Guns

Here's my gripe about firearms.

What do people use firearms for? And I mean actually use them for. Hunting. Practice shooting. Killing people in churches, schools, and small towns. Oh yeah, and occasionally shooting and killing someone that's trying to hurt or kill someone else.

Call me biased. Call the media biased. Sadly, I see lots of law abiding and legal gun owners who are very zealous about their guns, and very steadfast, willing or even eager to use them in defense of their lives or property, and I see lots and lots of gun crime. Just to go ahead and nip this, saying "See! This one dude used his gun to shoot and kill a VERY BAD PERSON who was trying to use a firearm illegally!" does not work for me. Its still gun violence. It does not solve anything. It is an isolated case of someone meeting violence with violence, and taking one bad guy off of the street. Forgive me if I'm not overwhelmed with joy and amazement.

I started to write that my beef is not with gun owners. But I suppose it is. I just don't believe that guns are effective at solving anything. Killing people, absolutely. But not at solving problems. Gun owners say that their guns are for their own protection, yet in the US, we see gun violence on a daily basis. And 99 times out of 100, its bad guys killing bad guys, or bad guys killing innocent people. Legitimate gun owners aren't even in the equation. So I ask you: What's the use? Until we either arm everyone in the country, and make absolutely sure that they're using their firearms responsibly, or we take guns off the street (yeah, I'll say it, make them illegal in the US. Flame me.), we will continue to see gun violence.

/rant

(For my gun loving buddies, this is not me being passive aggressive toward you, just me ranting.)

Day 67: Empire

From 365

I'm a huge computer game nerd. This was one that I've looked forward to for quite awhile.

Now, back to kicking some Prussian ass.

Day 66: A Bee

From 365

Took a few shots of the pink cherry tree in our front yard, and it was tough to choose which one to upload.

Day 65: Hueys, post Watchmen

From 365

I picked up the Watchmen trade paperback fairly recently. I was never really a comic nerd. Surprisingly, some of my friends are comic nerds, and yet I'm the only one to have read it.

We went and saw the movie Friday night. We all enjoyed it. Its impossible not to compare the book and the movie. The movie was very faithful in most respects to the book. There were parts that were dropped or shortened, either for simplicity or for the sake of time. And while I'm sure that Alan Moore and purists would argue that it does in fact completely destroy it, I say that the movie is still a great story. It does mostly capture the spirit of the comic. There are some minor differences, and some slightly-more-than-minor differences. But it's good. But you should totally grab the comic and read it. Catching all of the stuff in the comic that was not in the movie is very very very worth it.

We all went to Hueys afterward to chit chat. I have to mention my friend Jeremy, who is a lucky S.O.B., he's had two wrecks in a week, one on a motorcycle. He's fine, but quite sore. I really feel bad for him. He's a car nerd, and the first wreck was in his beloved SRX, which took some serious damage, but is not totaled, and will be able to be repaired. AND THEN, he laid his motorcycle down. Like I said he's fine, and we're all glad for it. Hopefully, this was his run of bad karma and he's good for a long long while.

Day 64: Machinery

From 365

Part of the manufacturing process of hardwood flooring.

Day 63: My Rack

From 365

A few of my servers. In my rack.

Day 62: Airport Drive By

From 365

I hate cop out days. Like, really really totally cop out days. Someone put up a photo recently, and claimed it was a cop out, and I was like "Really? Cause that photo looks awesome."

*glare*

Today was really really totally a cop out day. This was me driving by the airport on the way home from some off-site labor. Be glad its not a pic of the delicious hummus sitting in front of me.