Got another e-mail my Dad forwarded me from his friend. My dad and I have been jesting via email for years, but he invokes my thought process more than most folks and I enjoy posting those thoughts here. So don’t think I am picking on him. It’s more like picking with him.

So here’s the text of the email:

Call or email your rep!!

Here is the text of the bill HR 45.  Below is a synopsis.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/text

Very Important for you to be aware of a new bill HR 45 introduced
into the House.  This is the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale
Act of 2009. 
       
Even gun shop owners didn’t know about this because it is flying
under the radar.  To find out about this – Google HR 45
        2009.  You will get all the information.
       
Basically this would make it illegal to own a firearm – any rifle
with a clip or ANY pistol unless:
       
          *It is registered.
           *You are fingerprinted.
           *You supply a current Driver’s License.
           *You supply your Social Security #.
           *You will submit to a physical & mental evaluation at any
               time of their choosing.
           *Each update – change or ownership through private or
              public sale must be reported and costs $25 – Failure to
               do so you automatically lose the right to own a firearm
               and are subject up to a year in jail.
           *There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 305
               stating a child-access provision.  Gun must be locked
               and inaccessible to any child under 18.
       
They would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing
your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable
for up to 5 yrs. in prison.
       
       
The best way to fight this (if you want to) is to tell all your
friends about it and “spring into action”.  One suggestion is that  we all
join a pro-gun group like the Colorado Rifle Association, hunting
associations, gun clubs and especially the NRA.
       
This is just a “termite” approach to complete confiscation of guns
and disarming of our society to the point we have no defense – chip away a
little here and there until the goal is accomplished before anyone realizes
it.
       
This is one to act on whether you own a gun or not.  If you take my
gun, only the criminal will have one to use against me. 
       
HR 45 only makes all of us less safe.

I can’t say I disagree with either the sentiment of the bill or the sentiment of the sender, but the whole thing is a cacophony of idiots as far as I can tell.

I encourage you to read the bill (caution: reading the comments will melt your brain) and decide for yourself whether this thing is worth a shit. Personally I don’t think it should or will pass either house of congress, let alone get signed into law.

Thing is though, we have a problem with guns in this country. That problem however isn’t a lack of laws and the solution isn’t sensational email forwards. The dialog is going to have to get a lot more intelligent if we are to make ourselves and our kids any safer while respecting the rights our Constitution ensures.

I can’t help but think that the bill and the reactions are both, at best, a sizable detriment towards progress. If the bill concerns you then you should express that concern to your Congressperson. I’d recommend however that you make your argument calm and constructive and base it on the actual wording of the bill and not sensational assumptions.

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I had been working up a draft on the recent ARRA and the bullshit definition of “bipartisan” that some of our legislators have imagined up, but it seems like Scalzi has done it for me, and better than I could myself.

Suffice to say I disagree with the current “you’re only bipartisan if you do it our way” mindset, but I’ll let you read for yourself.

Oh Noes! He’s Talking Politics Again!

As for my thoughts on the ARRA? Ya, it sucks. I hate that we have to spend all that debt to undo this cluster fuck of an economy, but guess what: we do. For my two cents, I think President Obama and congressional leaders have done a good job of making a relatively focussed bill that will at worst stop the bleeding until the economy can get moving in the right direction. Having a father and a wife who both work for the state, I know there are more than a few people around here relieved that budget cuts and layoffs might not be as severe as they once were sure to be.

I’m also a big fan of the transparency effort associated with this bill. Whatever it’s flaws, the new recovery.gov site is light years ahead of anything any other sitting president could, would or had done. The potential for bullshit is there, and sceptics should remain at the ready, but the very fact that it exists is to be lauded.

I’ve been somewhat critical of Twitter in the past and their occasional lack of ability to handle the demand for their service, but as this post states they endured a 900% increase in user base and came out smelling like roses.

A lot of times when we’re strategizing we say something to the effect of “that’s a good problem to have” but seldom do we think of the actual nightmare associated with managing the growth that we dream of. I can hardly think of any service or company that could survive 900% annual growth without a few hiccups and the fact that even power users only had to deal with mild annoyance is a testament to the hard work and great minds making things happen at Twitter.

I hate it when they do down, and spoiled as I am I hate it when there are delays during big events (Super Bowl, election, inauguration, etc) but my hat’s off, way off, to those that keep those hiccups from turning into flaming piles of poo.

My dad sent me a link to this article from the EFF in which they are trying to vilify Apple for protecting their intellectual property rights. The EFF has filed a claim with the US Copyright office trying to get an exception granted to the DMCA that would make it legal for people to jailbreak their iPhone and violate the EULA that they freely entered into when they activated said phone. Apple is contesting their exemption request (note: this is very different than threatening to take individuals who jailbreak their phone to court, RIAA-style) stating that they are well withing their rights to protect their intellectual property in any manner formally agreed to between them and the people who license said IP.

