January 24, 2006

"...Na-na na-na-na na na na na na na, hey hey, goodbye

    Hey hey-hey, goodbye..."

 

                    - Partial (and redundant) lyrics from the song

                      "Na Na Hey Hey ( Kiss Him Goodbye)", by

                      Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, and Paul Leka

                      of the group Steam (1969)

 

 

To All,

    Well, it looks like the Great White North finally woke up yesterday and smelled the coffee with the defeat of Martin's Liberals. Perhaps then Canadians can finally "86" that $ 2 billion failed gun control scheme and spend the money on health care and schools, much as any good socialist country should.

 

In other news:

 

This Is The Future. Where Are All The Phaser Guns?:

     Defense Industry Daily (defenseindustrydaily.com) is reporting on the latest progress of that Wundermachingewher known as Metal Storm.

 

     For those with long memories, the concept revolves around an electrically fired slug system with a cyclic rate faster than the tongue of a used-car salesman. DID's report concerns a Metal-Storm-style grenade launcher mounted on it's own track system that seems to be headed for US field trials. (Sounds like the "in" gift for that homeowner with gophers in the begonias.).

 

     But what the Metal Storm concept may also presage is an firearms electrical engineering revolution which moves away from the basic reliability of mechanically-actuated firearms systems found in past, combat-proven designs (Given that electrically powered Gatling guns are generally the sole province of the "Gubmint" and more than a few well-heeled Kentuckians).

 

     When one also takes into account the desires of the gun control movement to somehow make "obsolete" all mechanically operated personal firearms (all the better to do them away with), in favor of real-life versions of movie "phasers" or "lawmasters", any trend towards electronically oriented firearms invokes both caution and concern.

 

     Firearms owners have their own customer-specific demands- that firearms be so reliable as to boggle the minds of the entire Engineering Department at MIT, and as well as be so durable as to be able to pass them on to grand and great-grand children in otherwise working order (Given the pride, tradition, or incomes of a large number of Red-Staters, the venerable deer rifle or duck gun is often the only useful bequest that heirs commonly get without "officially" setting off the Death Tax.).

 

    It is in these last aspects that the downside of electronic firearm systems is most apparent. No one wants to have their favorite defensive firearm go off-line for want of a watch-battery (frozen or otherwise), or be permanently scrapped due to some "inadvertent" exposure to an electromagnetic pulse (Think "Iran" in this example.).

 

    But with the ever-increasing acceptance of such expensive, relatively non-durable investments as laptop computers and digital cameras, one wonders if the firearms market will one day allow manufacturers to follow the siren song of that old melody, "Planned Obsolescence. (For example, imagine one day a Les Baer Government model for the price any one of New York's "Crazy Eddies" is offering for a Nikon D70 kit, but where said handgun buyer has to worry about 500 recharge limits on batteries or the time between upgrades of intrinsic operating software, much as today's digital photography hobbyists have to.).

 

    Of course, it would not be all "skittles and beer" for the Brady Bunch, should this "1984+ 21" come to pass. Modern digital SLR cameras literally have the kitchen sink installed in them. They have 3-4 types of methods of "auto-focus" and 5-10 types of light meter biasing (Konica-Minolta's newly defunct D-50 has zone biasing, much to the possible chagrin of the Ansel Adams acolytes in Carmel). In other words, for the same price of an expensive, more manual SLR from 10 or 15 years ago, the modern digital camera focuses itself, has integral flash and spot meters, and can take up to 1200 snapshots for less than the price of a roll of film and it's processing would cost today.

    

    Transpose such "Moore's Law"-like effects to personal firearms, and one could imagine a more "disposable", cost-efficient, electrically-fired firearm which self-aims in the dark and has a hit probability of 99.9% out to the effective range of the caliber involved, no matter the acumen or capabilities of the trigger puller. Also, imagine the impact on the bureaucracy should the controlling (read registration, as far as the ATF is concerned) element in a smart gun was not the "lower" so much as a computer chip smaller than a Pentium 4 (sans cooling fans). There could even be interactive optical sight menus that allow the shooter to adjust the point of aim for back-lit targets, running assailants, or even that old favorite, the "crook-who-uses-human-shields".

