2011 – Page 74 – Shall Not Be Questioned

End of Adobe Flash? I Hope So.

PC Magazine is pondering whether Adobe getting into the HTML5 market indicates Flash may be going by the wayside. While not being particularly enamored with Steve Job’s walled garden approach to computing these days, I wholeheartedly endorse the destruction of Flash. PC Magazine notes:

Ultimately, though, this has more to do with Apple and its power struggle against Adobe with regards to Flash. The long and short of it, which is somewhat proved by Adobe Edge, is Apple won. Steve Jobs is aÂ notorious opponentÂ of Flash. Although it’s (reluctantly) supported on Macs, it’s nowhere to be found on iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. Apple has declared Flash unfit for mobile, and whether or not that’s true, Apple’s massive influence in the space (and especially tablets) makes whatever Apple perceives a reality to a large extent.

Most pages these days are completely usable without having a Flash plug-in installed. I have blocked it by default on my Macs using ClicktoFlash, and it has greatly improved my browsing experience. Now if someone would just tell the folks who do web stuff for NRA that Flash is on the way out, we’d be good, because despite what the developers of that might think, it’s not, in fact, a world class online experience. Well, I suppose that could be argued, but definitely not in a good way.

More on New Shooters

Hat tip to John Richardson, for this footage from NRA News of Cam Edwards and Ed Friedman taking Jim Geraghty to the range for the first time. Firing a submachine gun on the first trip to the range is pretty hard core, so kudos to Jim:

Quoting: “I now see why this is a fun recreational activity.” I’ve never seen anyone, who wasn’t the type to shit themselves at the sight of a firearm, who after rocking on full auto did not come away from the line with a big shit eating grin on their face.

Now This is Reloading

An Alabama company will turn your loved ones into ammunition. I kid you not.

Taking High Tech in Firearms a Bit too Far

The Firearms Blog offers an example of a Spanish soldier I feel very sorry for. He notes, “Given Spain’s current economic situation, I don’t think we will be seeing this system deployed anytime soon.” This is a good thing. Especially for Spanish soldiers.

PSH

Someone might have had a gun on campus as Virginia Tech, and it might have been legal. The horror!

Quote of the Day

From Scott Adams, of the Dilbert Blog:

Some of you will argue that education in general is the biggest predictor of success. But I think you’d agree that if everyone started majoring in English, we’d all starve to death with impeccable grammar.

How Not to Do It

When you find yourself writing this:

No, it not so dangerous. But I tried to cook Americium, Radium and Beryllium in 96% sulphuric-acid, to easier get them blended. But the whole thing exploded upp in the air…

Do yourself a favor and stop. No, it is very dangerous, and you pretty clearly don’t know what you’re doing. I guess what we need is careful tracking, registration, and regulation of nuclear materials. It’s common sense. Well, except we already do? There’s no system that’s so idiot proof that nature will not provide a better idiot, who will find his way into the papers. I think it’s fair to say that our opponents in this issue will never recognize this.

Seven Deadly Sins of Obama

A very good read, courtesy of Instapundit. Likewise, I don’t blame Obama for the current economic situation; he didn’t create it, and I don’t expect him to get us out of it. But I do expect him to stay out of the way, and he has not done that.

ATF Reassigned Mexican Attache

Dave Hardy notes, “Concern had surfaced recently within ATF that the Mexican government might arrest Newell if he came down there as the attachÃ©.” That’s always a good thing to put on your resume.

The Wonderful World of Defense Procurement

If the Democrats have their way, our health care is going to work like this too. Basically, a company developed a lightning machine (i.e. a fancy tesla coil) and claimed would deactivate IEDs. Turns out it didn’t work so well.

Eventually, the Pentagon soured on the JINs. Ionatron lost most of its cash,Â changed its name, and got wrapped up in a series ofÂ shareholder lawsuitsÂ andÂ insider trading scandals. A couple of years ago, the broken firm reached out to Tusconâ€™s Southwest Liquidators, who helped clear the Ionatron warehouse of its useless inventory of electronics. â€œWe took it all,â€ says Southwestâ€™s Keith Tearne. Then they put it on eBay.

So basically the defense department was bilked out of a wad of cash, which in the big picture of the whole defense budget isn’t much. Hell, maybe some of the Pentagon brass and political appointees figured even if it didn’t work, it would scare the hell out of the insurgents. I have to admit that if my existence was mostly of dirt floors and poppy growing, seeing this head down the street would probably scare the shit out of me too. But the point is, when you don’t have a free market, or at least a somewhat free market making your decisions, bureaucrats aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are. Smarter people, with fewer scruples, are going to bilk them out of large sums of taxpayer money.