Keyword there, folks. License.

You may own your iPhone, just like you own your other hardware, but you license the software on it. When you install or activate that software, you enter into an End User License Agreement, by your own volition and without coercion, and are then bound by the terms of the agreement, just like any other contract.  Even open source software, which the EFF loves like the Virgin Child, has legal restrictions on it, albeit looser ones by comparison.

The EFF seems to think that people should be allowed to enter into a legal agreement and then for some reason, that they don’t seem to want to explain, should be allowed to violate that agreement just because doing so would allow people to do “really cool shit.” An agreement that is entered into freely, without coercion or duress and violates no existing laws or statutes is a legally binding agreement. Period.

Now last I checked my iPhone didn’t magically meld to my hand the moment I clicked the “I agree” button. I was free to read the EULA and not agree to it and return my phone. I am free to determine now, after the fact, that the terms of the EULA are too restrictive for my taste and ditch my iPhone for a less restricted device. I am free to call bullshit on the EULA to anyone who will listen. What I am not free to do is violate the terms of the agreement I entered into without the consent of all involved parties. I almost got a D in Business Law and even I know that (maybe the EFF will hire me).

To cap it off, they revisit the very tired “modifying your engine” metaphor that has been defeated over and over. Yes, if you own your car you can do whatever the hell you like to it, stupid or dangerous as it may be. If you are leasing it, or it is financed and actually owned by the bank your rights are a little different though, aren’t they? Can you get a nice flame job on that Altima you’re leasing and then just turn it back in at the end of your lease without rebuke? Don’t bother looking that one up; the answer is ‘no’. The metaphor is defeated as simply as this: you don’t own your OS and you don’t have rights to modify it if you have explicitely agreed not to do so. And yet, nobody complains about not being able to get the flame job on their Altima.

When you jailbreak your iPhone you willfully violate the terms of the agreement you entered and you have no legal right to do so. Apple is 100% justified in trying to legally preserve the sanctity of that agreement and the fact that the EFF is trying to nullify it is, legally speaking, reprehensible, regardless of their motives.

Of course, having said all that, most modern EULAs, including the iPhones, are a pile of horse shit, but that’s another post. Last I checked they don’t sell phones to todlers. We’re all big boys and girls. If you don’t like the terms of the agreement, don’t agree to them. If you agree to them, adhere to them.

Added  a flickr pugin to the sidebar there and finally got some of my best photos into flickr (3 sets max? really?). I am planning on using flickr just for my artsy-fartsy “look at me, I’m a photography hobbyist” type stuff. Mobile Me will continue to be my main repository and it’s linked below.

I am trying to find a Mobile Me plugin for the side bar but am not having luck. Maybe Jason will write one for me..

You know there’s a war. You know you are on the battle field. But the explosions make no sense. The losses can’t be defined or even described. You are just stunned. Huddled on the ground not caring what is happening but hoping it will end and that when it’s over you will still be alive.

Jason says I ought to write a post about the redesign.

Sounds like a good idea. Superfluous line breaks and all.

It pretty much comes down to my wanting to write more. I love twitter, it’s filled the “need to share” I’ve always had and is so quick, easy, ubiquitous and fun that I use it a ton (most would say too much). Sometimes though I want to expand on things, and here’s where I can.

It was fun iWeb, it really was, but having my site and blog tied to one physical computer meant there was only a few hours a day I could write and those were the same hours I didn’t feel like it.

No hard feelings, buddy.

Look! More line breaks!

until I get more real stuff to write I’ll keep posting mindless crap like this to try to get the sad story down on the page. You ought to read it, it’s good, but I don’t want to right now :p

superfluous line break

pushin down the page

ohhhhh ya.

One of these days I am going to take a sick day, but follow my normal routine. I’m going to wake up, get dressed, take Steph to work and drop Linnea off at daycare, and go to starbucks. Then, at 8:45. like I do every day I am going to look up at my book and say “fuck, I gotta go” and then blissfully realize that I actually don’t and keep reading.

I’ll keep reading as long as I want, fleecing them out of as many free refills as I can, until it’s time for some lunch. Switching from stimulants to depressants I’ll have a few beers and the best burger I can muster before heading over to the movies to watch something Steph would hate.

After that I’d probably head back over the starbucks for some more coffee and read some more until I get Steph and Lineea for a nice dinner.

Look at me, I am blogging again. Yay. Gonna put some older stuff in here, for archival purposes, then the *real* boring shit will follow.