Today's decision from the United States Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller is rightly being called significant, and even a landmark decision. However, contrary to some of the comments I've been hearing from friends in various forums, it is not the death knell for gun control. At best, it is the beginning of the end-game; more likely, it is a significant tactical victory, but the battle remains joined, and is far from over.

First, let's look at what the Court held in its opinion. This can be summed up in three statements:

1. The Second Article Amending the Constitution of the United States guarantees the protection of an individual right to own firearms.
2. The DC law banning the possession of handguns in the home is overturned as unConstitutional.
3. The DC law requiring any firearm not kept in a place of business to be non-functional (unloaded, and either disassembled or with trigger lock) is overturned as unConstituional.

These are indeed significant, as the Court has now established limits on gun laws in the District of Columbia. However, there are other statements about the decision that can be made:

1. The Court specifically stated that, based on the facts of Heller's complaint, the prayer for relief could be satisfied through the issuance of a license by the District of Columbia to Heller permitting him to keep a handgun in his home. Thus, permit laws are not prima facie an unConstitutional infringement on the right to keep and bear arms.
2. The Court also indicated that they are not overturning restrictions on possession in 'sensitive' locations such as schools or government buildings. Thus, such restrictions - which are being expanded as fast as legislatures can justify doing so - are also not prima facie unConstitutional.
3. The Court made no comment as to whether the Fourteenth Article Amending the Constitution of the United States incorporates the Second and extends its provisions to the several states. Thus, even laws similar to DC's in other US jurisdictions may not be prima facie unConstitutional under Federalism doctrine.
4. The Court does not set a standard for examining future cases - although it is stated in the decision that the home handgun ban in DC does not pass muster under any reasonable standard of scrutiny.
5. The decision was 5-4, along expected ideological lines (Justices Stevens, Breyer, Souter, and Ginsberg in dissent). This is troubling, as it implies the definite possibility that, should the decision be revisited after a Justice in the current majority leaves the Court, the holding of an individual right could well be overturned. The Court's doctrine of stare decisis weighs in against casually overturning the precedent established, but it is not an ironclad guarantee - otherwise such decisions as Plessy v. Fergusen would never have been overturned by later decisions such as Brown v. Topeka, KS, Board of Education.

Really, the only thing we can be sure of at this point is that lawyers who argue gun cases are gong to be making a lot of money in coming years, as various state and local laws are individually challenged and work their way through the system via appeal, cross-appeal, and reappeal. The precedent established by today's decision is important, but not broad enough to short-circuit such litigation. It is a blow to the gun-control advocacy groups, but it is far from fatal.

Edited 6/27/08 09:10 to add: Other analyses I'm seeing suggest that some of the ambiguities and non-addressed issues in the decision were to get the fifth vote, said to be from Justice Kennedy (who has been the swing vote in other cases). If this is in fact the case, it makes the closeness of the decision even more troubling.

Some further possible ramifications:

1. There is the distinct possibility that "Shall Issue" may become the law of the land - that is, if a permit-issuing authority wishes to deny a permit, they may have to show objective cause, such as felony conviction or mental illness, for the denial, and otherwise issue.
2. Similarly, laws requiring transport or storage unloaded or otherwise unusable may fail to pass Constitutional muster. In the Opinion, Justice Scalia characterized a gun that was not in usable condition as "a club".
3. The discussion of United States v. Miller in the Opinion, and the relevance of "common use in militia or military service" to the question of what weapons would be covered by the Second Article Amending the Constitution of the United States, points to the possibility that the National Firearms Act of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968, and subsequent legislation banning semi- and fully-automatic firearms and so-called "assault weapons" may not withstand Constitutional scrutiny.

In short, although the Court attempted to rule narrowly, as per longstanding practice, the ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller may well turn out to have broader and farther-reaching effects than may have been anticipated - but this will only be determined in future litigation.

Edited 6./28/08 18:20 to correct references to the case to the correct name of District of Columbia v. Heller.

I'm feeling...: pleased

This time, it got all the way down to where the one box on the fuel indicator was blinking at me, and only about 345 miles. I figure it was the much colder weather that we had. Oddly enough, the pump kicked off at only 7.89 gallons, less than the eight-point that I got last time, with the fuel indicator at one box not blinky. Final figures, this tank 43.4 mpg; overall 46.2 mpg, a bit down from the 49 I got last tank. Still quite respectable. This time, I filled with regular (87 octane, (R+M)/2 method); we'll see what happens over the next four hundred miles.

