Posts by Donald Freeman 10 publicly visible posts • joined 29 Feb 2008
Happy Crispins Day from the New World!
The latest thing I read about Agincourt in one of my history mags said that the French attacked in armor, uphill in the mud, in a straggling wedge formation. They were formed in three "battles" with all the French nobility in the first one since they didn't want to have to share the loot or glory. The other two never really got in the fight.
The first was slaughtered, not by arrows, but by the unarmored, shoeless , bowmen who attacked the flanks of the exhausted French, toppled them into the mud and then hammered daggers through the vision slits of their helmets.
The government can pass any laws it wants. Anything the government wants to do is subject to veto by the mob and it's been that way at least as far back as the French revolution. In other places a whiff of grapeshot and the bayonet only need be applied once per generation to keep things orderly and friendly.
I was in the U.S. Navy. While docked in Yokusuka, Japan some the boys returning to the ship drunk on Annisette pushed an entire bicycle rack full of bikes off the quay wall into the water. They did this in full sight of the quarterdeck. The next day while the entire ships company was paraded for quarters on the dock the miscreants were obliged to locate and fish it out with a grapnel.
One famous story that circulated in the U.S. Navy was that some white hats stole a Turkish flag while tied up at a Turkish Naval base. Not too bad so far but then the Turks executed the guards. Quite a buzz kill.
Seán
No way. I doubt there is anybody in America doing hard time JUST for stealing a phone. Policing that works focuses on dealing hard with the quality of life crimes that are caught. Its called the "Broken Window" strategy of policing.
If you arrest somebody for jumping a turnstile in the subway you probably eliminate a person who may commit 2 or 3 crimes a week. I read this board daily and find the British resigned to very high levels of crime and seeming to have an institutional bias against dealing with it.
As far as phones go, if I lose it, I turn it off and get another one. Its insured. It costs me about $25 deductible. I think everybody in the states above the age of 12 has their own. It seems kind of pointless to try and activate a stolen one. And phones become obsolescent so fast that they are quite disposable.
There ya go getting all weasely. Why should they respect you? And you aren't making any plans to bring about your "ideal world." You are just waiting to absorb what comes next. Seems all very passive to me.
Primitive? I'll tell you what is primitive. That is being dominated by whatever individual or group of physically strong, aggressive males happen to be around. To us over here if you whacked an offender with one of your legendary cricket bats it seems assured that it would be you getting hauled off in chains rather than the other guy. Your government seems to not miss an opportunity to harshly punish citizenry who defend themselves a little too successfully. Over here we call them public service killings. With a little luck you can get ammo for life!
Applying the 'primitive' label to the principles of self-reliance indicates to me your unwillingness to accept ultimate responsibility for your own personal well-being in extremis. Not saying we don't need government and police but that they can't be expected to protect you in all circumstances.
Your government is preparing to develop a set of records on each individual that East Germany would have thought was excessive. You are entering an age where your every move will be tracked and recorded. I find the whole thing pretty frightening. There are those in my country who will find it to be a good idea after you pilot it.
The only point I am trying to make is that I believe there is a connection between an armed and suspicious citizenry and inoffensive government. The system works best in tension. Your government no longer feels in any way constrained by your wishes.
A couple of hundred Brits came out of the woodwork to damn us yankees for giving away guns at church. Today, you're all crying because your government is trying to get another manacle on you. Its pretty clear that your government isn't afraid of you. They own you and you'll wear whatever dog collar they care to put on you.
Not to say that it couldn't happen here in the USA but we're notably fractious about this kind of thing. We're all skidding leftward toward the tyranny of "those who care" but you are leading by a mile.
I would think anonymity is kind of necessary....
Anyway. I've been playing a small online game, CIP's "Tibia," which has been under DDOS attack for about a year. They have 100,000 paid users. The attack has caused, I'm sure, some pretty significant losses to CIP as the game has been near unplayable by premium account members who have been quitting in droves.
During the last two days. I have experienced no outages, kicks, lags, or any other negative behavior while playing. The reason I found this article is because it is being mentioned on the game's website.
If its not them, it is somebody who is laying low due to the fallout. I'm hoping its these yahoos.
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