With my new job I’m being exposed to some new technologies. One of them is StrataFrame. It’s billed as a framework that’ll take the mundane tasks out of the picture and allow developers to do more in less time.
Seen that promise before.
This one, however, seems to be delivering on its promises. I’m really impressed.
The woman and I just saw one of our neighbors out the back window of our place.
He was riding a sleigh behind two horses in his field. I have just been corrected: Clydesdales.
There’s no snow out here anymore. My guess is he’s constructed his own special sleigh for this purpose.
I need to get a picture of this sometime. I’ve never seen that before.
A couple of years back I hit up the Birch Run, MI gun show with a couple of buddies because we knew that there’d be a dealer there that had some Bulgarian Makarovs for $150 a pop. We weren’t able to find the Expo Center right away so we stopped at a local McDonald’s for a quick breakfast and asked some locals for directions.
Got good directions but not so good a breakfast.
This weekend the woman and I ventured back to her hometown to visit her family. They live out in the Vassar, MI area which isn’t far from Birch Run. We snagged a hotel right in Birch Run as we planned on hitting up the local “factory direct” outlet shopping center there on Sunday, which is right by the Expo Center that the gun show is held at.
When we set out to get breakfast on Sunday morning we almost stopped at Big Boy but I suggested we see if there was something that wasn’t a big chain in the area. We found a place called Tony’s. She ordered up some eggs, corned-beef hash, and toast. I got myself some eggs, bacon and toast.
After ordering we noticed that everybody was walking out with a doggie bag. Interesting. Found out why when they delivered our food:
As a bachelor I’d frequently, or at least more often than a human being should, fry up a pound of bacon as my dinner and wash it down with a couple glasses of red wine (to balance it all out) but this was too much for even me. There’s probably 2 pounds of un-cooked bacon on that plate.
You can’t see it, but under that pile of bacon there’s 3 fried eggs too. I placed the teaspoon there just for reference.
This place is crazy. There’s no other words for it.
Next time I hit up the Birch Run gun show this is the place I’m going to stop for a meal.
Oh yeah, they server breakfast at all hours too. Good thing, ‘cuz I loves me some bacon.
Yeah, I’m an idiot.
First, there’s no TreeView control in the Atlas project. Why I thought there was one I dont know.
Secondly, the ASP.Net 2.0 control works fine, it’s just a little strange. You don’t just let the control PostBack and presume the collection of CheckedNodes is right. You have to capture the event fired off when the Checked status of a TreeNode changes and modify your DB accordingly. After that my UserControl worked just fine.
So, yeah, I was just looking at the problem from the wrong angle. I do that sometimes.
Now, here’s a control that’s been pissing me off for a while now and it really hit the head today at work.
I’ve created a User Control in my current project that’s basically an encapsulation of nothing but an ASP.Net 2.0 TreeView control that operates as a simple selector for some hierarchical data. You select the item from the TreeView, it’s highlighted, and then the other side of the page reflects the properties of that particular item.
Today I set forth in modifying the control so that you could slap some checkboxes next to the items in question so you can assign those properties to another object. Seems simple enough, and the standard ASP.Net 2.0 control has a handy little property that lets you quickly flip it into said mode. Checkboxes show up handily right next to each item in the hierarchy.
I’m just not sure what the fuck the actually do!
Checking the checkbox yields no PostBack. That’s fine, I wouldn’t expect it to. However, there’s no option for making this happen. The one solution I found online for this was to render the control into an HTML writer and then do a search and replace on the checkboxes’ HTML to add an onClick event to call some custom JavaScript that would force another control to PostBack.
Workable, but I didn’t like the idea of doing a search/replace on HTML generated by a control. There had to be a better, more concrete, way of doing that.
Nope, it seems there isn’t.
Further, I found that with the checkboxes rendered I’d still get a PostBack if I clicked on a node’s text. That’s why I’m refering to the control as “schitzo” — it’s got two personalities. That doesn’t make any logical sense from a UI standpoint but was a bit giddy about this, because I presumed that I’d be able to select my checkboxes, then select a node, and achieve the desired functionality. That wouldn’t be a final solution, but it would have been somewhat promising.
That didn’t work either: My control wasn’t sending back the newly selected values.
I’m junking the whole thing. I’m going to instead try running with the TreeView control from the AJAX/Atlas project from Microsoft. I have no intention what-so-ever of actually using AJAX but the control comes bundled with the package and I figure it’ll at least be possible to get what I want done with that one.
Ugh. The life of a geek.
Emphasis was in the original.
Last week, a Federal Appeals Court overturned Washington D.C.’s long-standing restrictions on handguns a decision that endangers all of America’s gun laws.
Amen!
This case is most likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court and we have a tidal wave of work to do before it gets there.
Okay, waiting for the checklist. Betcha it’s just sending in money.
This battle to its very core is the most important battle we have ever waged. We need your help today to build a strong Brady Gun Law Defense Fund to save America’s gun laws.
Send money? Strange tactic considering that writing your Congress Critter to have them rescind the handgun ban in DC would strike the case as moot. One would think that a) they’re just in it for the money and b) that there’s no way they’ve got the lobbying power to make that happen.
