Around the blogs

There's a rich harvest of good blog posts out there this week.

Brigid reminds us of more than a few truths about self-defense, and the need to be prepared. I suggest you read her post, then my article about the changing urban self-defense environment. Taken together, they reinforce each other nicely.

We mentioned 3D printing as a means to evade firearm regulation during our last Around The Blogs post. Clark, writing at Popehat, takes the idea further, and illustrates that:

Due to forces of technology (CNC controlled machine tools, cheap computation, open source ethics, and social sharing of designs) gun control is utterly dead. It’s a corpse, staggering along, not yet aware that it’s been gut shot, it’s blood pressure has dropped to zero, and its brain (such as it is) is about to die the True Death.

. . .

Gun control will stagger on for a bit, but there’s no putting some genies back in their bottles, and home printed firearms are one of those genies.

More at the link. Well written and good reading.

Ever wondered how derivatives work? Ray, over at A Moral Compass, explains them by means of a very useful analogy.

Wings Over Iraq has an interesting conversation with us from the point of view of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), examining the implications of 'intelligent' drone aircraft for future warfare. He concludes:

You couldn’t do what you’re doing without drones. If you still don’t think that currently-available technology drastically influences your choices, your missions and your whole environment, consider the invention of the automobile - then look at a map of any American city. You would be [a] totally different society without your cars, and you would have a completely different foreign, military and intelligence policy without me.

You’ll probably see me at home in the US before long. We already patrol your borders and do some of your weather flights. Soon we’ll take over for your traffic helicopters and fly your cargo aircraft. We’ll do it for less, too. Why? Because confidence breeds comfort, and the more confident you are in what we can do, the more comfortable you’ll be letting us do it. And the more likely you’ll be to make choices, whether it’s for war or for shipping a package, that put us to work.

I’m becoming your boss because my capabilities, not your policy priorities, are now driving the conversation.

More at the link. It's rather chilling, but I fear he's all too accurate in his assessment.

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT AHEAD! The Bloggess discusses how to make - of all things - an ice dildo. Not safe for work or children, but very funny - particularly the comments!

Grouchy Old Cripple gives us three simple rules to get out of poverty.

Finally, on a tragic note, an English police constable describes a horrific death in a traffic accident, how he had to watch it happen, and how he coped with it afterwards. This is NOT suitable reading for the faint of heart; but those providing police and/or fire and/or emergency medical services will find much to which they can relate. Heartbreaking reading, but that's the reality such people face on our behalf each and every day.

Peter