I'm feeling...: cold

From Charles Stoss via unixronin's pointer to james_nicoll's pointer: The Top Ten Things Environmentalists Need To Learn

At 504 miles (407 since acquisition back in November), I decided that the gas indicator was showing low enough to make it wise to fill the tank. So I did. This fill was for eight-and-a-third gallons, yielding an experienced MPG of 49 in mixed city/highway driving. Pretty good, given that the EPA figures were 45 highway and 48 city.

The book wasn't clear on what I should fill with - it said "Unleaded premium 87 octane (91 Research Octane Number)". Unfortunately, that 87 is not clear as to whether it should be interpreted as Motor Octane Number or US/Canada Pump Octane Number - and when I filled up, I had no idea what "R+M/2" method meant - so I played it safe and filled with Premium, labelled at the pump as 92. When I got home, I did some checking, and assuming that the Wikipedia article on Octane Rating is accurate, the 87 cited in the book is most likely the Pump Octane Number, and I can probably fill with regular. If it turns out to be the Motor Octane Number, I can still use Plus, instead of premium, so I'll be cutting my gas costs even more (as the Camry was tuned for a lean mixture, and was always filled with Premium).

I'm feeling...: happy

As you probably know, Livejournal allows you to append ?style=mine or &style=mine to a LJ URL. Doing so causes the LJ page to be displayed in the style of the viewer's LJ (if the page admits of having user styles applied). This may (probably will) be different from the style that the page's author (i.e., the owner of the LJ) chose to present his/her journal in.

Question the first

Question the second

This is deliberately not a poll, just an open question; comment and discussion is invited.

Note: This entry was updated to reflect changes subsequent to an on-line upgrade to the Ubuntu 8.04 ("hardy heron") release. Changes are shown with old material struck out and new material in italics.

The laptop computer used for this is a Toshibe Portégé 4010. The specifications can be found here, http://linux.toshiba-dme.co.jp/linux/eng/spec.php3?model=PP401U. This particular unit has 512MB of RAM and a 60GB HDD installed. The specifications do not mention the following:

• The unit supports IrDA.
• There is an option for either BlueTooth or WiFi; this particular unit has the WiFi option.
• There is a SlimSelectBay in the unit, which may take any of several different modules; this particular unit has a DVD-ROM/CD-RW unit
• The unit has a slot for SD cards

I attempted to install three different distros on this unit; only one succeeded. I do not rule out the possibility of personal deficiency and poor-quality media preventing the first two distros from installing; in fact, I consider those to be quite highly probable. The first attempt to install was off a Knoppix LiveCD; if I recall correctly, this was version 4 of Knoppix, and dates back to a previous attempt to experiment with Linux that ultimately went nowhere. While the LiveCD worked fine, I was unable to determine how to install the distro onto the hard disk. The second attempt to install was Fedora 8; while downloads of the ISO appeared good, and appeared to burn successfully to CD, the resulting LiveCDs failed to boot, or, if booted, failed the Fedora pre-installation verification.

The third distro attempted was Ubuntu 7.10 ("gutsy gibbon"); this attempt succeeded on the third try: The first try, selecting the option to install from the main menu, hung with a scrambled screen; the second, selecting the option to use 'safe' graphics, failed similarly (although the appearance of the scrambled screen was different). When I used the function keys to tell the LiveCD what the actual screen resolution is, and then selected the normal install, the install went through with no problems.

