Police Robots: Helpful Tools or a Precursor to SkyNet?

“This is not the beginning of killer robotics, domestically, but it is hard to distinguish this and a drone strike,” Calo said. “The police had exhausted their other options, they thought.”

I don't really have any problem with the police using a robot to kill the Dallas shooter like they did. The guy was cornered, but still a threat to innocent people, and it would have been a risk to storm his position. Just waiting the guy out wasn't an option.

I'm not really concerned with how the application of lethal force is applied. I think we should be concerned with the decision in applying lethal force. Once the decision to use lethal force has been made, the manner in which it is applied seems rather inconsequential.

What's the difference between killing a guy with a sniper's shot, blowing him up with a bomb, hitting him with a drone strike, or just knocking him in the head with a big rock? Assuming you're only killing the target and there's no collateral damage, then all of these things are equal to me. Killing is killing.

I actually applaud the Dallas Police Department for their ingenuity in this tactic. It ended the standoff quickly, probably saving lives. If the guy had been barricaded in a house in the middle of the woods and wasn't an immediate threat to anyone, I wouldn't want deadly force used.

I just hope the weaponized robots don't become self-aware.

Five Police Officers Killed in Dallas - The falcon cannot hear the falconer

A suspect who died after a standoff with Dallas police said he wanted to kill white people -- especially white officers -- and that he was upset about "the recent police shootings," and that he acted alone, Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters Friday.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Morning News Headlines 7/7/16

Just thought I'd put some headlines out there since I haven't done that in awhile. Here's the news that I've seen so far this morning:

1. No end to the Afghan war: Looks like the next President will be handed the war in about the same situation it was before.

2. Rare Thomas Jefferson letter discovered in family's attic: It's valued at over $300k and is from 1815. I'm amazed that it's survived. Very cool.

3. Drones reported flying over the Savannah Nuclear Site. I think this is against the rules. Hopefully, it's people just being extremely careless, rather than casing the joint for some sort of attack.

4. Another fatal officer-involved shooting. In Minnesota this time. Looks like a police officer shot a man who was legally carrying concealed. We've got to figure out a way to train police better.

Buying Guide to American Muscle Cars

Interested in buying an old American muscle car? Here's your primer.

Everyone wants a 1971 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda so they’re very expensive. Meanwhile, a ‘Cuda powered by a 340 small-block V-8 will not only be much cheaper, but likely drive better than the temperamental Hemi. Don’t get hung up on a particular muscle model; that’s almost a sure way to get ripped off.

Buy what you like, and enjoy it. Don't expect to get rich off it, either. Personally, I wouldn't mind having an old Ford Bronco like this one:

1966 Ford Bronco

No it's not fast, and no it's no muscle car, but damn if ain't nice lookin'.

Random Quote of the Day: The Edge of No Return

I was talking to someone who had toured Gettysburg last week, and every time I think of that battle one of the links my mind brings up is this passage from Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust:

“It's all now you see. Yesterday won't be over until tomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago. For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two o'clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it's all in the balance, it hasn't happened yet, it hasn't even begun yet, it not only hasn't begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it's going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn't need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think This time. Maybe this time with all this much to lose than all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago; or to anyone who ever sailed a skiff under a quilt sail, the moment in 1492 when somebody thought This is it: the absolute edge of no return, to turn back now and make home or sail irrevocably on and either find land or plunge over the world's roaring rim.” 

Faulkner is such a master of capturing the history and ethos of the South.

NY Times Piece on the Law School Bubble

A law school classmate of mine brought this NYT article to my attention. It's an in-depth piece on the small law school that we went to back before the law school bubble burst.

Valparaiso was, in effect, caught in a deflating financial bubble, one most law schools were slow to heed because of the government’s role in financing legal education. Applications ultimately tumbled about 40 percent nationally between 2010 and 2015, and by a roughly similar percentage at Valparaiso.

Although the piece focuses on Valparaiso, it could have been written about any number of law schools around the country. Things that can't go on forever...won't.

Happy Independence Day Weekend

Yeah, we'll be phoning it in starting....now. Below the jump are some patriotic images (or just ones that I like for no particular reason).

NCAA Championship for Coastal Carolina!

The boys from Conway have done it!

Way to go, Coastal! Welcome to the promised land of college baseball!

Will Muschamp on Second Chances

"I know that at South Carolina, I'm replacing a legend in Steve Spurrier. I also know that I was by no means a sexy hire. I told my new athletic director, Ray Tanner: Let's not win the press conference; let's win football games."

Last year the Gamecocks won three games. It won't take much to improve on that. I don't think South Carolina will be in the race for the SEC East anytime soon, but we should start laying the foundation for it by getting better every day.

Do you even lift, bro?

Over the weekend, some friends and I lifted an approximately twenty-foot, 805 lb. steel beam, moved it about thirty yards, and then used a chain hoist to raise it up about nine feet.

Steel beam is pictured in the back.

We were helping my parents rebuild their house in the aftermath of last October's flooding, and this big steel beam is the new main structural support beam for their kitchen.

