aubreyturner.org

I’m going to be leaving for Colorado tomorrow morning to visit my sister.  I likely won’t be blogging unless something really ticks me off while I’m gone.  I’ll be back on Monday the 18th.

There’s an interesting story in why I’m making a Christmas visit this early in December.  No time to tell it now, but I’ll write something about it when I get back.

Stay safe and warm.

Sometimes things happen with spooky synchronicity.  Someone emailed me via my gun show page contact form asking about a “new or used 243 (combo, youth or adult)” for a Christmas present at the lowest price possible.

Now this is a difficult question to answer, as there are many possible rifle models that meet her first criteria (.243, combo, youth, adult).  But price is another matter.  Not being that familiar with prices for .243 rifles, I consulted GunBroker and some other sites to get a feel for MSRP and average selling prices.

What got my attention, though, was that this came right after I’d been looking at this morning’s Cabela’s circular, which just happened to have a Savage 11FYXP3 Youth Combo in .243 for $409.99.  (Note that the Cabela’s ad shows it as a 111FYXP3, but that it doesn’t appear on Savage’s site.  From what I can see, this may have been a typo on the part of Cabela’s, as the ones that start with “111” appear to be long action, which doesn’t include the .243, while the “11” models are short action and include .243.)

I don’t know what kind of scope that is, but for a .243 with Accutrigger, this seems like a decent price (the base 11F model without a scope lists for $509 and seems to hover around $400 in the market).  Yeah, it’s got a synthetic stock, but that’s to be expected at this price point. 

Also worth noting, given my recent post about youth rifles is a CZ Scout on sale for $199.99.

Here’s yet more proof of why it’s not smart to mix drunk idiots and guns.

A 47-year-old man who was shot in the head Wednesday night during an exchange about whether he could smoke inside a friend’s house died Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

Robert Williams was pronounced dead at 3:10 p.m. at John Peter Smith Hospital.

Margore Carter, 49, was arrested Thursday evening by members of the U.S. Marshal’s Task Force at a relative’s home in Arlington, police said. She faces a murder charge.
…
A witness said that “the suspect then jokingly stated that she had something that would make him go outside,” Boetcher said.

Carter went to her bedroom and returned with a gun, investigators said.

Acting Sgt. Mike Carroll said she first aimed the gun at a window near Williams and pulled the trigger. The gun just clicked.

“From the other witnesses’ statements, they all thought she was kind of playing around,” Carroll said. “She then walks up to him, puts it to his head and pulls the trigger, and it does go off.

“According to her, she was surprised.”

There are two things I don’t accept as excuses when it comes to ND’s:  a) It just went off; and, b) It was unloaded.  I *always* follow the rule that a gun is loaded unless I’m doing something that specifically calls for it to be unloaded (such as cleaning).  I even recheck if it’s left my hand since I last checked.

I can’t abide a shooter who, upon being called out for bad gun handling behavior, tries to excuse it by saying that it isn’t loaded.  It’s really not very hard to maintain safe habits, and excuses are rather poor comfort when your neighbor is lying dead on his floor, stuck down like a bolt from the blue by *your* “oops.” 

And the “it just went off” excuse is utter crapola.  Barring mechanical malfunction (which is very rare and still requires violation of the three rules to cause harm), guns require some kind of human input to fire.  As someone so eloquently stated somewhere that I can’t remember, “Keep your booger hook off the bang switch!”

Anyhow, this idiot (enhanced by alcohol), willfully violated all three rules, resulting in the death of another person.  Let’s hope she gets plenty of time in the gray-bar hotel to contemplate her errors.

It seems a bit of Ego Googling has brought some life back to the comments on my post about MADD’s plan to embed passive alcohol detection devices in all cars.

I suspect it might be a bit annoying to Mr. Murray that the comments page for that post is the Number 1 hit on Google for the string “MADD Florida Murray.”

Lawdog mentions something interesting about the availability of a particular model of .22LR rifle:

Of course, since Little Miss is a girly-girl, nothing will do but to get her the Model 225.

