Handling a Berserker in a Grocery Store

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This just might save your or someone else's life some day.  From a discussion about alternatives to CCW.

• Grabbing an hurtling as many soup cans as fast as possible in the supermarket scenario, ain't being Walter Mitty. You will draw his fire, at 68 I'll risk it all, on the grounds others will see and follow suit, before he gets to me.

  10 minutes ago · Like
• Take the cap off a vinegar bottle and toss that. BBQ light anyone? Bleach? Hammers in the hardware aisle, motor oil in automotve, and be sure to try the mortar approach from the next aisle. Or go get a knife yourself in the housewares aisle.

  5 minutes ago · Like
• Broken Champagne bottles? Yogurt? How many potatos can you launch in 5 seconds. Artichoke Hearts jars are perfect.

  3 minutes ago · Like
•  and of course, banana peels, bulk pepper.

  about a minute ago · Like
• Ram him with a shopping cart! Damn the knives, full speed ahead!

Gaming the Aesop Substitute System

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Competition for substitute teaching jobs in this county is fierce.  In times past the school secreatries and the teachers basically had their favorites, and breaking into that circle was nearly impossible.  With the recent transition to the Aesop Substitute system, that all changed, for a little while.

The system consists of online accounts for the teachers calling sick, and oline accounts for the substitute, one account for each individual involved.  I was in the system and getting jobs very nicely back in January and February, but then I took a vacation for March and April, except for the last week.  Much to my amazement, according to Aesop, nobody was sick last week.

Not believing this by Thursday I called up one of the Districts in the county, to see what was up.  I was informed that indeed, on Friday they were using 13 subs.  I have my computer on continuously all of Thurday and through the night on Friday, connected to my home theater , with the volume set to put the cat on the ceiling and leave the neighbors wondering if an earthquake had struck.

Still nothing.

Did the same thing all weekend, and added in SubAssistant, a second program that watches for posted jobs and keeps a record.  It is now 5:18 am, on a Monday morning, and across the three districts I am monitoring, on a Monday morning, not one person has called in sick.

I can only conclude that the old inner circle system is back, and that what is going on is that the teacher on the phone or the secretary in the office is literally letting the desired sub know the very second a job is posted.  By hitting the refresh button a fraction of a second later, that sub is the first to see, and then accepts the job, such that no one else ever even sees the job.  In the event someone else DOES see the job, the requesting teacher or secretary can then cancel the job, wait a minute or two, and relist list the job until the "right" substitute gets it.

Old Boy Network wins again.

Solve Many Social Ills This Way:

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• I'm in favor of paying youth up to age 22 or so not to get pregnant, both male and female. Males in the program do have to advance submit a DNA sample. 95% in education expense (including minimal food/housing) and 5% cash outright, at least for ages 13 through 19. 

   

  Also a $100 bonus for actually graduating high school. Think of it as a stimulus/bailout package, as the youth are indeed what our futures are banking on. Monthly payouts.

   

  You would pay for this program in increased savings from no longer happening classroom disruptions and less bullying, with their attendant social costs.

Robots and Guns

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With all the worries about a rogue government, we've comforted ourselves with the notion that we can be armed and besides, no true American would gun down his fellow citizen. Or if they would, at least you'd have the satisfaction of taking out a few of the bastards before they napalmed you.

Unfortunately, there may not even be that slight hint of upright manly glory, if indeed robots get good enough to be networked together to comb an area, using data from a high flying drone. Given how cheaply extremely complicated machines are made these day, a cheap functional, m14 carrying robot may be patrolling your neighborhood soon. Appealing to its patriotism just won't work.  Are assembly lines already making these?

Making the Status Quo More Transparent.

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Now the real way to clarify the workings of Congress is to lottery off a Congressman's face time with constituents. Only constituents who voted in the last election would be entered in the lottery. Each winner gets to decide to talk to a Congressman for 2 hours, or sell their time slot. The winners who sell that time would do so on a stock market, where it has value until the time slot date passes into history. The final purchaser who actually exercises the right to meet with the Congressperson would be known to all, and nobody would be permitted to "own" more than 1 % of a Congressman's face time, or more than 5% total of all Congress folks face time.

Photography is a Crime Stopper/Solver, not a Crime.

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After the requests have been flowing out from the FBI for imaging from the Boston Marathon Massacre, it's time for all law enforcement, especially those in California, to relax and chill when cameras are pointed at them.  As long as the photographer is not close enough to interfere with an arrest or sidewalk investigation, there is no good reason to attempt to intimidate the camera people with not so veiled threats of arrest, as long as all are in public spaces. Photography in public is legal.  Using resulting photographs for advertising is a civil matter.  Using resulting photographs for editorial or news use is perfectly legal, and yes, Virginia, the photographer may make some money from the deal.

Should a terrorist attack occur, all those cameras are obviously great tools for getting leads on the perps.

How Much Would a Semi-Cop in Every School Cost?

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$5,480,000,000 One guard at each of the 137,000 schools nationwide, at $40,000 each PER YEAR. Bob you are in favor of paying for this? Would one guard be enough at some schools? Most schools are way too big in area and hiding places. Arrange to have a paintball fight at one and see how many places a gunman can hide in. Now you want to buy fencing and security cams at how much times 137,000?

Bicyclists Should Pay Their Fair Share? HA!

Written in response to some person who thinks bike paths should be paid for by bicyclists alone, and not with HER money.

• This bicyclist pay taxes, plenty of them, and bicyclist keep the air cleaner and the population healthier, as long as selfish roadhogging inattentive motorists don't bump them off. Trust me, you have plenty of lobbyists hustling for the other side already, and using My money, for purposes I could care less about.

  
  

• You need to study the concept of "public right-of-way." Way back when, the motorcar and oil companies pushed to get the roadways, which belonged to ALL Who Traveled, paved, so that they could go faster and more comfortably, they did NOT pay one bloody cent to buy the land outright. Back then, visionary bicyclists, horseback riders, horse drawn carriage folks, were concerned that cars would steal the commons, and INDEED, it has come to pass. Note that the car folks never paid for the right of ways, they just paid for improving them to their advantage. For motorists to truly own the roads, they would have had to buy up the land, and start from scratch. They never did that. So Share the Roads! And give back what's been stolen to make Ford, GM, Exxon, and the rest richer than stink, and block mass transit, which is proven to be far safer per passenger mile traveled. 40,000 dead plus per year is just insane.