 

    Of course, should there be a "grokking" of the above Future Shock-scenario by Sarah and Her 40 Minions, perhaps they will decide that it is better to leave well enough alone. "Smart" guns as currently (and fully) imaginable would open a Pandora's box that America's Oligarchs could scarcely countenance (Hey, electronic guns could even show up at each year's CES in Las Vegas, thus doubling the exposure one normally finds at the Annual SHOT Show.). Our current experience of ubiquitous, yet short-lived, electronics should mitigate against any further desire by the uninformed out there for purely electronic firearms.

 

Link at:

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2006/01/metal-storm-wins-
phase-ii-sbir-awards-from-pentagon/index.php

 

 

The D'Oh Heard 'Round The World?:

(Disclaimer- This poster worked for 6 months on the below-noted case against Sprint at the local level. This was done so as to preserve protected oak and sycamore trees, protect local property values, limit direct exposure of certain local residents to the radiation transmitted by cell-phone systems, and preserve a certain degree of local authority in having a say over what takes place in the public right-of-way. Sprint had been defeated at two local levels of government, and had received a summary judgment against their case at the Federal Trial Court level. A 3 judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court recently reversed the Trial Court's decision. The decision as to whether to appeal or not is still pending.).

 

 

    A recent ruling by a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit may have just given land-access groups, mining interests, lumber companies, and oil firms a most useful tool, one that could give a Cosmic Wedgie to environmental groups bent on closing off vast sections of wilderness to public use.

 

    This tool may just be in an interesting ruling by a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court, known as Sprint PCS v La Canada

(Case # 05-55014, D.C. No. CV-03-00039-DOC Opinion). Perhaps, with the creative application of this ruling, all that companies like Weyerhaeuser, Halliburton, or even Borax may have to do to gain access to certain areas currently off-limits to human activity (due to road closures and the like) would be to "partner-up" with the nation's telecom suppliers and help provide a denser "rural" cell-phone infrastructure.

 

    In turn, any roads and access needed to expand or maintain said telecommunications access (includes emergency cell phone access, GPS tracking of lost or injured hikers, and other aspects deemed critical to the full implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act in those states with such spread-out populations as to put them "last" on the service list) could possibly be used to piggy-back other forms of economic activity in such places as the Eastern Mojave, certain tar-sands formations throughout the Rockies, or even the ever-popular ANWR (Heck,  those environmentalists bent on exploring ANWR on foot must need now and then to call out for tofu pizza with lemon grass and achiote, when the mood for munchies strikes).

 

    So, how did this potential gift from The Development Gods come to pass?

 

    The case concerns two applications by Sprint to install micro-cell transmitters systems and antennas in the public right-of-way of that sleepy little hamlet known as La Canada-Flintridge, California (LCF for short).

 

    Population 20,000 or so, and the real home to the JPL, LCF is self-identified as "Tree-City USA". They've got oaks (some in the 36-40" trunk-diameter-48-inches-above-ground-level class) and sycamores, along with a host of non-native types that keep large areas of the town green year round.

 

    But what LCF also has are upper income families, and upper-end entrepreneurs. The desire to compete to provide cellphone services for heavy/lucrative users thus seems to have led Sprint to a decision to increase an already existing service by adding bandwidth through the addition of several microcell units throughout the city ( A review of city permit applications, as well as court filings, seems to indicate that Sprint is following through with an aggressive plan to install similar microcells throughout urban and suburban America.

 

    Of course, no elected city government wants to be without development of such a critical infrastructure as wireless communications.