Tested

• General functionality. The system appears to operate in a reasonable manner. Other reports (from TuxMobil) indicate that certain features in the keyboard need to be disabled; I found that this was either automatically detected and done by the Ubuntu installation, or is not necessary.
• Hibernation. Based on other reports, I installed the Toshiba utilities for Linux, as it appeared that the suspend/hibernation mode would fail abjectly without them. With them, the system does appear to go into hibernation properly; however, restoring system state from hibernation is not without problems - most notably, the network interfaces do NOT get reinitialized, and the system acts like there are no functional network interfaces until rebooted and appears to function normally after coming out of hibernation.
• USB. The system successfully mounted (automatically) USB mass storage devices with Windows-compatible filesystems on them, and files could be read from and written to the devices. A Phaser 4500 printer was detected, and drivers (for the 6100) installed. Printing to this printer from OpenOffice Word Processor resulted in garbage being printed out; the same from the Printer Configuration tool, thus indicating that the selected drivers were not valid for the printer. Changing to the Generic PostScript driver resulted in valid printouts from both the printer test and OpenOffice.
• WiFi. This was tested on a secured network; upon provision of authentication information, the computer successfully acquired an address from DHCP and participated in the network with no problem. This included accessing the internet and shared files on other computers on the LAN.
• Wired LAN. The computer successfully acquired an address from DHCP, and participated in the network, including accessing the internet and shared files on other computers on the LAN, with no problems.
• IrDA. This appears not to be supported at all under Linux, though it works fine with Windows.
• Toshiba Fn Keys. These are the keys marked in blue on the keycaps, requiring a special function key to be pressed to activate the function. This allows keyboard control of muting the speaker, controlling the display brightness, switching between internal LCD display and external monitor, and so on. What I was equipped to test, worked.
• PCCard/PCMCIA/CardBus slots. The built-in USB ports on the base unit are USB 1.1. I acquired a Belkin USB 2.0 Cardbus interface for a different computer, and decided to try it on this one. On plugging it in, I saw some disk activity, but no messages indicating success or failure at device installation. However, plugging a USB 2.0 thumbdrive into the USB ports on the card caused the thumbdrive to be recognized and mounted immediately.

Not Tested

• 56K Modem. This will be tested in the near future, and this report updated at that time The conditions that I intended to test it under have become unavailable to me; I have no current expectations of being able to test this.
• SD slot. I have no media for this slot, and no other devices that use this media, so it is unlikely that this will be tested.
• PCCard/PCMCIA/CardBus slots. I have no peripherals using this interface that are useful with this computer, and do not anticipate obtaining any in the forseeable future. See Tested section.

...and it's far better than even I can believe.

I was walking home from the train, and for some reason, a little white car draws my attention. It doesn't look familiar, so I start to wonder why it caught my attention.

This little white car, a four-door sedan that looked smaller than my old Camry, is on the other side of a major intersection, coming toward me, but not yet close enough to see the logo on it. It is being driven like it is either severely underpowered, or the driver is the stereotypical little old lady with blue hair who is looking through the steering wheel to see out the front window.

The car turns down the cross street, in the direction I will be going. When I make the turn, I see it backing into a parking spot.

I get closer, and can see that the logo on the trunk is Toyota's, but I can't read the text that says what model it is.

I get still closer, and see that the model of this tiny four-door sedan is... Huh? Prius?

Understand that until I saw this car, I had never seen a Prius that didn't look like the userpic for this entry (modulo color). Not even in pictures. And yet my PriusDAR seems to have pinged right on this oddity.

Relating this episode to another Prius owner in IRC revealed the information that what I was seeing was the "classic" Prius, with inferior-to-present batteries, from the first year or so that the Prius was available in the US. It does NOT have the HSD (Hybrid Synergy Drive) that the current Toyota hybrids do. The 'dashboard' was centered, like in the Yaris, not directly in front of the driver, as in most cars (including the present Prius). It also did not appear to have the SmartKey system that I do, and the "gearshift" was a large handle, not a small knob-sized one, but still on the dashboard, not the steering column.

Quite frankly, if this had been my image of a Prius before buying, I'd probably have ended up with the Civic hybrid, or gotten another gas-engine car. But it's still astonishing that I picked this car out.

I'm feeling...: astonished

http://www.datamancer.net/steampunklaptop/steampunklaptop.htm.

Totally impractical. So bleeping what?! I want one anyway!

I'm feeling...: jealous

...can be found here. Thanks for the pointer, shalmestere!

(edited: corrected the missing URI; not sure how it managed to be blank!)

A while back, I'd posted about a forthcoming e-Book reader from NAEB LLC, done in loose association with Baen Books. Well, that reader is here and can be ordered from NAEB - the deluxe version is $375, and includes the reader and battery, a USB cable, a USB A/C charger, the cover, a 1GB SD card and earphones. This is the deluxe version of the Bookeen reader; NAEB can get it to you for the reduced price - almost down to the $350 originally expected to be the price without the accessories - because they're able to take advantage of quantity discounts. There's only 1000 in the first order, so if you haven't signed up to be notified of when you can send money to get yours, do so now at NAEB's website.

