A Geek With Guns

It’s no secret that I’m a big Ron Paul supporter but I think I may have found a presidential candidate that would be even better. Vermin Supreme describes himself as a friendly fascist who will promise is constituents everything because he has no intention of ever delivering on those promises. He also advocates giving every American a pony, a plan nobody could refute in its wisdom and clarity:

When I read this story I couldn’t help but laugh:

Two accused shoplifters had their car broken into while they were attempting to steal from a supermarket, police said.

I wish this kind of thing happened more often. Also take a look at the mug shots of the shoplifters, that woman’s face is why you shouldn’t do meth kids.

This is quickly turning into one of my favorite memes:

I spent Saturday and Sunday fulfilling my Oakdale Gun Club membership requirements in the form of 18 hours of range service. On Sunday I may have overheard one of the most cringe-inducing conversations in my history as a shooter. The conversation was regarding one shooter’s AR-15:

Questions Guy: “Is that an AK-60?”

Me: I just sighed but honestly there is no foul in not knowing what a particular gun is.

AR-15 Owner: “No, it’s an M-14.”

Me: Ohjesuschristonapogostick.

It’s an entirely different thing when you down know what your own gun is. Before anybody asks, no the AR-15 owner did not sound like he was simply giving the other guy shit.

Many of the participants at the numerous occupations have been complaining about the recent increase in “moochers” taking food and donated goods meant of the occupiers. Rob Allen has presented a novel idea for dealing with this problem:

Since you have all the food necessary to feed the people, we can consider it a place where you store goods… I dunno, call it a ‘food bank’ or something. We know that because you have only a limited amount of food, you need to ensure that the food is distributed correctly. One way you could do this is issue vouchers for food with the condition that those who take food promise to bring more in later to replenish the stocks. Call this “a food loan”. Even the homeless people would have to agree to pay back their fair share of food. By doing so, your bank can ensure it always has enough food to feed everyone!

Finally, when you realize that there’s not enough food to go around, you can tell all the people holding ‘food credit’ that they need to pay up and when they complain that their degree in Domicile Avoidance hasn’t permitted them to obtain sustenance (you’re gonna love this part) you can forgive everyone’s food loans!!!!! Just like that!

Exactly.

I feel as though all the news I deliver on this blog is downright depressing so here’s something to make you smile instead:

It’s rare that I find a skit on Saturday Night Live worth watching but the ending of this spoof of the recent Republican Presidential Candidate debates is solid fucking gold:

Now we know the true reason for Ron Paul’s absolute support of the Second Amendment.

I often compare the state to the mafia but as this document [PDF] written by Emily Sandblad points out, the mafia is actually better than the state:

Reason Number 10: The Mafia has a sense of honor. If they say that they will do something, they stick to it. Nobody in the government has a clue what a sense of honor is. If they say that they will do something, you can count on it only if you’re getting screwed.

Reason Number 9: The Mafia code of conduct is simple and clear, and unfettered by legal doublespeak and millions of regulations.

Reason Number 8: When competing Mafia families go to war, they don’t kill hundreds of thousands of civilians as “collateral damage.” War is the health of the state, but for the Mafia, it’s bad for business.

Reason Number 7: Instead of conducting the war on drugs and the American people, the Mafia is perfectly happy to peacefully provide high-quality products to those who desire them.

Reason Number 6: When you buy protection from the Mafia, you get protection. The Mafia has a good track record for limiting violent crime in the areas that they protect. When you buy protection from the state, you can dial 911 and die.

Reason Number 5: The Mafia’s protection is much less expensive than the state’s. The Mafia wants ten or fifteen percent of your profits, while the various levels of government will try to snatch at least 40 to 50 percent of your profits.

Reason Number 4: Unlike the state, the Mafia wants your business to succeed. They know that ruining your business means that you can’t pay for protection. The Mafia imposes almost no regulatory overhead, nor do they require that you waste your time filling out zillions of self-incriminating tax forms.

Reason Number 3: The Mafia won’t keep you from having a gun to protect yourself and your property. The state prefers that you be disarmed. The Mafia will gladly sell you the means to protect yourself and they won’t bother with a Brady check, either.

Reason Number 2: The state wants to regulate what you do in your bedroom. The Mafia not only does not want to regulate what you do in your bedroom, they will gladly sell you whatever you need to enhance your enjoyment.

And the number one reason why the Mafia should replace the state:

Members of the Mafia have a great sense of style, dress far better than government bureaucrats, and are much easier on the eyes.

So there you have it. The next time that somebody argues that anarchy results in an increase in organized crime, smile sweetly and tell that person it would be a real improvement over the state.

Heh.

There are times in a programmer’s life where he receives a bug report and realizes right away that it’s not a bug but the user failing to understand how to use the software. This is one of those cases:

I am the developer of some family tree software (written in C++ and Qt). I had no problems until one of my customers mailed me a bug report. The problem is that he has two children with his own daughter, and, as a result, he can’t use my software because of errors.

Those errors are the result of my various assertions and invariants about the family graph being processed (for example, after walking a cycle, the program states that X can’t be both father and grandfather of Y).

How can I resolve those errors without removing all data assertions?

Obviously a case of user error.