I am honored and humbled by the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of those that have fought and died for this great country. Thank You.

Also may God bless those who have served or are currently serving as well as their families, who have sacrificed more then I can ever imagine. Thank you all.

Titled:    Smart gun' shows promise - and promises controversy

As police in Philadelphia struggle to stop a scourge of shootings, some New Jersey engineers say they are closing in on a "smart" solution: a gun that can be fired only by its owner.

The prototype, developed at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, has pressure sensors embedded in the gun handle that recognize a person's unique grip.

The team says a commercial model is up to five years away, but if it works, it will trigger a singular - and controversial - state law. Within three years, all handguns sold in New Jersey would have to be personalized, with this or some other recognition technology.

...

Various smart-gun efforts have flamed out in the past, amid vocal skepticism by the National Rifle Association. Many gun owners chafe at the notion of any restrictions on their Second Amendment right to bear arms, and warn that any such modifications would make guns more expensive.

Gun-control advocates, meanwhile, are split, with some warning that personalized firearms would give owners a false sense of security.

...

Once the shooter squeezes the trigger, the grip sensors spring into action, recording the pressure for one-tenth of a second. In that moment, the pressure applied by each finger varies enough that engineers can distinguish between shooters with a high degree of reliability. A grip's signature does not vary significantly from firing to firing, even in stressful situations, researchers have found.

A year and a half ago, a prototype recognized authorized users nine out of 10 times. Now, the rate lies between 95 and 99 percent, said Michael Cody, a computer science engineer on the team.

So 5% percent of the time the gun fails to recognize you and fails to shoot? An attorney's dream and a citizen's nightmare.
Maybe the police would be happy to test it out for a few years first?

At the very least, the technology would cut down on violence committed with the 500,000 handguns that are stolen each year, said Stephen Teret, public health professor at Johns Hopkins University. "If all those guns had been personalized guns," Teret said, "they would be useless when they were stolen."

500,000? Even the gun-grabbing Americans for Gun Safety Foundation boasts a count of 170,000 and that is for all firearms, let alone pistols.
With that much home invasion going on, it just proves the ineffectiveness of the police to protect people in their homes and the need for self defense tools such as pistols in the first place.

Remember, Philadelphia is the city trying to crack down on concealed carry. Alphecca had a good round up a couple of months back:

What the news article doesn't mention is that most of this violence is the result of street gangs, drug gangs, et al. Frankly, I wouldn't worry about the 28,000 legally licensed citizens concealed-carrying. I'd be more concerned about the thousands of criminals who haven't bothered (and never will) obtaining a permit. They're the ones commiting mayhem. Bust-up the mutant gangs, throw them in jail, and watch the violence decrease. Don't start leaving the haplass honest folk defenseless.

Keep it simple - Keep it safe.

Titled: Losing Freedom, The UN Attacks the Second Amendment

July 4 is Independence Day. Many across America will celebrate the day that America declared itself a free and sovereign people. People will cook out on the grill, have family get togethers, and just celebrate freedom in general. However, the UN has plans for this day as well - and these plans are not at all celebrating freedom. These plans are sinister in character and threaten our sovereignty as a free nation.

The United Nations has decided to hosts it annual global gun ban conference called the 2006 Small Arms Review Conference or RevCon during the fourth of July holiday period right here on American soil. The UN ad its liberal allies in Canada, Australia and liberals right here in America would like nothing more than to erase the Second Amendment from the constitution and ban all firearms around the world.

This is a real threat to freedom and I encourage you as a free American to voice your opposition to the UN for its anti-American sentiments and its anti-gun stance. There is no way (under a conservative administration) that America will give in to the UN's demands that America disarm its citizens and destroy a vital part of the constitution. Having the Second Amendment ensures that every American is entitled to won a firearm for hunting, sport, collection, self-defense, or for whatever reason there may be to own one.

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." -- Second Amendment, U.S. Constitution

Titled: Law-abiding residents should be able to protect themselves

Since the Michigan Legislature is currently considering legislation affecting self-defense measures, Dick DeVos issued the following statement regarding the package of legislation known as the "Home is Your Castle" doctrine:

"There have been and will continue to be many debates surrounding the rights given to us in the Second Amendment.  Let me be clear:  I support the rights granted to us by our Founding Fathers to keep and bear arms, and that is why I support the legislation known as the 'Home is Your Castle' doctrine.

"Protecting loved ones from danger is a natural response and people shouldn't be punished for protecting their family.  Every person should have the right to defend oneself and their family in the case of a forceful and unlawful break-in, without the fear of being sued for civil damages."

Yes indeed! Although he is wrong about one thing. Our rights were not granted to us by the founding fathers. And I quote. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Titled: Michigan "Castle Doctrine" Package Moving in the State Senate

The Michigan State Senate will hear the “Castle Doctrine” legislation as early as Tuesday, May 23.  This critically important legislation will help the citizens of Michigan in two ways:

• protects your right to self-defense, and ensures you do not have a “duty to retreat” from a violent attacker; and 
• gives immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force.

Lifted from the NRA-ILA Site

Titled:     Seven Indonesian Bird Flu Cases Linked to Patients

All seven people infected with bird flu in a cluster of Indonesian cases can be linked to other patients, according to disease trackers investigating possible human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus. A team of international experts has been unable to find animals that might have infected the people, the World Health Organization said in a statement today.

