Ken's Weblog

People should not fear their governments; governments should fear their people.

Month: June 2006

  • Contempt of Cop

    Nauseating..

    This.

    It should never, ever be a crime to tape or record police officers while they’re on duty. They’re public servants. They work for us. If they can use surveillance to monitor private citizens, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to use surveillance to monitor them. Again, this goes back to applying the same laws to the government that we apply to the people.

    I’m working on a police corruption case right now where the guy on the receiving end of the corruption would be as good as dead were it not for the fact that he wised up to what was going on, and began wearing a wire for every interaction with the police. The “if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about” canard is indeed a canard when applied to private citizens. But when applied to people who work for us, to whom we’ve given an immense amount of power, and whom we’ve licensed to use deadly force, it’s perfectly applicable.

    One of the recommendations in my paper is that every drug raid be videotaped. But it should go beyond that. It’s obscene for a citizen to be arrested for recording the actions of a police officer. Laws criminalizing the practice not only ought to be revoked, they should be replaced with laws codifying the right to record law enforcement, and forbidding the prosecution, intimidation, or seizure of the recording of the people who do it.

    [The Agitator]

    Michael Gannon, 49, of 26 Morgan St., was arrested Tuesday night, after he brought a video to the police station to try to file a complaint against Detective Andrew Karlis, according to Gannon’s wife, Janet Gannon, and police reports filed in Nashua District Court.

    It’s blatantly obvious that the real reason Gannon was arrested is that he tried to file a complaint against an abusive thug. We can’t have the peasants getting uppity.

  • An Ecofreak Victory

    The Spring is Silent on DDT . Let there be no doubt that the war on malaria has failed. It is estimated that 800,000 children in Africa die from the disease every year, and as many as three million people altogether every year.

    We know how people contract it: from mosquitoes. We know how to control it: kill the carrier mosquitoes. And we know what kills them: DDT.

    So why has the war on malaria failed? Because governments banned the cure. Now they claim to wonder why people are sick and dying.

    […]

    The hidden hand behind this horror is none other than the environmentalists. The frenzy against DDT launched their movement. It is what emboldened them, and gave their political agenda momentum. In some ways, their campaign against DDT perfectly sums up their political bent: using state power to ban products and services that help humans, and thereby cause history to roll backward.

    The extent to which the green movement is wrapped up in this history is obvious from the fact that we are living through a genuine silent spring, with the press ignoring the causes of malaria. The New York Times presents the epidemic as “mystifying,” and most people know nothing about the role of the environmentalists who are responsible for millions of deaths by malaria, and in Africa, of all places, the continent that the Left claims to love to help. [Ludwig von Mises Institute]

  • Wrong Lesson

    Japan Defense Chief: Iraq Was a Lesson. Japan’s 2 1/2-year military deployment in Iraq will be a lesson for future missions as its troops assume a bigger role in regional and global security, the country’s defense chief said Wednesday. [Hickory Daily Record]

    Apparently the lesson wasn’t “mind your own business and keep your soldiers at home.”

  • No danger to who, exactly?

    Day one of the UN gun ban summit.

    Cam Edwards at TownHall.com – the commU.N.ist gun grabbers have convened in New York City. Most of them are attempting to hide their agenda with rhetoric that sounds like they will preserve the right of individuals to defend their lives. But the statement from Indonesia’s representative gives it away: [gunblogs]

    Quote:

    We believe that no armed group outside of the State should be allowed to bear weapons. We also believe that regulating civilian possession of Small Arms/Light Weapons will enhance our efforts to prevent its misuse. In our view, the issue of ammunition should also be addressed in the context of the Program of Action because in the absence of ammunition, small arms and light weapons pose no danger.

    [End the War on Freedom]

    The Indonesian representative should tell that to the 300,000 Rwandans who were hacked to death with machetes (“light weapons”) because they didn’t have guns to defend themselves with.

  • iView Bought

    Microsoft acquires iView. It appears to be acquisition season. Today iView Multimedia, who brought us MediaPro, has announced that it has ‘joined’ Microsoft. MediaPro is a fairly well known digital imaging workflow and management application which was originally created for Mac and later evolved to Windows. In the announcement on the iView website today Yan Calotychos, founder of iView, stated quite clearly that Mac support would continue and that the iView product range will continue to be available (and supported). [Digital Photography Review]

    I use MediaPro to catalog all the photos I’ve scanned. I’m not particularly optimistic about the quality of that continued Mac support, but then the current Mac support hasn’t always been so great either. Hopefully Microsoft’s resources will result in better QA.

  • Drive Offensively

    Carlson: Reprimanding a careless kid is a crime? Apparently. You’re driving down the street obeying traffic laws and generally being a good citizen, when some idiot kid wanders into traffic.

    You slam on the brakes and swerve, missing the kid and leaving a puddle on the car seat.

    You have two choices. You can shut up, drive home 5 miles an hour and have a stiff belt. Or you can take a moment to tell the kid how she almost got herself killed and ruined your life forever.

    You’re better off going with the first option, considering what happened to Barnaby, who went with the second.

    This is because the 28-year-old Evanston, Ill., man ended up – and this is not a joke – being officially branded a sex offender.

    The facts, as reported in the Chicago Sun-Times, show that an angry Barnaby called to the 14-year-old he’d nearly run down, yelling, “Come here, little girl.”

    He then got out of his car, took her by the arm and gave her a lecture about how stepping in front of a vehicle is a very bad idea.

