This Might Be The Most Pro-Gun Article Ever On Bloomberg

Detroit Homeowners Gun Down Burglars as Police Await Cars By Chris Christoff Apr 28, 2014 8:45 PM

Even as bankrupt Detroit’s residents have resorted to gunning down neighborhood burglars, its police await money for patrol cars, radios, armored vests and modern computers.

Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr last month pledged $36.2 million for police from a $120 million loan from Barclays Plc approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Rhodes.... The loan was obtained this month and will be spent as purchases and bids are processed, said city Chief Financial Officer John Hill in an interview. He said police vehicles must be ordered from manufacturers and outfitted with special equipment. In the meantime, many Detroit residents are fending for themselves.

Craig last month defended citizens’ right to shoot if attacked. Indeed, eight times this year residents killed intruders. In the most recent incident, gunshots from a homeowner April 17 interrupted a break-in and mortally wounded the driver of a getaway SUV that crashed into a house across the street, according to police. Two suspects fled on foot.

Every distopian future needs an armed citizenry.

Now, that's creepy.

Separated At Birth?

The Cake Is A Lie

Every Time I Think I'm Out, They Drag Me Back In.

The Canadians, that is. Apparently, three Canadian erotica channels are in trouble with the government and in danger of losing their license because they don't air enough Canadian content. Because the channels air 24 hours a day, they need 8.5 hours of Canadian porn -- which they plan to get by looping the same hour of Canadian porn 9 times a day. I would lard this thread with Canadian jokes, but the commenters over at the National Post have done the work for me.

The Ultimate First World Problem

Your fancy toilet can be hacked. This appears to result entirely from the failure of the manufacturer to take any precautions against hacking, perhaps unable to imagine the temptations of toilet hacking.

In The Cool v. Creepy War Over New Technology,

This lands in the cool side, but only just.

Oh This Modern Life

When sitting at my computer at home, I'm surrounded by my iPad, my iPhone, my Kindle and, of course, my computer (two screens, no waiting). When an email arrives, it's like high noon in a clock shop.

Word of the Day

Today's word is Cisgender, the opposite of transgender, defined as "types of gender identity where an individual's self-perception of their gender matches the sex they were assigned at birth", which hints at the problem.

We Interupt this Blog Vacation...

For reasons that will be obvious to longtime readers (if there's anyone out there still).

Evolution May Be More Random Than Previously Believed

Some ecologists say the theory needs an update. They’ve proposed a new dynamic driving the emergence of new species, one that doesn’t involve adaptations or survival of the fittest.

Give evolution enough time and space, they say, and new species can just happen. Speciation might not only be an evolutionary consequence of fitness differences and natural selection, but a property intrinsic to evolution, just as all matter has gravity.

For reasons that remain unclear, they don't seem to be calling it the Cohen Theory of Evolution.

Happy Solstice to All

As we do most years, if it occurs to me, all of us here at the Secret Blog wish you and yours a happy day gathered around the ol'pagan symbol swapping the tokens of modern materialism.

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

I had no idea.

The constant obsession of our popular culture with Holmes is something of a mystery to me, although I watch both current attempts at updating Holmes (the first BBC series is good bordering on great, the second and third episodes of the second series are almost unwatchable). But why Holmes?

Also, the constant ferment of Holmesiana is a great argument against extending copyright. These are the sorts of derivative work that copyright (intended to promote the arts) shuts down entirely.

This, Too, Shall Pass

One of the many consolations of being conservative is that we can't be too depressed at people voting for the status quo.

A Good Start

In January 2008, 144,607,000 Americans 16 and over were employed. This month, 140,987,000 Americans 16 and over are employed. During the same period, the national debt has increased by approximately $5 trillion or one-third.

What Does A Grecian Earn?

Isn't the most likely result of the elections in Greece this weekend a stalemate? And isn't a stalemate a pretty good result for the Euro? It avoids withdrawal but also pushes back a Eurescue of Greece, which is increasingly unpopular in Germany, in the UK and probably even in France.

Nature Boy, covered by Pomplamoose

We've All Had This Fantasy

What Have I Been Doing?

Among other things, making pretty pictures.

The Question Is...

In 2008, did Barrack Obama cunningly design the perfect campaign for the times, or was it simply the perfect time for the vapid campaign he would have run no matter the circumstance?

The Prisoner's Dilemma, Illustrated.