Cessna 170

Photo abstract:  Phil Compton

Bang bang I'm bored

Every time one of these things happens, one of these shooting incidents, I'm saying, three kinds of people pop up: the kind that want to ban guns, the kind that don't want to ban guns, and the kind that think we should all just learn to get along. Those first two kinds are little annoying but it's the third that drives me nuts. Just read the letters in today's New York Times (or any other newspaper in the land, no doubt).

I have a solution to all this. I think we should accept the gun people at face value – guns don't kill people, people do – and freaking ban people. Really. Send them all to Alaska or some random -stan. People cause 98% of our problems anyway (the other 3% are caused by strange foreign fish*).

I can't see anything going wrong with this.

* Including illiteracy in arithmetic. – Ed

For outstanding achievement in work avoidance…

Strangely Compelling: 8 More Animal Live Cams to Crush Your Productivity

Civilization ends

Nearly a third of American 19-year-olds haven’t bothered to get a driver’s license, according to a new study, continuing a downward trend that finds fewer and fewer Millennials plugging into the American car culture.

But it was fun while it lasted.

Looking less like a campaign and more like a track meet

(Run, run, run.)

At a moment when the country needs resolve and fearlessness to reduce the affliction of gun violence that kills more than 80 people a day, both presidential candidates have kicked away the opportunity for leadership. On Wednesday, reacting to the mass murder in Colorado last week, Mitt Romney and President Obama paid lip service to the problem but ducked when the chance arose to stand up for their former principles.

New York Times editorial, here.

Edge of the wing

Edge of the wing, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

Is our children Amerericans?

Got spell check? White House Facebook post misspells ‘Americans’ - NY Daily News

The White House’s social media team apparently overlooked spell check in a Facebook post Thursday that botched the word “Americans.”

The typo was part of a statement touting the president’s new education initiative.

Also, White House social media team? Who says the government doesn't create jobs?

Wait, don't tell me, let me guess… With mustard?

We look at women the same way we look at houses and sandwiches

No, that can't be right, can it?

Amen, Sven

Even as this Scandinavian country, like other nations across Europe, bows to pressure from big media concerns to stop file sharing, a Swedish government agency this year registered as a bona fide religion a church whose central dogma is that file sharing is sacred.

Here's more.

Move along, nothing to see here

Obama looking for 'consensus' on gun issue

President Obama is pledging to work with Congress and others "to arrive at a consensus" on ways to reduce gun violence in the wake of the nation's latest mass shooting.

Somehow I'm thinking The Great Consenser is just not going to work too well on the statue.

Next up: The Busters

As bad economy lingers, prospects of an echo baby boom weaken – USATODAY.com

Twenty-somethings who postponed having babies because of the poor economy are still hesitant to jump in to parenthood — an unexpected consequence that has dropped the USA's birthrate to its lowest point in 25 years.

Bearing down

Gun violence shifts to forefront of campaign

WASHINGTON - Days after the mass shootings in Colorado, guns shifted to the forefront of the presidential campaign as President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney engaged in their most extensive discussions on the issue since the tragedy.

Obama, in a speech to an African-American group Wednesday in New Orleans, embraced some degree of additional restrictions on guns.…

Romney said in a television interview that changing the nation's laws would not prevent gun-related tragedies.…

Shoulda stayed in bed.

What? Can it be?

In a recent survey of the performance-enhancing claims made for dozens of fitness products, researchers found not a single one that could be supported by rigorous scientific research.

Awwwwww.

No kidding

Gun sales have increased in Colorado since the shooting in Aurora that left 12 dead and 58 wounded, with people seeking background checks increasing 41 percent after Friday’s shooting. “It’s been insane,” said Rocky Mountain Guns and Ammo Jake Meyers.

(Daily Beast)

An Astronaut's Daydream

iPhone abstract: Phil Compton

If you have not much else going on this evening

Here's a little movie called Feed the Fish, a standard rom com featuring the requisite couple of dorky guys and couple of cute girls, and it gets all kissyface at the end so it won't be going on our list. But to its credit it features a pretty nice performance by Tony Shalhoub and nearly all of it takes place in the highly comedic environs of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

So go ahead and pop the corn.

Your next pair of sneakers could be Air Rich Dude

President Barack Obama should stop talking about the middle class because it turns people against rich Americans, who should be embraced as the Michael Jordans of the U.S. economy, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Monday.

Raw Story

Didn't take long

A couple of days ago New York City Mayor Bloomberg called on both presumed presidential candidates, Obama and Romney, to stand up and tell us specifically what they would do to make incidents like the recent shooting in the Colorado theater less likely to happen in the future. Now both of them have.

From Obama:

Asked on Sunday whether Mr. Obama favored new gun control initiatives, his spokesman, Jay Carney, twice said the main focus of the president — who four years ago called for an assault-weapons ban — was to “protect Second Amendment rights.”

“He believes we need to take steps that protect Second Amendment rights of the American people but that ensure that we are not allowing weapons into the hands of individuals who should not, by existing law, obtain those weapons,” Mr. Carney said…

[All the weapons used in Colorado or legally acquired – Ed]

From Romney:

For his part, Mr. Romney reiterated Monday that he saw no need to renew the federal ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004.

“I still believe that the Second Amendment is the right course to preserve and defend and don’t believe that new laws are going to make a difference in this type of tragedy,” Mr. Romney told CNBC.

(Both quotes from today's New York Times.)

So, in other words, nothing.

Live with it (or die). Or find a third-party candidate to support.

Old Blue

Old Blue, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

37 years

One picture per year from LIFE magazine.

What are friends for?

8 a.m. A man said he had been robbed at 11 p.m. the previous night in Tavern Alley by three men, one of whom simulated a gun inside his sweatshirt. Lost was his wallet, $200 cash and his medication. He didn’t lose his cell phone to the robbers, though, as his roommate had already stolen that.

Arcata Eye police log

Spot Attacks

Spot Attacks, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.