly was to be represented in all levels of government  to restrict fiscal growth in government. Contrary to to the media, the TEA party is pretty neutral on most social issues and prefers to focus on taxes and spending issues. Because they are focused is the reason that a small young grassroots organization has been so effective at influencing elections and government direction.

The Occupy Wall Street  folks have crossed paths with the local law authorities, :

The protest came less than a week after police arrested 80 people during a march to the bustling Union Square shopping district, the most arrests by New York police at a demonstration since hundreds were detained outside the Republican National Convention in 2004.

A police commander used pepper spray on four women at last weekend’s march and a video of the incident went viral on the Internet, angering many protesters who vowed to continue their protests indefinitely.

On Friday, Occupy Wall Street issued a statement on their website saying that it has recently come into the media spotlight, not because of its political message, but because certain high-ranking members of the NYPD punched, threw, and stepped on peaceful marchers.

Arrestees were handcuffed so tight their hands turned blue. A senior police officer, meanwhile, forced women into pens and maced them at point-blank range, the group said.

“While we vehemently condemn these abuses of power, we urge all who read this to remain focused on our intended message. Abuse of power is abuse of power. Whether perpetrated by Wall Street bankers or members of the NYPD, it is the duty of all citizens to oppose injustice.

“We condemn the actions of unprofessional police who used excessive force in subduing a peaceful march. But we are foremost here to oppose the growing power of the ruling class,” the Occupy Wall Street statement continued.

There is an interesting spin on this from a Floridian congressional wannabe.

We all rolled our eyes in exasperation and made fun of the people who showed up to teabagger rallies with AR-15s strapped to their backs. But look at how nobody at those rallies got maced, tackled, beaten, or falsely arrested. It’s not because those rallies were more orderly or lawful—it’s because the people in attendance were ready and able to defend themselves from police oppression. We may not agree with everything (or even anything) that is said at those tea potty-paloozas, but they have a right to hold those rallies and speak their mind.

As do we. But even though we have more people and represent a broader segment of America, we’ve failed to attract media attention, and we continue to be squashed by police. We’ve failed to heed the number one rule of national news: “If it bleeds, it leads.”

Nobody got shot at the tea potty protests, despite all the guns. And we don’t need to start shooting at the drop of a hat, either. But we need to realize that unless we take steps to secure ourselves against oppression, we will continue to be swept under the rug and ignored. The ultra-strict gun laws in NYC that make it almost impossible for regular citizens to own firearms compounds the problem, because it’s now a crime for citizens to even attempt to protect themselves from having their skulls smashed in, or having twenty-five thousand volts zap across their hearts, or having the spice of a million jalapeños squirted into their eyes.

Parnell seems like a pretty nasty little man using homphobic  rhetoric while refering to TEAparty Members.  I have never heard a TEA Party member speak so offensively about the opposition, nor have I ever seen an AR15 or any other weapon at a T.E.A. party.  Although I was always armed and I know several folk there were likely armed. Any weaponry was legal and  properly concealed. We weren’t at all confrontational and most of us were more more in a celebratory mood than angry.  There were police at most of the events, but they were more concerned about traffic control than about controlling us. The police were as friendly as any of the TEA party folk.

I offer advise to the Occupy Wall Street . Focus on what you want fixed and the solutions rather than the demonstrations themselves.  The demonstration and protest will fix nothing if you have offered no solutions.  Remember that the bailout of Wall Street is what triggered the TEA partys.  Perhaps they should just let the big boys try to fix it.

Just Sayin’

We only turn 60 once, and my wife Equality saw me looking at a Beretta website and told “Happy Birthday, Go for it”

I went down to Academy and plunked, down the money and took home the  little Beretta Storm PX4SC . I own one other Beretta ,the P92FS, and I have high expectations for this gun.

First impressions

Ready to lock and load Storm PX4SC

It’s a kewl looking gun.  Lots of curves and the business end of the barrel is flared making it look bigger than a 9mm has a right to be.  A few nice touches such as the skelitised hammer and picininy rail.  A small indentation is a spot to rest your trigger finger safely away from the trigger.     It is one of the biggest guns I’ve ever seen that is called a subcompact, still its a lot smaller than anything else I own.  There is lots of plastic in this piece. The body  and guide pin are plastic, and I think the trigger is plastic. The barrel is stainless  and the other parts are coated carbon steel.  The black matte finish is very nice but the 2 magazines are quite glossy.   Engraved proudly on the right hand side is, “Made in U.S.A” . Yes, this is a quality American made gun made with the American concealed  carrier in mind.  The plastic case the the gun comes in has a manual tucked away under the the foam, a 2 year extension on the one year warranty. 2 magazines , a mag loader, and a California certified lock. It is nice to know the lock is approved in California even if the gun is not. The new gun  oozed oil over the place, and even after a wiping down just oozed some more .  I always clean any new gun anyway, but this one was really going to need it.

Take down is pretty straight forward is pretty similar to the P92, remove the Mag, pull the slide back, pill the take down lever out, rotate  90 degrees, down.  Pull out till it clicks and let the slide slowly go forward on till its removed.  You don’t want to pull the pin all the way out, because its a bit of a pain to get back in.   Disassembly is 4 parts; the  spring assembly the slide, the barrel and the plastic body.

At the Range

I couldn’t wait to taker this to the range. Although I didn’t have much time or ammo. The First couple of rounds at 15 Yards were very low. I compensated and the next couple of rounds were right on target, and tight within a 2 inch circle.  by the time I finished I wasn’t compensating and I was hitting where I was aiming. I don’t know whether it was me or the gun that was so inaccurate at the beginning.  But I’m going to have to spend a lot of time with the little gun to shoot it consistently.

This is a fun gun to shoot, Recoil is almost insignificant, and recovery to the next shot is quick.  One of the mags has a click extender to allow room for the pinky. I choose not to use it and wrap my pinky under the mag. with my supporting hand cupping underneath for support.

This is a little gun with big gun performance.  It came with 2 each 13 round magazines (10 to make it legal  in the gun grabbing states) handles and shoots like its bigger brothers. I think this will prove to be an accurate and reliable gun, but is going to require a lot of practice to master.  Heck, even Masaaad Ayoob seems like like it

Let’s see…it functions reliably. It is compact. It can be had with a manual safety that buys the owner some time to deal with the horror of being disarmed by his or her attacker. It holds more rounds than most of its competition and comes back on target very quickly, with a very soft felt recoil impulse. At muzzle contact distance, it’s more likely to keep working than most of its competition. It also has interchangeable grip backstraps to adjust size and fits many hand sizes well as it comes from the box. It doesn’t have the accuracy we competitive shooters like. It may take a little extra effort to load its magazines up to full cartridge capacity.

All things considered, the Beretta Px4 Storm Sub-Compact 9mm has way more going for it than against it, and is a very promising pistol for someone who needs a concealable handgun that will deliver the life-saving goods in an up-close-and-personal confrontation. For an “all around use” Beretta, I’ll stay with one of my Model 92s, but for a high-capacity 9mm “belly gun,” the Px4F Storm definitely passes the acceptance test.