Sharp Edges and Frayed Nerves

The Supreme Court has refused [pdf] to hear United States v. Masciandaro. That leaves Woollard v. Sheridan, which still has decent odds of making it to the calendar.

There's been some scuttlebutt that the Court would rather hear a "pure" case in which the petitioner isn't someone appealing a criminal conviction. Both the Heller and McDonald cases fit this bill, as they were brought by law-abiding citizens appealing unjust laws. In such cases, the Court can address a constitutional issue directly, without having other logistical issues getting in the way. Woollard is a compelling case that gives them that opportunity.

In happier news, that's the CZ P-01 with a Ka-Bar pistol bayonet at the top. Sure, CZ made one a few years back, but this one is lighter, and it has a really good blade. I don't know why the world needs more of these, but hey: it looks cool.

I still haven't figured out a holster solution for it.

Perishable Skills

I finally got to shoot the P210 on Saturday, and Earl here volunteered to take a few rounds for the sake of experimentation. The group is a mix of 147gr Hydra-Shok, 9BPLE, and 127gr +P+ Ranger. It was shot at a measly 20' since I haven't had a chance to shoot for nearly six months, and my skills have atrophied a bit.

The gun doesn't seem to care much about bullet shape or weight, and it's very consistent. Given its heritage, I expected it to prefer hotter European ball for target purposes. I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn't the case. It fed the mild Atlanta Arms 115gr loading quite well, the only issue being that the slide failed to lock back after the final round.

Skyrim

As much as I'm enjoying this game, there's one thing that keeps poking in to that whole "suspension of disbelief" thing for me.

The entire cast talks like Motörhead roadies.

No, really. Half the characters speak in an accent just like this, and the native people are called the Nords. One of the towns is named Hrothgar, after the Danish king of the Scylding line. Whiterun is ruled by a Jarl, and one of the mead halls is called Jorrvaskur, which basically means "spunky pony."

It quickly becomes obvious that Skyrim is little more than a thinly-veiled piece of anti-Scandinavian propaganda and defamation.

Brütal Legend was offensive enough, but this just crosses the line. Thanks for the hate crime, Bethesda. Our attorneys will be in contact shortly.

Sig Sauer P210 Legend

Swiss production of the SIG P210 ended quite awhile ago, but J.P. Sauer & Sohn of Eckernförde have since picked up the rights to produce the pistol. In the transition, there have been some changes, not the least of which is the fact that Sig Sauer will be importing them into the United States.

While the new model isn't cheap, it's certainly more affordable than Swiss specimens on the secondary market. As far as I can tell, it's just as well made, if not better in some respects.

Circling the Wagons

Eric Holder testified before Congress today for the second time regarding the Fast & Furious disaster. Here's the condensed version:

• He's not apologizing to the family of Bryan Terry


• The best way to keep illegal guns from flowing southward into Mexico is to further restrict the guns the government bought to ship southward to Mexico.


• It's all the fault of the Bush administration.


• He didn't know anything about it. His staff kept him in the dark.

The allegations of impropriety began to circulate in April of 2010.  Terry died in December, and despite the widely distributed and reported allegations, Holder claimed in May of 2011 that he'd only heard them a few weeks prior.  He revised that estimate to "probably (...) a couple of months" today.

If that's the way he's running his office, Holder is, at the very least, wildly incompetent.

He's calling an operation that provided weapons used in over 200 Mexican homicides a "failed response," and he swears he's taking measures to stop future lapses in judgement, but he's taking no responsibility. Best guess? Lanny Breuer and Dennis Burke get thrown to the wolves, then pardoned January 19th, 2013.

But Is It Art?

Scott Rickard is a mathematics professor at Dublin College. He also has a keen interest in music, which makes sense, as the two fields have some common points of interaction.

Repetition is a common trait to all music. I'm not just talking about Philip Glass and his tedious 2-hour arpeggio exercises; recurring patterns, no matter how tenuous, can be found in even the most complex music. It's hardwired into our brains somewhere. 

As an experiment, Rickard endeavored to write a piece of music "devoid of any pattern," one in which there's no repetition whatsoever. He's not the first to try this. Schoenberg and others have resorted to questionable mathematical and arbitrary systems to avoid conscious choice in the past, but nowadays, we've got technology on our side. Oh, what a bleak and horrible future we live in!

Does it work? Yes. Is it music? Technically, yes.



So...art? As Zappa once said, that's for the critics to decide. Frankly, I can't tell much difference between his random work and the supposedly organized drivel (epic lyric win at 04:04) of "modern" music I was force-fed in my academic days.

What's odd is that I'm somewhat fascinated by it. In a way, Rickard's piece is a challenge. The more I listen to it, the more I think I can catch a pattern somewhere, but I can never find it a second time. If I do, does that mean he failed, or that my subconscious mind is simply projecting meaning where there is none?

Jeez, dude, thanks for screwing with my head. As conceptual art, it wins.