Why, you ask?

Because it’s the one with the laminated pink stock. Duh.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I find that to be completely and utterly cool—It’s a dedicated Girl’s First Rifle.

About bloody time!

Apparently, I’m not the only one to think this, because we couldn’t find a Crickett Model 225 at any of the gun stores we called.

Not only that, but each store we talked to informed us that their suppliers were out of the laminated pink ones until after Christmas.

That news gives me the warm fuzzies.

That news tells me that a whole bunch of little girls are getting a rifle for a present.

For those not familiar with the Crickett rifles, they’re small .22’s suitable for children to use when learning.  Here’s the 225:

It’s a single shot, bolt-action, with a manual cocking mechanism.  This means that the shooter has to concentrate on making the shot count and that a very specific set of deliberate actions is required to prepare the rifle for shooting (just loading a round in the chamber and closing the bolt isn’t sufficient).

My nieces have a model 230, which is the one with the synthetic black stock.  Here’s my older niece shooting it just after Christmas last year:

After they were done I gave it a try.  It’s got such a short length of pull that it’s not really very comfortable for an adult, but I found it to be acceptably accurate.  Still, if you’ve ever seen an adult sit in a chair in a kindergarten classroom, you can imagine shooting this rifle is something akin to that.

Anyhow, it’s not intended for people like me.  It’s entirely suitable for teaching discipline and marksmanship, though.

The recent Risks digest had an interesting item about a bug in Firefox that ended up causing a woman to discover that her fiancé was visiting dating sites behind her back.

He was pretty diligent about clearing his browsing history and the cache to prevent her from finding out, but this bug gave him away quite by accident.  He had made sure to never allow Firefox to store his password for the dating sites, but it turns out that under the “Saved Passwords” page you can access a list of sites which it will never save passwords for (in response to you pressing the “Never for this site” button).  This turned out to be his undoing, as the list turned out to be shared between user accounts.

At least she has a little bit of a sense of humor about it.  Check out “Step 9” in the “Steps to Reproduce.”

This privacy flaw has caused my fiancé and I to break-up after having dated for 5 years.

Basically, we share one computer but under separate Windows XP user accounts. We both use Mozilla Firefox—well, he used to use it more than I do but now we don’t really use it.  The privacy flaw is this: when he went to log-in under his dating sites (jdate.com, swinglifestyle.com, adultfriendfinder.com, etc.), Mozilla promptly asks whether or not he’d like Firefox to save the passwords for him.  He chose never, obviously.  However, when he logged off his user account, and I logged onto my Windows XP account X amount of days later, I decided to use Firefox because hey—it loaded everything much more
efficiently, was better to work on with website designs and is a lot more stable than IE7beta2.

Firefox prompted whether or not I’d like it to save my password for logging into my website.  I chose never and changed my mind.  I went into the Password Manager to change the saved password option from Never to Always and that’s when I saw all these other sites that had been selected as “Never Save Password.”  Of course, those were sites I had never visited or could ever dream of visiting.

Then I realized who, how and what…  and sh*t hit the fan.  Your browser does not efficiently respect the privacy of different users for one system.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create 2 unique user accounts (for steps sake, let’s call the two accounts Joe and Mary) in Windows XP Home.
2. Logout and sign-in under Joe.
3. Open Firefox and go to an e-mail site or to jdate.com or wherever.
4. Attempt to log-in to the site so that Firefox will ask whether or not you want your password saved.
5. Choose not to save the password.
6. After successfully logging in and having selected the “never save password” option, logout.
7. Log-in as Mary and open Firefox.
8. Browse, browse, browse… but you don’t really have to.  Just go to “View Saved Passwords,” click on the tab that will show you sites to never save passwords for, and you’ll see whatever painful site Joe denied to save a password for.
9. Break-up with fiancé.

Firefox should be respecting every single area of privacy per user on one system.  It’s not doing that…  I’m going to submit this as Major because not everyone shares one computer, but it should really be considered Critical.

So, guys, let this be a lesson not to mess around on a tech-savvy woman.  Or at least don’t do it on her computer.

