Bio
Software Engineer for the Space Telescope Science Institute, at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore Maryland Self-educated… more »
TMI
- What helps you sleep?: Nothing
- Dicks or Vaginas
- Production or Devel
- What song do you never want to hear again?: in a gadda da vida
- What movie can you recite verbatim?: Casablanca
Feb 11
Bruce Garrett commented on Television Station in Indiana Edits Report In an Apparent Attempt to Make Bigoted Special Ed Teacher Diana "Gays Have No Purpose" Medley Seem Less Hateful.
Bruce Garrett commented on Television Station in Indiana Edits Report In an Apparent Attempt to Make Bigoted Special Ed Teacher Diana "Gays Have No Purpose" Medley Seem Less Hateful.
Jan 26
Bruce Garrett commented on Never Heard of 'Em: King Crimson.
Bruce Garrett commented on Never Heard of 'Em: King Crimson.
Three separate times, I listened to it on the bus and had the exact same moment where I realized that I was still on the first track and three neighborhoods had gone by already.
I had the same experience trying to listen to Bruckner's eighth symphony on a bus once. It was horrible.
I had the same experience trying to listen to Bruckner's eighth symphony on a bus once. It was horrible.
Dec 10, 2012
Bruce Garrett commented on How to Kill Your Child and Not End Up in Prison.
Bruce Garrett commented on How to Kill Your Child and Not End Up in Prison.
@35: What you have on the Sig, as I read the literature, is decocking lever in lieu of a safety, and once that is used, according to the literature I read (I do not own one of those), the weapon is then "drop safe", meaning the firing pin is blocked from striking a round unless the trigger is pulled. Blocking the firing pin from striking unless the trigger is pulled is a very common mechanical means of preventing accidental discharges on modern firearms. And after the hammer is decocked you would need to do a double action pull to get it to fire...which I would imagine is kinda hard to do "accidentally".
But never mind...as you say, he violated three of the four rules for gun safety, but it's rule #2 that I'm going on about here because there seems to be this widespread misconception about the ease of which guns can go off by accident that allows people to get away with blaming the gun for their own stupid carelessness...when it's even that. No: he would have had his finger on the trigger. That was no accident, any more then turning the key in your ignition drunk is an accident. It was carelessness, and it got a kid killed.
More...
But never mind...as you say, he violated three of the four rules for gun safety, but it's rule #2 that I'm going on about here because there seems to be this widespread misconception about the ease of which guns can go off by accident that allows people to get away with blaming the gun for their own stupid carelessness...when it's even that. No: he would have had his finger on the trigger. That was no accident, any more then turning the key in your ignition drunk is an accident. It was carelessness, and it got a kid killed.
Dec 10, 2012
Bruce Garrett commented on How to Kill Your Child and Not End Up in Prison.
Bruce Garrett commented on How to Kill Your Child and Not End Up in Prison.
What 19 said. Also this: most modern handguns have built-in safety mechanisms that prevent an accidental discharge. Plus, semi-automatic pistols have a safety. So if the gun goes off "accidentally" it's because 1) if it had a safety you had that safety off when it should have been on and 2) you had your finger on the trigger.
I read this crap about police guns going off "accidentally" all the time and it's infuriating because they get away with it because lots of people don't understand how modern firearms have these safety mechanisms in them designed to prevent that from happening. Transfer bars and hammer blocks in revolvers, safeties, grip safeties, sear blocks, and such in semi-automatics. You need to defeat these to allow the gun to fire, and usually part of defeating them is you have your finger on the trigger.
It's like how drunk driving is an accident...except really it isn't. You were stupid and careless and you got someone killed and you need to be held accountable for it.
I read this crap about police guns going off "accidentally" all the time and it's infuriating because they get away with it because lots of people don't understand how modern firearms have these safety mechanisms in them designed to prevent that from happening. Transfer bars and hammer blocks in revolvers, safeties, grip safeties, sear blocks, and such in semi-automatics. You need to defeat these to allow the gun to fire, and usually part of defeating them is you have your finger on the trigger.