This fight is so critical to the safety and sanity of our nation that an anonymous donor has extended his challenge and will match dollar for dollar all gifts to this Brady Gun Law Defense Fund. Your gift will be fully tax deductible.
One would think that an anonymous donor is either a) bullshit, b) unwilling to attach their name to it for fear of torpedoing the effort, or c) knows this is a really unpopular thing to do.
The threat to all our gun laws is truly unprecedented.
Once again: Amen!
The hypocrisy of the ruling is astounding.
Followed by nothing to back that claim up.
What is at stake for you and your community? An emboldened gun lobby will use the ruling to challenge strong local, state and federal gun laws.
One could only hope, but the NRA, the largest “gun lobby” tried to torpedo the case.
… from the long-standing machine gun ban … to the 1968 Gun Control Act … to the Brady Background Check Law.
Well, there is no machine gun ban. Private citizens can still buy them in the majority of states. It’s difficult, but there’s no outright ban on them. Interesting how they don’t point out the year when that happened.
… to your local and state laws … like the ones in California and New Jersey banning Assault Weapons … and many more.
Ah, yes, the California Assault Weapons Ban — which now includes single-shot rifles.
I’m sure nobody thinks that one is outrageous.
Oh, and on the background check thing: I doubt this case could affect that. The issue at hand in Parker was a denial in issuance of a permit to own a handgun. The 5th Circuit said that the denial of the permit was unlawful, not the actual permit process itself. While I disagree with that notion I can’t imagine the precedent set by this case giving a good legal standing to overturn such processes.
Why is this ruling so radical? Because the decision defies almost 70 years of legal precedent. All courts before this save one have ruled that the Second Amendment is not an individual right to bear arms, and this is the first Federal Appeals Court ever to declare a gun law unconstitutional based on the Second Amendment.
The GeekWithA45 said we’d be hearing that bullshit phrase a lot pretty soon. Seems he’s right.
One court case rules against a guy that was a) dead and b) who’s council didn’t show up that says the arm in question wasn’t protected by the 2nd amendment because it was not suitable for militia defense.
They make it sound like 2nd amendment case have been brought up time and time again. They haven’t. The 5th Circuit’s ruling stands at odds with a recent 9th Circuit ruling which is why the Supreme Court is likely to hear that case. Incidentally the 9th Circuit is the most overturned Circuit court in the nation.
No wonder they’ve got the knickers in a twist. This would be the 2nd time in United States history that the Supreme Court hears a 2nd amendment case, and this time the defendants are going to show up!
In her dissent,
Meaning she was disagreeing with the now current legal precedent in her District…
Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson wrote that Second Amendment rights relate to “Those militia whose continued vitality is required to safeguard the individual state.”
Sounds like something I’d write, actually. I won’t bother tearing that one apart. Y’all know the reasons I’m sure.
… And completely disregarded the democratically-expressed will of the people of the District of Columbia, depriving D.C. citizens of a strict handgun law enacted thirty years ago.
Yes, Sarah, that’s what courts do at the highest level: Strike down unconstitutional laws.
Shocking.
That’s not activism, that’s doing their job.
Talk about judicial activism! We can’t help but note the unbelievable hypocrisy here too. Conservatives cry and gnash their teeth about activism from the bench. This decision is judicial activism at its worst.
See above, this is how the court’s balance out the Legislative and Executive branch: striking down laws.
This is going to get interesting.
We’ll start off with a joke.
Two Michiganders up and died and went to Hell for their sins. Bummer.
Satan took to making sure that these two men were especially miserable so he turned the heat up extra high. He checked in on them in a few days and they were lounging around having a good ‘ole time.
This pissed Satan off something fierce. So, he goes and ups the heat up even higher.
Again, the two Michiganders are nice and comfy, having the time of their afterlives.
Satan’s had it at this point and confronts them. “How can you guys be so happy?! It’s hotter than, well, Hell in here!”
One of them replies: “Oh, we lived in Michigan our whole lives so we’re enjoying the heat. It’s a nice change from the cold winters we had there!”
So, Satan gets himself an idea. He cranks the heat down so far it makes a Michigan winter look balmy by comparison. He then checks in on the Michiganders. Son of a bitch! They’re celebrating and having a good time!
Satan is furious and screams at them, “I don’t get it! I can’t make it too hot for you and I can’t make it too cold for you! What’s wrong with you people?!”
One of them replies: “Oh, we’re not to happy about the cold, we’re just happy for the Lions!”
Satan: “What about the Lions?”
Michigander: “Well, the Lions must have won the Superbowl because hell went and froze over!”
——————–
Now, I told you that so I can tell you this: The Lions are going to win the 2008 Superbowl because SayUncle is reporting that Hell froze right the fuck over. I must concur.
A New Jersey Superior Court upheld a citizen’s constituational right to keep and bear arms.
Well now. Fuck me standing. I didn’t see that one coming.
This is awesome!