I used to be somewhat a fan of the Dallas Cowboys.  But these days I’m having a hard time of it.  Ever since the city of Arlington stole the homes of some of its residents to build the Cowboys a new stadium I just can’t get into them.  I see red every time I think about it.  So I’ve decided that I will not be watching any games from now on, I won’t purchase any of their merchandise for myself or anyone else, and I will never attend one of their games just on the general principle that I don’t want to support the organization in any way, shape, or form if they’re willing to accept and benefit from the theft of land.

The abuse of eminent domain is something that infuriates me beyond belief.  My first impulse when I see it is that the politicians involved should be gibbeted from lampposts at the town’s entrance as an example to others of what happens to thieves.  But then I remember that other parts of our laws frown on such behavior (unfortunately). 

I realize that eminent domain is sometimes a necessary evil.  But it should never be used for the benefit of any private enterprise.  If a company wants to build something, they can negotiate with the owners just like anyone else.  If the owners don’t want to sell, then too bad. 

Now I’m sure there will be people who object to my use of the term theft.  But, it seems to me, that there are major conflict-of-interest issues with having the same governmental entity that is taking the land decide its value.  If the owner is compelled to sell a property at less than his/her asking price, then he or she has been deprived of the value and that is theft. 

Of course, the next objection is that some people would demand much more than the land is worth.  To which my reply is, “So?”  While some ascribe this to greed, it’s usually a signal to the marketplace that they DO NOT WANT TO SELL.  Many of the people in Arlington were in situations where taking the city’s offer, even if it was “fair,” would have ruined them financially.  Because they were in an older neighborhood they often had older homes that were worth less.  But at the same time, new developments in the surrounding area have driven up new home prices.  It would have been impossible for many of them to afford a similar home and lot in an area reasonably close to their current locations with the amount being offered by the city.

Perhaps one way to fix this would be to require that the injured party be made whole again.  So instead of paying “fair value” (whatever the city decides that to be), there should be some sort of third-party, independent, evaluation of the replacement costs of the home and land.  This would be what it would cost for the purchase of a new home of the equivalent size (with equivalent size lot) within no more than five or ten miles from the original home (so that they can maintain job and family ties).  Would this be more expensive?  Yep.  That’s the whole point.  Cities ought to be forced to pay what’s really fair, not what they can get away with.

I’d also like to see this used for the Trans-Texas Corridor.  I really don’t like the idea of eminent domain used for a privately-financed road (and I could give less than a damn about the rhetoric being spewed from mealy-mouthed spokesmen about how it’s going to be state-owned; it either has to be 100% state owned and financed or it’s private, but eminent domain privileges should only be used for a fully state-funded project)

I don’t usually comment on the doings of the so-called entertainers we are assaulted with these days, but I can’t help but observe that it’s this sort of thing that really shows the difference between a pretty hack and a real professional.

Former Dallas resident Jessica Simpson was in tears last night after freezing during a song she was performing during the Kennedy Center Honors.

Simpson was on stage to sing Nine to Five as part of the tribute to Dolly Parton, one of the evening’s five honorees. Simpson ended her performance abrupty with the words “so nervous” and ran off the stage. The audience remained silent, giving her no applause.

Simpson appeared to be crying when she and other singers in the tribute returned to the stage.

I would suggest to Ms. Simpson that there exist these things called “practice” and “rehearsal.”  I know those sound weird, but they’re intended to alleviate this very problem.  She would do well to avail herself of them before she faces her next public humiliation.

Proper Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.

An article in this morning’s Star Telegram floored me with the fundamental shortcomings of some elementary teachers. 

Melissa Eastman really got fractions for the first time this summer—eight years after she began teaching kindergarten.

She knew that one-half is greater than one-fourth, and that one-fourth is greater than one-eighth. But why was less clear. It didn’t seem logical that fractions got smaller as the numbers got larger.

During a math workshop for Mansfield school district teachers, it finally clicked. The teachers cut paper into smaller and smaller pieces to show how fractions make up the whole.