Thanks to the Workhorse Gym, friends, neighbors, and McBeal from F3Columbia for the assistance!

That's how you lift.

Coastal Carolina to Start Freshman in Elimination Game Tonight

"While Coastal Carolina now faces a must-win game Thursday night against Texas Tech if it wants to continue this unforgettable postseason run, the Chanticleers will not rush ace right-hander Andrew Beckwith back to the mound on short rest."

It's the biggest stage there is in college baseball. Looks like they are going to send a freshman to the mound to start the game, but I'm sure that all hands are on deck for this one.

I hope the Chanticleers can keep the magic going!

Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/sports/college/big-south/coastal-carolina-university/article85215092.html#storylink=cpy

Thoughts on the latest Game of Thrones Episode: "Battle of the Bastards"

Brad put his thoughts on the episode up over at his campsite, and my comment ran a little long, so I decided to make my comment a stand-alone post. Brad's good at getting me thinking about stuff, which is why I like his blog so much, even if I don't agree with him on everything.

In any event, I kinda figured that Rickon was not going to survive the episode, and for the reasons Brad mentioned, I didn't really feel much emotion when he died. I mean, I could barely remember anything about Rickon at all. He's Ned's son. Okay. Other than that, I got nothing. Did anyone really feel that bad when he died?

I was sort of surprised that Jon Snow did exactly what Ramsay wanted, but the Starks sort of have this streak of "damn the torpedoes" in them, so it's not entirely out of character.

Once the Bolton army had Snow surrounded, I was thinking "No, not like this! It's supposed to be the other way around!"

I was really hoping the battle would unfold like the legendary Battle of Canne, where a numerically inferior force defeats a numerically superior force by letting the Boltons attack, bending back, and then folding in the flanks. I really wanted Jon Snow to have a glorious victory over such an evil foe and reclaim his family's home.

Jon Snow was supposed to be the force in blue. He turned out to be the force in red. You never want to be the force in red on this type of map.

However, the battle goes exactly the other way, and Sansa had to give us the deus ex machina to save the day, which was sort of satisfying in the way a surprise ending can be. Before that, I was thinking, "This is Canne in reverse! GoT is just evil."

The ending with Sansa starting to get into all the intrigue and killing Ramsay seemed to be her moving from the character that had things happen to her to becoming the character that actively did things. It's also made her a darker character, which fits with the overall GoT ethos.

Overall, I would have liked to have seen a Canne style victory for Jon, and you could still have had Sansa ride in late and keep her character development the same. Daenerys needs to really move along to Westeros. I'm sort of getting tired of her foolin' around with all these slave holders. Let's get her into the fight. I'm sure the season finale will lead us up close to that happening, but not quite all the way. 

The Etymology of "The Devil To Pay"

Happy Monday, you lovely coves.

I thought I'd share an interesting passage from The Mauritius Command, which is the fourth book in the Aubrey-Maturin series that I'm making my way through.

One of the enjoyable things in reading these books is learning the etymology of so many figures of speech that have their origins in sailing. Here's one I came across last night:

"Stephen involuntarily brought them back by asking the significance of the devil, among those that followed the sea, as in the devil to pay, a phrase he had often heard, particularly of late - was it a form of propitiation, a Manichaean remnant, so understandable (though erroneous) upon the unbridled elements?
     'Why the devil, do you see,' said Jack, 'is the seam between the deck planking and the timbers, and we call it the devil, because it is the devil for the caulkers to come at: in full we say, the devil to pay and no pitch hot; and what we mean is, that there is something hell-fire difficult to be done - must be done - and nothing to do it with. It is a figure.
     'A very elegant figure, too.'"

Pretty cool.

The Gadsden Flag is Back and It's Super-Fabulous!

These posters appeared all over West Hollywood the other day. When you think about it, women and LGBT folks ought to be on the front lines of gun rights. Armed women don't get raped and armed LGBT folks don't get slaughtered en masse.

Maybe this is the beginning of something. A new group of folks realizing that they are responsible for their own safety?

Thursday Open Thread

My feelings today:

Talk among yourselves, I'm busy.

Deadliest Terror Attack Since 9/11 - What can we do?

By now, you've seen and heard what happened in Orlando on Sunday. With the death toll at "at least 50" it's now the deadliest terrorist attack in America since 9/11.

In the coming days and weeks, you're going to hear lots of people say that they have a solution to this problem.

Democrats and anti-gun folks are going to say that banning certain types of guns will solve this problem. They're wrong. Donald Trump and his supporters are going to say that banning certain types of people from entering the country will solve this problem. They're wrong, too.

The hard truth is that there isn't an easy solution to this problem, and anyone who tells you differently is lying to themselves or lying to you. So what can we do?

We can be prepared.

First, we're all responsible for our own safety. The police aren't able to be everywhere all the time. By all accounts, the police did everything right in this instance, but they aren't able to just instantaneously appear. What does that mean? Well, it means that we all need to do some thinking about how we're going to keep ourselves safe.

