] streets. If terrorism is our major concern right now why make
] it easier to buy automatic weapons in our country.

This wasn't a ban on automatic weapons (guns that continuously fire if you hold down a trigger). Those have been banned since the 1930s.

This was a ban on semi-atuomatic weapons. Well, thats not true either. You can get a gun that has the same rate of fire and uses the same ammo (ie same large holes), both before and after the ban.

This was a ban on accessories to semi-automatic weapons. The guns couldn't have certain things, like bayonet mount points, 30 bullet ammo clips, folding stocks, flash suppressors, grenade launchers, etc.

This is key. The guns available both before before and after the ban cause the same amount of physical damage. This is what the gun nuts harp on and say that the ban was stupid because of this so-called "power issue."

However, most of these features, (most notably the flash suppressors, large ammo clips, and of course, grenade launchers), make the guns more deadly, even if they shot them same bullets as banned guns. This exposes police and others to unecessary dangers. Thus I supported the ban and am sad to see it not restored.

It's rather funny to see NRA members balk when you ask them how a 30 bullet clip, flash suppressor, and bayonet mount help them "hunt" or protect their homes.

RE: Weapons Ban Ends Today

] Welcome to my screenshot gallery. Below you will find
] links to the various galleries I have setup here,
] including screenshots from Phase 2 and Phase 3. I have
] switched to 1600x1200 resolution for Phase 3 so the
] pictures are considerably larger

These are awesome

Neenog's World of Warcraft Shots

Photos from this weekend's Friends of O'Reilly (FOO) camp.

Foocamp 2004 pictures @ Smugmug

] A television journalist was shot dead as he made a live
] broadcast from Baghdad yesterday when United States
] helicopters fired on a crowd that had gathered round the
] burning wreckage of an American armoured vehicle.

DAMN!

US Forces shoot TV reporter during live Baghdad broadcast

Through an unforunate turn of events, I'm going to be in the Bay area from thursday morning until friday afternoon, before I head to the O'reilly FOO camp. I have no idea how to fill my time. Is the ferry out to Alcatraz worth the time? What about Fishermen's wharf and the pier area?

What's a hacker to do with a day or 2 in SF? Felonies will be considered.

] "Broadband voice services are a new and emerging market,"
] said Stephen Carter, Ofcom Chief Executive. "Our first
] task as regulator is to keep out of the way."

With all the talk about slow technology adoption in the US we have had on Memestreams the last month or so, it's interesting to see how other countries differ. I could never imagine anyone at the FCC saying the above statement.

But would less regulation of emerging technologies increase the adoption rate in the US? We have companies that file patents but never make the product. Instead they generate revenue by suing people who infringe the patent. What do we need to do to increase the adoption rate, or at least create a better enviroment for cool technologies to be used, even if by only a small part of the population?

Technology adoption rate

] Trust-no-exe is a executable file filter. It attaches to
] the operating system and filters all executable files, be
] it .exe .com .dll .drv .sys .dpl etc from all drives and
] all network shares against a list of files or paths, you,
] the administrator provide as trusted applications. If a
] prohibited executable (one not in the allow list or one
] explicitly defined in the deny list) is loaded, a popup
] box informs the user with an intelligent message that can
] be customised to your site.

Interesting option for SysAdmins to prevent users from executing programs in Windows, even programs on non-NTFS partitions.

Trust-No-Exe

Zifty.com is a Atlanta-only version of Kozmo.com. They delievery pretty much anywhere inside the perimeter (and noticeably north of I-20...) with the typical Kozmo-ish stuff: Foods, snacks, movies and games.

update their delivery space is more midtown centered. Map is here: https://www.zifty.com/deliveryarea.html

On the cool side, all the food is from local businesses, like Jakes' ice cream, etc.

Zifty.com - Localized version of Kozmo.com

] Police said Gabrielyan attached a cellular phone to the
] woman's car on August 16 with a motion switch that turned
] on when the car moved, transmitting a signal each minute
] to a satellite. Information was then sent to a Web site
] that allowed Gabrielyan to monitor the woman's location.
]
] The woman learned how Gabrielyan was following her when
] she discovered him under her car attempting to change the
] cell phone's battery, police said.

Man accused of stalking with GPS

] Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron ("Monster")
] suffered an injury while filming the Paramount/MTV movie,
] "Aeon Flux."

Excellent casting job with Theron as Aeon.

I don't know how I feel about a movie though. I enjoyed the show, though at times it pissed me off. They were deliberately vague about the universe of the show. This isn't normally a problem. I love Stephen King's Dark Tower series, even though you need to get a good way into the 3rd book before things start falling into place. However with Aeon Flux it almost seemed the creators keep the backstories and plots vague so each episode could be about what ever the hell they wanted. Rarely were previous events mentioned, and episodes usually contradicted each other. Perhaps they were all part of a giant epic story which we only caught glimpses of before MTV pulled the plug. Most likely it was a guy thinking up loose story lines to showcase his cool art, much like the story of Grease was created because a song writer wanted to link together a bunch of songs he had already written. Not that having a show showcasing cool art is a bad thing, but call it what it is.

People always rave about how great of a show Aeon Flux was. But if you really drill them on it, it winds up they though the art was cool, she looked hot, and that a show totally different what normal TV. I can shit in a bag and it would be something different than normal tv (or would it?). Don't confuse innovation with greatness. The original Divx was innovative, but it totally sucked.

Hopefully the creator managed to write a storyline that is consistent, instead of a 5 minute shorts that were streched into 30 minute shows. If so, the movie will rule.

Charlize Theron Injured on Aeon Flux Movie Set