“I remember my dad sitting down with me and trying to make it make sense, but it didn’t,” said Eastman, who teaches at Anderson Elementary School. “I needed it explained to me in a different way.”

Experts say it’s common for elementary school teachers like Eastman to struggle in math.

Trained as generalists, elementary education majors typically take one or two core math classes in college and one on how to teach math. That’s in addition to classes that prepare them to teach reading, social studies, science and even art in some cases. The weakness in math has become more acute in recent years as the state and federal governments have looked harder at standardized-test scores.

Maybe I’m a freak or something, but I instinctively understood fractions when I was about five.  I was learning to read and amused myself in the car by reading road signs.  You frequently encounter fractions on road signs and after listening to how my father read them and putting the words together with the numbers I understood what they meant*.

Given what passes for teaching these days, though, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that many teachers don’t “get” math.  When we see schools trying desperately to avoid right/wrong or pass/fail grading so as to spare the precious feelings of the kids, not liking or avoiding math makes sense.  If you get your feelings hurt by being wrong, you’re going to absolutely HATE math.  You either have the right answer or you don’t.  Math cares not for your feelings.

Anyhow, I was greatly amused by this part of the article:

For the past four years, TCU has required education majors to take two in-depth classes on teaching math rather than one. Next year, all TCU education majors will also be required to take calculus.

I’m sure it’ll be a dumbed-down introductory calculus class, but it’s still going to be a bloodbath.  My first reaction was that I’d pay to watch the class, just for the amusement value.  [Perhaps this isn’t the time to mention that my second major after Computer Science was Math?  I kind of thought Calculus was fun, at least the first three semesters.  The fourth was a bit of a bother, but that was due more to the 8:00am class time than to the subject matter.] 

Interestingly, the article goes on to point out that having people proficient in math teaching the students actually makes a difference.  I know that for most people this is one of those “Duh!” revelations, but I suppose the educational establishment has to rediscover these things on its own.  They’ve spent so much time focused on educational methods and study that they forgot about the fundamentals. 

The Birdville school district is experimenting with math specialists this year at 10 elementary campuses. The specialists divide their time among schools and focus on specific problem areas with small groups of students and teachers.

Birdville’s specialists must have at least four years’ teaching experience and extensive math backgrounds, said Caren Sorrells, math consultant for the district. Some are former high school math teachers; one is a retired math coordinator from the district. They excel in interactive, research-based exercises, she said.
…
“I can’t believe the difference we saw even in just two weeks,” she said, noting that some students who struggled before working with specialists were starting to pass, and even excel on, math tests and quizzes

Not only do people who understand (and even like) the subject matter make a difference in the amount of knowledge transfer, I think their attitude comes through to the students.  If someone is uptight, nervous, or insecure about the subject matter it’s harder to teach.  You have to know the subject fairly well to teach it.  In fact, teaching something (if you do it right) is a good way to make sure you understand it.

* The only trouble I had with fractions in school had more to do with a hostile learning environment than with fractions themselves.  In fourth grade I was sent to “remedial” math because I was unable to complete some exercises at the board adding fractions.  They tested me there and sent me back.  The real problem was our evil teacher who stood by the board with a paddle and whacked you if you got something wrong.  That’s a lot of pressure to put on 9 and 10 year-olds.  Perhaps our teacher was overcompensating for her deficiencies in math.

I heard on the news this morning that a Farmer’s Branch real estate agent has sued the city over the new illegal immigration ordinance.  What’s interesting is that it’s a procedural claim rather than an attack on the substance of the issue.  The agent claims that the council considered the ordinance in closed session, which supposedly violates the Texas Open Meetings Act. 

I’ve heard a lot of heat and noise from various pro-illegal organizations about suing over the ordinance (which they all claim is “blatantly unconstitutional”).  However, so far, none have actually filed a suit. 

So at this point all we have is a procedural attack.  I wonder if we’ll actually see an attack on the substance of the ordinance?  I haven’t given it much examination, but I never really saw what made it unconstitutional.