 

     But no elected city government also wants to have owners of multi-million dollar homes come down to city meetings and gently croon "Whazzup!!" over the proposed installation of above ground bunkers in the public right of way, the aiming of microcell antennas directly into living quarters 45 feet away (talk about 24/7 service), or the construction of underground vaults within the drip-lines of oak trees that take an act of Congress (or the State Legislature, even more) just to give a pedicure to.

 

     As such, when Sprint was ultimately directed by the City Council (local appeal level) to go back and find another spot rather than go ahead and adversely impact 200-300 year-old oaks and sycamores, blocking the public right-of-way, etc.,  they decided to bypass an appeals process available through the California State Public Utilities Commission and "go for the 'Silver Bullet" in the Federal Courts.

 

     Of course, as much as it was gratifying to see Sprint's position rejected by the Trial Court, it was also disappointing to see the three judges of the 9th Circuit not rule in favor of Sprint's opponents in that certain installations, both above and below ground, pose a substantial risk to flora otherwise protected by State, and possibly even Federal, regulation.

 

     And what is being sold by a Lamestream Press as a "dislike" by certain locals over the "appearance" of 36" long microcell antennas aimed directly at one's living and bed rooms, is in reality much more complicated story over whether or not the media understands anything more than the latest press release of the last public relations flunky to get to them before the Happy Hour kicks into overdrive.

 

     Now, the potential short-term impact is readily apparent. If not overturned, local regulatory bodies will effectively become rubber stamps for macro- and micro cell installations. Engineering requirements for "competitive" signal coverage will trump, for example, the public's desire to place Los Angeles Unified School District playgrounds off-limits to microwave transmission systems. If a telecom wants to place a macrocell installation smack dab in the middle of critical Stephen's kangaroo rat habitat in Riverside, then the otherwise protected rodent will just have to move or be squished by the tower's footings (One could posit that it is hard to tell the difference between a Stephen's kangaroo rat squished by the weight of a macrocell pole, and one squished by a farmer's combine outside of Bakersfield).

 

    Yet one would be remiss in the mentioning, for at least the sake of discussion, that the expansion of rural and wilderness wireless coverage could be the most significant capital improvement since rural electrification.

 

    As such, Sprint v. La Canada may just prove to be the cudgel in which road, service, and public access can be had once more throughout large areas throughout the country. It is only through time, and the completion of the legal process, will it be decided once and for all the full impact of this case.

 

   

Links at:     http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/D0166213044EF
CAC882570F9005E377F/$file/0555014.pdf?openelement

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/18/
BAG5CGOV731.DTL

 

 

When Only Criminals Have Guns Update:

     Sophie Goodchild reported at the The Independent (Online Edition) on January 22nd about the radically increasing rate of gun crime among drug gang elements in England.

 

     According Home Office statistics, some areas of Britain have seen offences involving firearms increase by 50%, despite the various gun ban measures enacted since Dunblane.

 

     What is also reported by Goodchild is that British police are encountering such fully automatic firearms as MAC-10's, AK-47 assault rifles (the real kind, not a semiautomatic civilian variant), and Skorpion CZ91S machine pistols.

 

     Whether this report finally constitutes the final "straw" that leads to an "We Told You So!" moment is best left to the reader.

Suffice it to say that the operative phrase of this story truly is-

 

    " More gun control laws, more gun crime".

 

Link at:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article340224.ece

 

 

"Nuts!":

(With apologies to the late Anthony McAuliffe, former commanding general of the 101st Airborne during action at Bastogne, Belgium)

 

     Insightmag.com is reporting in an un-attributed article that certain anonymous Administration sources are reporting that there may be a coalition forming in Congress that is exploring the possibility of impeaching President Bush over "Echelon" and "Carnivore" data mining and phone intercepts involving potential al Qaeda agents inside the Continental United States.

 

     Of course, one potential answer to these barracks-room lawyers is simply the following:

 

                    President Dick Cheney

 

Go ahead, make our day.

 

Link at:

http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/impeachment.htm