It's an odd-numbered year this year - 2007. That means that there are no Congressional elections, no Senate elections, no Presidential election. Turnout for elections like this one are usually low, because people figure that these elections don't matter. I have one word for such people:

FOOL!

These way-off-year elections are at least as important as the ones that get the heavy press; they may even be more important - because these are the elections that are most likely to have the biggest effect on your day-to-day life - where are the bus lines going to go? how often are they going to run? what's the fare going to be? how much road construction will there be to disrupt your commute? what's the sales tax going to be? what's the property tax rate going to be? are they going to let BigBox build a store where the ballfields are? what are the zoning laws going to allow - or prevent - in the way of new stores, new homes, new churches, new schools? how big will classes in the schools be? how much will the teachers be paid? will there be adequate textbooks and supplies? will there be vending machines in the school? what will they contain?

Voting now tells your elected officials and your community how you want these questions to be considered - the actual decisions will be made in their own time, but now, you need to decide who is making them. Certainly, the "important" elections set the tone for everything else - but tone isn't everything, and what happens at the state and local levels modifies the overall tone set by the last national elections - or acts as a signal of the mood for the next national elections.

How often have you heard that your vote doesn't matter? How often have you said it? This year, there's no question that that's wrong - this is the year that you can make a difference, to yourself and to your neighbors. Don't waste the opportunity. Go to the polls and cast your ballot.

Dear Ms Bujold,

You've continued to do it.

I've recently completed The Sharing Knife: Legacy and I continue to be impressed, and I continue to enjoy the story. I must, however, emphasize two words that encapsulate my feelings:

More, PLEASE!

You have given me a story as carefully crafted as a symphony, and like a symphony, you have contrieved to make each movement stand by itself, on its own merits, while still setting the stage for the next, and resolving the previous. You continue to present a world that 'feels' real, with characters who are three-dimensional, and clearly part of their world, rather than being the raison d'être for a 'flat' world, acting as a stage for actors.

Please, please continue this story, that I may continue to enjoy it!

Thank you, again.

I'm feeling...: enthralled

Dear Ms Bujold:

Thank you.

For most of my life, I've avoided reading fantasy, except for either Epic Fantasy (like Tolkien, or Turtledove's World of Darkness) or Silly Fantasy (like Asprin's MythAdventures, or Piers Anthony's Xanth) because, well, it's fantasy, and fantasy is boring, because it usually depends too much on magic, and the worlds just don't feel like more than canvas backdrops for The Hero to beat up The Villain in front of. I've also avoided reading romances, because, well, they're romances, and I'm a guy, and I'm just not into all that touchy-feely mushy stuff. My reading tends toward science fiction, with some side forays into military fiction, spy fiction, or adventure fiction - and not just any science fiction; I tend to prefer the subgenres of science fiction that focus on people, rather than gadgets - I'm not about ray guns and space ships; I'm about first contacts with aliens, and ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations, where the technology, while part of the environment that shaped the people, is not the Magic Bullet.

You, Ms Bujold, have shaken my preconceptions of both fantasy and romance, and you've done it with a single book: The Sharing Knife: Beguilement. I purchased this book (actually, a combined volume of The Sharing Knife: Beguilement and The Sharing Knife: Legacy - but I haven't started reading The Sharing Knife: Legacy yet) from the Science Fiction Book Club via a friend's membership, on the strength of the comments in your corner of Baen's Bar, and having never read any of your work previously, though I had heard your writing - mostly the Miles Vorkosigan universe - repeatedly praised, highly.

I can say without reservation that your writing in this book exceeded my expectations - I was prepared for a mildly entertaining read, given my generally low opinion of fantasy and even lower opinion of romance; what I found was a story that sucked me in and wouldn't let me go - and I'm looking forward to reading The Sharing Knife: Legacy, and any subsequent books in the series (I get the impression from your corner of the Bar that there are to be a total of four in the series). You have given me a world that feels like a real world, even if I don't see it as mine, and people who are more than Archetypes to play off each other - people who I can and do care about what happens to them.

Again I say: Thank you.

I'm feeling...: enthralled

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on a world other than the one that gave him birth. As he did so, he uttered a phrase which has become familiar to anyone who has ever had any interest in space flight: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for Mankind."

May we someday soon regain the Dream of Stars, so that we may take the next step toward them.