It's like how drunk driving is an accident...except really it isn't. You were stupid and careless and you got someone killed and you need to be held accountable for it.
Dec 5, 2012
Bruce Garrett commented on Department of Terrible Ideas: Now You Can Download Guns Off the Internet.
Bruce Garrett commented on Department of Terrible Ideas: Now You Can Download Guns Off the Internet.
Gun-control laws are essentially meaningless when you can make a gun in your house.
Swell. So now can we have a conversation about why this country is so damn violent, that doesn't involve getting into an argument about gun control?
Swell. So now can we have a conversation about why this country is so damn violent, that doesn't involve getting into an argument about gun control?
Nov 19, 2012
Bruce Garrett commented on Heroes and Villains.
Bruce Garrett commented on Heroes and Villains.
You've seen "Comic Book Comics" by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey? Same guys that did Action Philosophers touched on some of that Marvel history too.
Sep 25, 2012
Bruce Garrett commented on Koster: "If We Can Track Cattle with Chips, We Can Certainly Provide a Way for Citizens to Go Through a Process to Get Legal in This Country".
Bruce Garrett commented on Koster: "If We Can Track Cattle with Chips, We Can Certainly Provide a Way for Citizens to Go Through a Process to Get Legal in This Country".
The Mark Of The Beast turns out to be a microchip. The Microchip Of The Beast!
Jun 25, 2012
Bruce Garrett commented on On Booze, Meth, Suicide... and GOProud.
Bruce Garrett commented on On Booze, Meth, Suicide... and GOProud.
Cigarettes aren't a luxury item, they are maladaptive coping mechanisms.
Yeah...tobacco is another thing I'd have added to the list. Use it myself from time to time and always, always, it is a stress coping mechanism. When Lambda Rising was still in business here in Baltimore it was located next to the Gay Community Center. Every now and then when I walked in the bookstore I'd walk past a group of gay teens standing outside the GCC...it must have been on one of their youth group meeting times...and most of the kids would be puffing away...a little cloud of tobacco smoke around the group. I really hated seeing that...you just knew why those kids were smoking.
Yeah...tobacco is another thing I'd have added to the list. Use it myself from time to time and always, always, it is a stress coping mechanism. When Lambda Rising was still in business here in Baltimore it was located next to the Gay Community Center. Every now and then when I walked in the bookstore I'd walk past a group of gay teens standing outside the GCC...it must have been on one of their youth group meeting times...and most of the kids would be puffing away...a little cloud of tobacco smoke around the group. I really hated seeing that...you just knew why those kids were smoking.
Jun 25, 2012
Bruce Garrett commented on On Booze, Meth, Suicide... and GOProud.
Bruce Garrett commented on On Booze, Meth, Suicide... and GOProud.
Gotta love the way Barron first tries blend in with conservatives, then with gay folk. Sorta like the way anti-gay fundamentalists bellyache that calling them a bunch of knuckle dragging bigots is just hating on Christians.
May 30, 2012
Bruce Garrett commented on It Turns Out, Guns Do Kill People.
Bruce Garrett commented on It Turns Out, Guns Do Kill People.
"A person who has a gun is more likely to use a gun..." Whereas on the other hand, a person who does not have a gun is less likely to use a gun. Or not very likely to use a gun. If they don't have a gun. It is very unlikely that someone who does not have a gun will use a gun. I would say that it is not at all likely that a person who does not have a gun will use a gun. I would also say that it is likely, to a near certainty, that anyone who ever used a gun, had a gun. I think we can safely say with a high degree of certainty that everyone who ever used a gun had a gun they could use. I believe we can also safely say that there is no case on record where someone who did not have a gun used a gun.
I commend your department of Stating the Obvious. There are some really top notch people working there. I have never seen the obvious stated so obviously. Ever.
I commend your department of Stating the Obvious. There are some really top notch people working there. I have never seen the obvious stated so obviously. Ever.
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Lets hear it for Journalism. But at least other news outlets picking this up are still headlining the fact that at least one teacher on staff is involved in it and wants gay kids banned from the prom too.