In my last post on the AR-24 I said that it would be a mistake to use the future .45ACP frame for the .40S&W version and I guess I need to explain that one a little bit.
Bad idea? Again, like I said last time, no, provided that they keep the grip size down.
Good idea? Sure — it’d be an interesting change in the marketplace.
Necessary idea? Fuck no. The Armalite is supposed to be of a higher grade steel than the actual CZs and they’ve already made .40S&W pistols on their model 75 platform with alloy frames that function just fine. I’ve gone one, actually, the CZ-RAMI, their sub-compact version.
If there were any design flaws in bumping their 9mm platform up to .40S&W then this one would be it. It’s tiny and the frame has got to be taking a good hammering because of this. I’m no gunsmith, so I can’t tell you why the CZ pistols should hold up to .40S&W, but I haven’t heard as much as a spattering about the RAMI being too fragile to handle .40S&W and given the amount of time I spend reading up on these things one would think that I’d have heard by now if it was an issue.
In fact I’ve never heard anything bad about bumping a 9mm up to .40S&W aside from Glock. The issue there isn’t the strength of the frame, it’s the chamber support provided by the barrel. They leave a significant portion of the cartride hanging out the back on their .40S&W versions, which, given the pressures of the cartridge and the weak brass has lead to a number of ka-BOOMs.
Or, so internet legend has it.
I’m not trying to bad-mouth Glock here, either. I realize it’s a design flaw, which I think may have been corrected, but I still consider my Glock 23 in .40S&W a great pistol and I have no fears what-so-ever firing it. What I’m getting at is that the worst transition ever from a 9mm platform to the .40S&W platform (Glock) is still really fucking good.
That’s why I think Armalite’s desire to chamber a .45ACP version of the CZ-75 in .40S&W is a silly idea. There’s just no reason to make such a move. If people wanted a .40S&W pistol built on a frame that can take .45ACP (and 10mm) then you’d see a bunch of 1911 clones out there that did, but you don’t. Nobody wants the extra beef that comes with the larger frame to support the compromise cartridge of .40S&W.
Again, build the .40S&W on the 9mm frame and give us a 10mm on the .45ACP frame. That we know the market supports.
A commenter (with a .mil email address) pointed out to me that the design of the AR-24 pistol I posted about earlier is more than just a clone of the CZ-75 and shares some of the same designs as the Sig 210.
Interesting.
That got me looking for more info on the pistol which lead me to a write-up in an NRA magazine about the AR-24.
Most interesting, to me, were these bits:
“We rejected the concept of modifying the design to accept .40 S&W because 9 mm pistols bumped up to .40 S&W have often shown poor results,” Westrom said. “Instead, we’re finishing work on the .45 ACP caliber AR-25 and hope to introduce it next year. We want a 10- or 12-shot pistol in that caliber.
While I’d disagree with the idea that bumping a 9mm platform up to .40S&W “shows poor results” I’d be really geeked about a CZ-75 based pistol in the .45ACP caliber. That would kick fucking ass and if they keep the MSRP around $550 it would really give the budget 1911’s a run for their money.
They continue:
We’ll then take the .45 ACP and bump it down to a very strong .40 S&W, hopefully in 2008.
Nooo! If you want to make a .40S&W version stick with what the market already accepts: Bumping a 9mm up to .40S&W. You’ll sell more. Take the .45ACP version and flip it into a 10mm version instead. Now, if you want to go with a 10mm and a .40S&W version that’s fine, I guess, but the real demand for a 40 caliber CZ-75-ish pistol would be for 10mm, not .40S&W.
Now, if they manage to keep the frame’s size really close to the 9mm version with the .45ACP version my objection of putting a .40S&W into the .45ACP platform is a moot point. However, I’m doubting they can because nobody’s done it right before. The grip gets too big, the frame too beefy, etc. That’s the primary reason Glock came out with their .45GAP cartridge. The .45ACP is just plain significantly longer than the 9mm and .40S&W cartridges and you end up with a grip that can only be described as “man-hands-required” when you run with a double-stack pistol capable of taking .45ACP.
That said, if they pull this off they could become a great player in the market when you’re talking to people about buying their first, and possibly one-and-only pistol. Having a single unified platform, built on steel, with a classic look, available in 9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP, and 10mm, would cover all the bases of the entry gun buyer and then some.
You could compete with Glock. Glock’s comfortable because it’s pretty much the same freaking gun but in a myriad of various calibers. However, they’re ugly as fuck.
I’d bet dollars to donuts that if someboy came into the market with a quality all steel pistol avaiable in the same calibers as Glock and dumped a fair amount of promotional money to get their dealers to push the product that they could trounce all over Glock in the USA for one, and only one reason:
American men will favor the all steel pistol over the Combat Tupperware time and time again. Plus, the lines of a pistol like the CZ-75 just plain appeal to us. You look at it and know it’s a “man’s gun.”
Bah, I’m sure they’ll fuck it up.
That was one funny movie, and a great flick. We got it from NetFlix and let it sit for at least a couple of months before we finally watched it.
Damn. Should have watched it sooner.
Go rent that one, you won’t be disappointed.