    The girl ran away, complained to police and Barnaby was charged with – again no joke – attempted kidnapping and child abduction. This is even though he didn’t attempt to take the girl anywhere. Barnaby beat those charges.

    He was, however, convicted of unlawful restraint of a minor. And in Illinois, that is considered a sex offense.

    That means even though he didn’t do anything to the kid other than take her by the arm and give her a lecture that might end up saving her life, he must register as a sex offender. He is prohibited from living near a park or school and must keep local police advised as to his place of residence.

    He might even get his name and picture in the local newspaper, to advise neighbors they’re living near a sex offender. [Des Moines Register]

    The moral of the story? If you’re driving in Illinois and a kid runs out in front of your car, you’re better off gunning it and running her down than giving her a lecture on safety.

  • New Earphones

    My Etymotics ER-6 earphones gave out recently, with the right earphone no longer producing sound. This is the second set I’ve owned, and while they work really well while they last, both have failed after a relatively short time. I ordered a slightly more expensive replacement made by Shure.

  • Soccer Fans

    Here’s a photo of soccer fans watching a World Cup game in Koreatown last Sunday.

  • Inertial Armor a Reality

    Liquid Armor.

    Eva Gladek at ScienCentral – a new nano-particle-impregnated liquid will make flexible body armor more effective, especially against punctures from knives or shrapnel. Article links to Real and Quicktime videos. [codrea]

    Quote:

    “We can make thin layers of material for use on the arms and legs that remain flexible under normal motion, but become rigid and absorb energy when impacted by a ballistic threat or a knife,” Wagner says.

    U.S. manufacturer Armor Holdings recently licensed the technology and plans to release its first products by the end of the year.

    Wagner says there could also be many civilian applications – like protecting people during car crashes, or making tires sturdier.

    [End the War on Freedom]

    The idea of flexible armor that becomes rigid on impact has been around for years in science fiction, most commonly known as “inertial armor.” It’s surprising that the technology is so close to real-world use. I’d definitely be interested in buying a suit once it comes on the market.

  • Inkjet paper review

    The next generation of inkjet papers are here! The introduction of new papers from Hahnemuhle, Innova, and Museo have everyone scrambling for these papers, as they are suppose to be the reason to finally come out of the darkroom. After all, B&W silver gelatin paper manufacturers are starting to disappear, causing more artists/photographers to convert to digital printing methods. This does not mean that we should start expecting these paper companies to create exact replicas of our favorite silver gelatin papers. We as a community, need to start suggesting what we would like them to change about their current papers rather than asking them to match paper that is oriented to a completely different process. These three papers are derived from exactly that, all three companies listened to the cries of those tired of RC semi-gloss or luster papers. The papers they produced are a tremendous accomplishment for the first generation of a new product, remember these papers are first generation.

    If you are tired of the plastic feel of the traditional Luster or Semi-Gloss inkjet papers then the introduction of these papers is just for you. I personally like to think the difference of these new papers to Resin-Coated inkjet Luster papers, is a close comparison to that of Resin-Coated vs. Fiber-based paper in the B&W darkroom. The idea or concept of finding a paper that works with the look and feel that you are trying to find, to create the aesthetic in your artwork/photography is finally back. These papers as you will read are very close in the technical specifications, however, you will find each one has unique benefits to the end-user. It is up to you to decide which of these technical factors you care about in your imagery.

    […]

    These three papers are truly complimentary in my opinion, as every user will be looking for one of the unique characteristics of each paper. You will always here reviews of inkjet paper where people bash papers with information that is more about personal preferences then true quality or paper issues. These papers are clearly close in technical qualities and the real question lies in “What is your preference or feeling you are trying to provoke in your imagery?” We have finally returned back to the idea of which paper should I use to provoke the feeling and quality I am trying to portray in my artwork/photographs. In closing, do yourself a favor and try all three papers to see the unique qualities for yourself and do not listen to all the hype from all of the reviews. Each of these papers is unique and you may find, as I have, that you may have different uses for each of these papers.

    The toughest part of getting these papers to create beautiful inkjet prints, is the twiddling of our thumbs as we wait for these papers to be available on a regular basis. [Booksmart Studio]

    I’ve been looking for samples of these papers since I first heard about them a few months ago. The demand for them is so high among professional photographers that they are all very hard to find except in the 44″ rolls used by the largest high-volume Epson printers.

    I managed to located a pack of 8.5×11 sheets of the Innova F-Type Gloss, and a two-sheet sample of the Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl. I also have a pack of the Crane Silver Rag en route, and should be able to try it early next week. Both the Innova and Crane paper were ordered from Jim Doyle at Shades of Paper.

    I was quite pleased with the Innova and Hahnemuhle papers, although obviously my testing of Fine Art Pearl was pretty limited with only two sheets available. Within that limited testing I saw very little difference between the two. The Innova paper was just a hair warmer, and the manufacturing quality seemed a bit lower. The F-Type Gloss pack I got has slivers of loose paper all along the edges, as if the sheets were cut with a dull blade. This doesn’t affect the print quality, but I do have to carefully remove the slivers from each sheet before use to ensure that they don’t come off inside my printer and ruin the next print.

    Both papers are very impressive (even with the manufacturing problem), and I would gladly buy more of them–if only I could find them in stock. In fact, I already have a photo that needs to be printed at 11×17 or 13×19 on one of these new papers to look its best.