In one case, a 10-year- old boy who caught the virus from his aunt may have passed it to his father, the first time officials have seen evidence of a three-person chain of infection, an agency spokeswoman said. Six of the seven people have died.

This is the story we've been looking for. The one all the panic scenarios are based on. Suspected person-to-person transmission of a barely-weakened virus (it killed six out of seven).

Titled:    Eurovision - Good Lordi!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A while back I mentioned one of the strangest and most original entries for the Eurovision Song Contest, Lordi, from Finland.

They WON.

Titled:   Car Powered By Water A Reality

Along Florida's Gulf Coast, water is everywhere. From the bay to the beach to the town of Clearwater, that is where we found Denny Klein. A man driven by water, literally.

Klein has invented the world's first water powered car. It runs on what he calls "Aquygen." Aquygen is water or H₂O, broken down and turned into HHO gas, something scientists once thought impossible.

"Any PhD or library, they say you can't mix hydrogen and oxygen. And still to this day we get a lot of people who don't believe us because that's what they were taught," Klein said.

But people are quickly learning Klein and his car are for real.

Klein says his design will retrofit any piston engine.

An economic development team from the county and local government TV got a demonstration while we were there.

Klein says he initially developed Aquygen to create a safer, less polluting blowtorch. Klein realized Aquygen would clean up car emissions as well. The only thing that would come out of the tailpipe was water.

Soon, his vision became a reality.

Like most alternative fuel cars, the prototype is actually a hybrid. It runs on a gas and Aquygen mixture. Whenever you're ready, you flip the switch and the Aquygen kicks in.

The result is up to a 50 percent jump in gas mileage. Klein's Ford Escort prototype gets 384 miles on a tank of gas. 576 miles with a little Aquygen mixed in.

Hmmm.. All those years of Chemistry, covalent bonding, memorizing s, p & d orbitals, molecular behaviour under stimulation and I never once heard of HHO.

OK - I can see using waste energy, from the cooling system or exhaust system being used to do useful work (such as in a turbo) which could possibly take water and do something to it that would make combustion more efficient. Water injection used to be used to increase cylinder pressure in WW2 fighters - it's almost uncompressible. And even in modern cars, EGR valves introduce lower temp exhaust gases straight into the combustion system to keep down temperatures to improve emissions.

So I can believe that maybe the introduction of "free" steam may give an added efficiency of the engine.

But Aquygen? HHO?

Maybe I'm one of the scientists / chemists that still thinks this is impossible.

Chance of success in engine efficiency improvement ~ 25%

Chance of Aquygen being real <1%

Titled:   Iranian Law: Non Muslims Must Wear Colored Badges

Wizbang brings us news of an Iranian law that requires non-muslims to wear colored badges. It's obviously not enough to deny the Holocaust - they're starting to re-enact it:

Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.

"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."

Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.

Of course, all such rumors should be treated with a cynical eye at least until they have been corroborated.

The more amazing fact is that there are still 25,000 Jews in Iran, though again this may not be all it seems:

Jews who apply for a passport to travel abroad must do so in a special bureau and are immediately put under surveillance. The government does not generally allow all members of a family to travel abroad at the same time to prevent Jewish emigration. Again, the Jews live under the status of dhimmi, with the restrictions im posed on religious minorities. Jewish leaders fear government reprisals if they draw attention to official mistreatment of their community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More at Day By Day

Titled:   Judicial Watch to Obtain September 11 Pentagon Video at 1 p.m. Today

In a few minutes, Judicial Watch is expected to receive video of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that Department of Defense will release a videotape to Judicial Watch at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon that allegedly shows American Airlines Flight 77 striking the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.  The Department of Defense is releasing the videotape in response to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act request and related lawsuit.

Judicial Watch originally filed a Freedom of Information Act request on December 15, 2004, seeking all records pertaining to September 11, 2001 camera recordings of the Pentagon attack from the Sheraton National Hotel, the Nexcomm/Citgo gas station, Pentagon security cameras and the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Notice the word "allegedly" in there.

"Finally, we hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories involving American Airlines Flight 77."

Judicial Watch is expected to post the video on their site.

I expect to see a plane.

Update: While we wait for the Judicial Watch website to recover from the onslaught, here is a good account of the event.

Titled: Fare comment!

Drudge brings us a snippet of an unlikely hero, trying so hard to please, yet so far out of his depth. A taxi driver waiting in the lobby at the BBC was apparently mistaken for an expert in online music and rushed onto air. He gamely manages to bluff his way through a couple of questions before being whisked away. The best part is the look of sheer horror and confusion on his face when he is introduced and realizes why he is there.

Click here for the video.

The BBC apologised, saying the mistake occurred because the man was wearing Mr Kewney's name tag. Mr Kewney said: "Everyone seems to think he was a taxi driver waiting in reception to take me home. But no one knows for sure."

He added: "There were several surprising things about 'my' interview. Judging by my performance, English wasn't my first language and I didn't seem to know much about Apple, online music or The Beatles." He said the taxi driver "seemed as baffled as I felt".

Last night, the driver's identity remained a mystery. None of the taxi firms regularly used by the BBC would admit to employing him.