49ers and Panthers at noon O five. Chargers and Broncs after that one. Unlike yesterday's games which were an easy call I have no idea on these.

Has the icy grip of the vortex released you yet? It's gonna be 70 here.

Happy Sunday morons.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 08:42 AM | Comments (634)
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Open thread for non-book discussions.

Brought to you by Ewoks:

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:59 AM | Comments (24)
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Well done, Redditor. Well done.

This may be the best use of 3D printing ever.

If thereÂ’s one thing the anti-gun zealots at Mother Jones hate, itÂ’s firearms in the hands of law-abiding American citizens. If thereÂ’s another thing Mother Jones hates, itÂ’s probably the ability of those same law-abiding citizens to manufacture their own means of self-defense from the comfort of their own homes via a 3D printer.

One gun lover at reddit decided to 3D-print his own homage to Mother Jones: a homemade lower receiver for an AR-15-style rifle, complete with serial number. And just for kicks, he made sure the serial number matched the phone number for the main office at Mother Jones. The redditor even printed the Mother Jones logo on the receiver.

ZOMFG!!11! Florida Is Going To Allow 'Warning Shots'! Or Not.

Any time a news story about self defense law hits, I check to see what Andrew Branca has to say about it.

Florida’s misnamed “Warning Shot” bill, Senate Bill 448, has advanced another step, with a 5-to-0 vote in favor by the State Senate Criminal Justice Committee, chaired by State Senator Greg Evers [R]

...

In fact, [there is no] mention of “warning shots” whatever. [The bill and its companion in the Florida House] are, in fact, really merely efforts to fix an apparent glitch in Florida’s current self-defense law framework (hence their overwhelming support).

A close reading of Florida’s various self-defense statutes — including 776.012 Defense of Persons, 776.013 Home Protection, and 776.031 Defense of Others, and 776.032 Immunity — can result in the interpretation that they address only the actual use of force against another, and not the mere threat of the use of such force.

This has resulted in cases where a person who has merely threatened the use of force — e.g, displaying a defensive firearm to an attacker — finds himself with less legal justification than if he had taken the next step of actually using that force–e.g., shooting their attacker. The seeming result would be to encourage the use of deadly force, even in circumstances where the use of such force could have been avoided.

Read the whole thing. You'll likely hear a lot about this bill in the MFM, and most of what you hear will be wrong.

Gun Of The Week

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Posted by: andy at 06:00 AM | Comments (123)
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Here's a little something to keep you busy while everyone sobers up.

Woke this morning to see "our" local herd of deer strolling up our street. This is a pretty common occurrence in my Utah neighborhood on the bench of the Wasatch mountains. (Speaking of which, hunters spend over $1 billion a year in my state, per the Sportsmen's Economic Impact Report. You can look up your state at the link.)

We also have mountain lions, although I've never seen them just the remains of their kills, and some wolves (or wolf-hybrids) have recently come into our area. I'm pretty sure I spotted one a couple of years ago.
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Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:45 AM | Comments (238)
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Closer to Sunday Afternoon, bur whatevs.

Posted by: andy at 04:49 AM | Comments (252)
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Global Warming Is Getting Really Bad These Days

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to the award-winning AoSHQ's prestigious Sunday Morning Book Thread.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

OK, so with the polar vortex smacking down hard on the East Coast, it's probably the appropriate time for you to read a real cold weather story. I'm talking about To Build A Fire, commonly recognized as Jack London's best short story.

So throw another log on the fire, grab a cup of coffee, tea, or other hot beverage, and settle down in a comfy chair to read about what can happen when you go out by yourself in real cold weather.

To Build A Fire is in the public domain, you can read it here or, if you prefer, you can download a pdf here. I expect most of you morons have read this story, but perhaps there are a few that haven't, yet.

Reading Exercises Your Brain? The Devil You Say.

In order to justify their phoney-baloney jobs and keep that sweet, sweet grant money flowing in, a bunch of Emory researchers did a study that proved that reading actively engages the brain.

Next, these guys will put together a study that will show conclusively that lobbyists who provide free booze and hookers to politicians significantly improve their chances of passing favorable legislation.

By the way, the book they had the volunteers read to do this study was Pompeii, by Robert Harris, which, from the Amazon blurb, actually looks like it might be a fun read:

All along the Mediterranean coast, the Roman empire’s richest citizens are relaxing...in the seaside resorts of Baiae, Herculaneum, and Pompeii.The young engineer Marcus Attilius Primus has just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct...[is worried]...His predecessor has disappeared. Springs are failing for the first time in generations. And now there is a crisis on the Augusta’s sixty-mile main line—somewhere to the north of Pompeii, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius...His plan is to travel to Pompeii, then head out to the place where he believes the fault lies. But Pompeii proves to be a corrupt and violent town, and Attilius soon discovers that there are powerful forces at work—both natural and man-made—threatening to destroy him.

So there you go.
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Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:00 AM | Comments (116)
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The last NFL thread is getting a bit long in the tooth.

The following photos brought to you by the beauty of diversity:

Bonus pic below the jump...
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Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:45 PM | Comments (551)
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A request was made for a new thread, complete with fresh pictures. Make yourself at home and enjoy these pieces of eye-candy. (SFW)

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Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:33 PM | Comments (363)
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Ain'ts and Seattle (who are going to the show), in just a few mins.

Colts at New England (who are also going to the show), after that one up there.

Saturday.

My favorite Patriot.

God bless America.

Bonus Patriots below the fold more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 12:44 PM | Comments (546)
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And no more of this "SEC DOMINATES" crap either. The only SEC team that dominated anything was an old SWC team. (except LSU and Miss. State but hell, Rice?) Ok, and Ole Miss. Wait, Missouri is in the SEC too now.. South Carolina...? Ok they went 7-3 in bowl games. Which led every other conference...

farg

You get one last cheerleader this season and also the results of the Bowl Pickem stuff that @MikeTalley73 was kind enough to manage. This was a confidence pick deal, you assigned a weighting to your picks.

Here 'tis, name and points:

Greg's Official Pick Set 461
Murph 437
The Dude 423
Go VOLS!!! 418
Bawl O'really's Pick Set 412

Thank you MikeT for hosting this thing.

And thank you college cheerleaders. Good job. See you next season.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 12:28 PM | Comments (106)
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