Technically, rain that falls on your roof isn’t yours for the taking. It’s a resource of the state, which regulates the use of public waters through an allocation process that can take years to navigate.
The state has long allowed people to collect a small amount of rain without asking.
An officer complains about how he and other officers were portrayed in the book Generation Kill. Since a number of readers of the Ethereal Voice have read the book, we thought some space should be given to its critics.
This week’s essay of the week is The Crisis of Authority by the Chieftain of Seir. Some more links need to added and the formating needs some work. But it can be read now if anyone is in a hurry.
Or at least, that is what the SEC must be hoping. From Macro Man…..
At the same time, we have news that the SEC is looking at policing market rumours, particularly those surrounding the financials. Something tells Macro Man that this will be a one-way street; anyone suggesting that, for example, PIMCO and SAC have pulled Lehman’s line will face reprisals, but anyone suggesting that Warren Buffett is going to buy Lehman for $100 per share will remain unscathed. The UK has a head start on this particular slippery slope, with the FSA pursuing banking sector rumour-mongers and imposing farcically low disclosure thresholds for short interest in banks doing rights issues.
It’s all vaguely 1984-ish to Macro Man. If you use inappropriate language about a bank, they’ll do you. If you sell the wrong bank short, they’ll do you. If you wonder aloud on possible forthcoming bad news about a bank, they’ll do you. Perhaps sellside analysts should just cut to the chase and rate every financial out there with a “Doubleplusgood” rating. Who knew that MiFID stood for the “Ministry of Financial Information Dissemination.”?
The Irish tend to be good at ranting as Kevin Myers proves in this piece on Africa. We do not believe that the number of people are in Africa is the problem. Africa could easily support twice the amount of people it has now if it was properly run. But Mr. Myers does highlight the willful blindness of many professional do-gooders.
“Several potential adversaries have the capability to attack the United States with a high-altitude nuclear weapon-generated electromagnetic pulse, and others appear to be pursuing efforts to obtain that capability,” said Graham. “A determined adversary can achieve an EMP attack capability without having a high level of sophistication. For example, an adversary would not have to have long-range ballistic missiles to conduct an EMP attack against the United States. Such an attack could be launched from a freighter off the U.S. coast using a short- or medium-range missile to loft a nuclear warhead to high altitude. Terrorists sponsored by a rogue state could attempt to execute such an attack without revealing the identity of the perpetrators. Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of international terrorism, has practiced launching a mobile ballistic missile from a vessel in the Caspian Sea. Iran has also tested high-altitude explosions of the Shahab-III, a test mode consistent with EMP attack, and described the tests as successful. Iranian military writings explicitly discuss a nuclear EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States. While the commission does not know the intention of Iran in conducting these activities, we are disturbed by the capability that emerges when we connect the dots.”
While safety agencies in France are playing down the risk to public health from Tuesday’s uranium leak at the Tricastin nuclear plant, water-usage bans have worried skeptical residents and environmental organizations.
Following Tuesday’s accidental leak of over 30,000 liters (7,925 gallons) of a solution containing uranium in southern France, nuclear safety agencies are minimizing the possible danger. But emergency bans put on water use in the area by local authorities have worried residents and environmental organizations at a time when much of Europe is re-embracing nuclear power as way to slow global warming.
This would just be silly if it were not for real…..
Caught speeding in Highland Park in April in his father’s Acura RSX, Ryan Narciso found out the hard way about a recent change in a New Jersey gun law that could send him to prison for three years.
The 20-year-old sales clerk at a shop at Menlo Park Mall and former Middlesex County College student had a pellet handgun in the car, according to an indictment filed last week in Superior Court, New Brunswick.
The gun, a Gamo P-23, was sitting under the rear window of the 2004 coupe. Looking like a larger-caliber handgun, the firearm drew a quick response from the bicycle-patrol officer who stopped Narciso for doing 40 mph in a 25-mph zone. With gun drawn, the officer arrested him.
Narciso’s father, an architect, bought the pellet gun at a garage sale a few years ago to fend off squirrels that made their way into the attic of the families home on Mount Pleasant Avenue in Edison, the father and Narciso’s lawyer, Amilcar Perez of Perth Amboy, said.
Under a new state law, Narciso’s possession of the weapon qualifies as a Graves Act offense. Narciso could face what prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys call a “hard three,” meaning three years with no prospect of parole.
All this trouble because New Jersey defines an air gun as a firearm. What part of fire don’t they understand? With reasoning like this, it is only a matter a time before they start arresting people for firearm violations because they have a pocket knife in their pocket.
This Reason article has the explanation of how New Jersey defines a fire arm in the comments section.