Five items of interest to all of you

1) The number of people who care more about gun control than about the 2nd amendment has been greater for some time now, and it has shifted even further. This is according to a new poll by Pew Research Center: After Newtown, Modest Change in Opinion about Gun Control
Most Say Assault Weapons Make Nation More Dangerous

2) NASA has a new design for their next generation space suit, and it looks familiar. Have a look. NASA's is the one on the left:

To Infinity and Beyond!

3) Facebook is going to start charging one dollar per message for certain messages. They say it is for your own good.

In a statement posted online, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based social site cited research showing that "imposing a financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage unwanted messages and facilitate delivery of messages that are relevant and useful."

Facebook already lets members send messages to those outside their network of contacts, but those messages are routed to an often-overlooked "Other" folder. This new feature would let users send messages directly to a user's main "Inbox"—for a small fee.

Each message sent will initially cost $1, though Facebook plans to continue tinkering with prices.

That article is from a source that is regarded at least in the science community, as highly unreliable so if you need to know more about it you may want to check out other sources.

4) Matt Ridley, the author of a handful of pretty good but uninspired science books, also famous for being in charge of a bank or something that he ran into the ground due to utter incompetence, tuns out to be a Climate Science denier. Here's an article about that.

5) Hey, I have an idea, let's make sure, instead of limiting the number of guns out there, that there are numerous highly well armed and trained professionals around to stop shooters safely in their tracks without anyone getting injured. Like this.

More like this

1)German and Russian governments said to their citizens" You dont need guns".

2)So everyone gave up their guns.

3)Then both German and Russian governments pointed their guns at their newly disarmed citizens and said "Ok, now boad the train."

4)Then the disarmed citizens were shot, gassed, starved, beaten, buried alive, burned alive, raped, molested, experimented on, hanged, crucified, beheaded,etc.

... and they wonder why we don't trust government disarmaments of ciizens.

Throughout history, usually when a government disarmed, its citizens, it was becuase a cleasning mode was about to happen. Makes me wonder what the left has in store for the right once they disarm us.

By Kevin Sanders (not verified) on 20 Dec 2012 #permalink

Hahahaha. Yeah, right.

Kevin, thank you for the Made Up History lesson! That was fun!

How's the cleansing going in New Zealand, Australia and the UK?

I use a CZ .17 HMR to engage in varmint style shooting. I am trying to hit very small targets at a long distance. I don't hunt, but frankly, most folks who are for gun control and also demonize hunters aren't vegetarians, they are just removed from the reality of their daily meal. Although I'm not currently engaging in the sport, I've also enjoyed skeet shooting and target shooting with a pistol. I am extremely liberal in my politics and understand the rationale for gun control. I've even had a statement printed in the local paper after a shooting urging gun owners to tone down the vitriol. I tend to see no reason for anyone to have any semi-automatic weapon, nor to use weapons with detachable magazines or high capacity magazines. But, that is my position. Frankly, I've always seen gun owners as the ones who are being irrational. However, it does go the other way, their are gun control advocates who are irrational and would limit the freedom of responsible gun owners and hunters. At this point my feelings are that both sides have become so entrenched that neither finds itself willing to moderate and even when discussions begin in a calm fashion they seem to end with all parties becoming more rigidly entrenched than ever.

By Mike Olson (not verified) on 20 Dec 2012 #permalink

Kevin...I would love to see you and a bunch of poorly trained gun owners/rambos in their own minds stand 5 minutes to a SWAT team or any special forces team.
There are some argument for carrying guns that may be valid (very few), but the argument that the citizens need guns to defend against a corrupt government is one of the weakest one. It was completely invalidated as soon as the military class started developing professional members (meaning 1800s). That argument is usually only valid in the mind of very imaginative, power depleted(and power hungry) white men that feel that guns give them the power that "society" took from them(mostly when they let women and "aliens" like me ruin society).

In point of fact, Hitler's government liberalized gun laws in 1938, laws which had been in place and imposed because of the Treaty of Versailles. They only took away the gun rights of the Jews, 5 years after they had started rounding them up and putting them in ghettoes. I think you should perhaps study history a little more deeply, Kevin. The Nazi's had recruited many of their members through gun clubs, and I am not sure if you really want to use that fact as part of your "you know who else disarmed citizens" argument.

By Michael Haubrich (not verified) on 21 Dec 2012 #permalink