I'm feeling...: contemplative

Found in both griffen and otherbill: http://stage6.divx.com/Refuse-Life/blog/8825/ - work-safe.

I'm feeling...: impressed

In catching up with some forums that I'm a regular reader of, I found someone posting a story of an incident that happened to them while in the military. In reading the post, I learned something about the national anthem of the United States that I didn't know.

Herewith the complete text of the lyrics to The Star-Spangled Banner:

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mist of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream

’Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation,
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our Trust"

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I'm feeling...: contemplative

Special pings to otherbill and j3nny3lf, since I know that you both have children in exceptional educational contexts...

The Icehouse game Zendo was written as a game that relies on inductive logic rather than deductive logic. The basic theme can be adapted to other structures. It's a fascinating game, aside for any considerations it might have in education.

Then, I was pointed to this article on Zendo as a tool for teaching, which explains how Zendo is a good tool for showing how the scientific method works. I think this is definitely worth thinking on...

"Mesmerised as if confronting a nasty incident in traffic, we gaze at the Olympic logo. It is a puerile mess, an artistic flop and a commercial scandal."

From #Callahans:

<Snack> Those shapes spell out LOLZ

There are no words. Really. I could do better, with my complete and utter lack of design sense.

Because I died...

... at Bunker Hill. Grapeshot tore through my body at New Orleans. Crushing hooves with riders as swirls of blue and grey ... and red ... crashed down on me in strange sounding places like Chickamauga, Antietam, and Shiloh.

The heat and swamp sucked at my last moments in the wilds of Cuba. A green fog of poisonous gas slithered over the side and into my trench, where water stood mixed with slime and blood.

I lay face down in fetid pools clogged with jungle vines, felt the hot sands of Africa burning through my back, lay with cold cheek against wet beach sand, and fell from gingerbread doorways into cobblestone streets. I gaped for air and breathed fire and oily water.

Snow clung to my lashes and ice formed at the corners of my mouth as a tiny wisp of seam wafted from the crimson flow of life out of my ears and stomach.

As I fell forward, I felt the jagged pain of bamboo beneath the water tearing at my flesh.

I fought and died when I didn’t know why. I was killed before I was old enough to vote. I never knew the pleasure of savoring the memories that come with old age. I left mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, children, and sweethearts to weep after me. I lay where names and landscapes and faces were all foreign to me. To this day, no one knows where the earth swallowed me.

I was called wop, nigger, dago, spic, kike, honky, and mick. I was tall and short and thin and heavy and young and old and cheerful and sad. I was a shop steward, an insurance agent, a writer, an orange picker, and the head of a grocery chain stretching from Baltimore to St. Louis.

I lived around the corner, up the street, next door, over the garage, across the tracks, on the hill and out of a suitcase. I came from a family farm, a college campus, a factory, a new-car agency, and from Broadway.

I died that we would remain free, that liberty would not perish, that women and children would be safe from terror, that my home would be protected, that an idea would be proven right, that my friend might live, that people back home could make overtime in the plants, and that a sagging economy might be helped.

Sometimes I served my country, sometimes my ideals and sometimes my own ego.

But I served.

On Memorial Day, I hope you pause for a few moments to think on these things. You are still free to think ... and speak ... and publish whatever you wish because I gave the most I had ... my all.

Some of you have known some of my pain, my tears, and the sickness of soul for the waste of human life.

Yet, the giving of my life was not wasted. For perhaps somehow, in some way, people will do something to end my dying.

My death has extended the time given you to do that something.

After the next war, there may be no one left to honor the dead.

— Author Anonymous

• A book can't be spoiled by lousy casting, acting, or directing. Admittedly, they can still suffer from lousy writing or editing.
• A book accommodates itself to your schedule.
• 25% of the length of a book isn't advertising.
• There aren't any arguments about what book to read. If three people want to read three different books in the family room at the same time, what's the problem?
• Books can be rented for nothing (got a library card?), have a rental period two to three times - or more - as long as for a video, and much smaller penalties for late returns.
• A book's batteries don't go dead at inconvenient times. Mostly because books don't NEED batteries.
• An ongoing series of books doesn't have to fit its stories into multiples of twenty-three minutes.
• Books don't require a high-tech information infrastructure to produce or read, and almost everyone has the equipment necessary to make one to his or her own taste. Skill and motivation might well be a different story, but...