I'm not saying that we should live our lives in fear, but we should be prepared. For example, every school conducts fire drills on a regular basis. Now, school fires aren't very common at all, but we still conduct fire drills because we know that if there was a fire, we need to have school children leave the building in an organized manner to avoid chaos. In fact, I can't even think of an instance of a fire at at school, but I sure can remember all the fire drills that I was a part of.

We need to apply this same type of preparedness to our daily lives. So many people walk around in a blithe state of unpreparedness, the only thing that can save their lives when confronted with danger is dumb luck or the ineptitude of the attacker.

You don't need to go around armed all the time, but you certainly could. However, being armed isn't the most important thing. The most important thing is your mindset. You have to be mentally prepared to defend yourself. In fact, if you're armed, you need to be in the right mindset, or you're just going to be part of the problem.

I know it's not pleasant to go around thinking about the fact that the world is a potentially dangerous place, but it is. If you want to work on getting into the right mindset and believe that self-defense is something that you want to engage in, I would highly recommend this short essay by Jeff Cooper. It's only 41 total pages and you could read it over your lunch break. Here's a brief sample:

                                                Principle One: Alertness
"'A commander may be forgiven for being defeated, but never for being surprised.' This maxim is among the first to be impressed upon new lieutenants. It is equally applicable to individuals who aspire to a degree of physical security in today's embattled society. Alertness is, to some extent, an inherent personality trait, but it can nonetheless be learned and improved. Once we accept that our familiar and prosaic environment is in fact perilous, we automatically sharpen our senses."

The rest of the essay goes on to detail the other principles, which Cooper lists as: Decisiveness, Aggressiveness, Speed, Coolness, Ruthlessness, and Surprise.

There's no magic solution to violence, but we can at least try to be in the right mindset in the event that we find ourselves in a situation where you find yourself in a violent situation.

Intimidating Pre-Game Ritual?

Every country plays sports of some kind or another. We, as humans, love competition. In every sport, you'll find pre-game rituals that vary in type, but the main core of all pre-game rituals is to mentally prepare yourself for the competition, and possibly to intimidate your opponent.

One interesting pre-game ritual is the haka performed by the New Zealand National Rugby Team. Here's a clip of the New Zealand team performing the haka before playing the French in 2011.

By the by, the New Zealand "All Blacks" are the pretty much the best around (basically since the invention of rugby) when it comes to international rugby. It's kind of what they do.

Also, how cool of a nickname is "All Blacks"? It's just a no-nonsense kind of nickname, where you sort of think: Hey, these guys don't even have bright colors or anything. They just show up in all black like this is a business meeting for them.

I bet the New Zealand players sort of kid the other teams for their colorful uniforms. Hey France! That blue looks adorable, or is it cyan? We picked black because we were too busy practicing rugby to worry about silly little things like colors. (but I digress)

What do you think about the pre-game haka? Intimidating, or not so much?

Trump Supporters Assaulted by Lefty Protesters; Riots, Destroying Property, and Physical Violence Short of Murder is Encouraged by Vox Editor

NBC has the report.

Everyone is complaining that Trump is a fascist, a strongman, and doesn't care about the rule of law. If you're one of those people, then guess what, buttercup? Don't go 'round assaulting people, rioting, and trashing things. That's what actual fascists do, mmmkay?

You can't call Trump the second coming of Hitler and Mussolini, and then act like a Brownshirt when you see people who support him. Direct violence against people who disagree with you politically isn't acceptable. Stop it.

The other thing is that for every event like this, these violent, rage-filled idiots are helping Trump. The people who do this are doing more to help Trump win votes than a whole week of Trump rallies will ever do.

And apparently, there are people (credentialed people) who are encouraging this. From the deputy editor of Vox:

Advice: If Trump comes to your town, start a riot.

— Emmett Rensin (@emmettrensin) June 3, 2016

Oh, and in case you weren't clear on what he meant, he meant, do anything short of actually committing murder.

@michaelbd Destroying property is legitimate. Shouting down is legitimate. Disruption of all events is legitimate. Murder isn't.

— Emmett Rensin (@emmettrensin) June 3, 2016

Seriously? Destroying property is legitimate? Hurting someone, but you know, just not killing them, is legitimate?

Time for the obligatory quote:

Blue Angel Pilot Killed in Crash; Thunderbird Crashes, Pilot Unhurt

F/A-18s in the Missing Man Formation

Sad to hear about the Blue Angel pilot who was killed in a crash yesterday. In a bizarre coincidence, a Thunderbird crashed the same day. Luckily, the pilot was unhurt.

We all go to airshows and can easily think these guys are invincible flying around at high speeds far above the enemy, but it's important to remember that these guys are doing a dangerous job. Keep all the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines in your thoughts and prayers.

These two incidents are only a drop in the bucket of what the men and women of our armed forces endure on a routine basis.

Why did America fight the Korean War?

If you don't know the answer, here's a quick primer from Victor Davis Hanson.