Tragedy at gun show

From Yahoo News:

With an instructor watching, an 8-year-old boy at a gun fair aimed an Uzi at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a camera.

It was his first time shooting a fully automatic machine gun, and the recoil of the weapon was too much for him. He lost control and fatally shot himself in the head.

"The weapon was loaded and ready to fire," Westfield police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said. "The 8-year-old victim had the Uzi and as he was firing the weapon, the front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a round in his head."
Christopher, a third-grader, was attending the show with his father and sixth-grade brother, Colin. Christopher had fired handguns and rifles before, but Sunday was his first time firing an automatic weapon, said his father, Charles Bizilj.

Bizilj told the Boston Globe he was about 10 feet behind his son and reaching for his camera when the weapon fired. He said his family avoided the larger weapons, but he let his son try the Uzi because it's a small weapon with little recoil.

"This accident was truly a mystery to me," said Bizilj, director of emergency medicine at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford, Conn. "This is a horrible event, a horrible travesty, and I really don't know why it happened."

Massachusetts has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. It is legal in Massachusetts for children to fire a weapon if they have permission from a parent or legal guardian and they are supervised by a properly certified and licensed instructor, Nunez said. The name of the instructor who was with the boy at the time was not released.

Too many unknowns to hazard a guess. Recoil, stance, grip, attention from the shooter, attention from those supervising. Too many unknowns.

09/11/01

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks

Jerry Reed dies at age 71

From the Miami Herald:

Jerry Reed, a singer who became a good ol' boy actor in car chase movies like "Smokey and the Bandit," has died of complications from emphysema at 71.

His longtime booking agent, Carrie Moore-Reed, no relation to the star, said Reed died early Monday.

"He's one of the greatest entertainers in the world. That's the way I feel about him," Moore-Reed said.

Reed was a gifted guitarist who later became a songwriter, singer and actor.

As a singer in the 1970s and early 1980s, he had a string of hits that included "Amos Moses," "When You're Hot, You're Hot," "East Bound and Down" and "The Bird."

In the mid-1970s, he began acting in movies such as "Smokey and the Bandit" with Burt Reynolds, usually as a good ol' boy. But he was an ornery heavy in "Gator," directed by Reynolds, and a hateful coach in 1998's "The Waterboy," starring Adam Sandler.

He had a long way to go...and a short time to get there....

Hollywood death trifecta in play

First there was Bernie Mac:

Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show," died Saturday at age 50.

"Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital," his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles.

She said no other details were available and asked that his family's privacy be respected.

The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.

Then there was Isaac Hayes:

American funk-soul legend and Academy Award-award winning musician Isaac Hayes was found dead Sunday at his home in Memphis, Tennessee, officials said. He was 65.

The talented singer, songwriter and composer, who won the Oscar in 1972 for best original song for the theme from "Shaft," was found unresponsive at his house by family members, Shelby county sheriff's spokesman Steve Shular told AFP.

Hayes was discovered at about 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) collapsed on the floor of a bedroom in his home next to a treadmill that was still running, he said.

"We don't believe there was any foul play," Shular said. "Based on the statements by family members that Mr. Hayes had been treated of late for a number of medical issues, we believe that led to his death today. There are no plans for an autopsy."

Hayes suffered a stroke in early 2006.

And the two were linked....

In a tragic twist of fate, Hayes most recently filmed a small role playing himself in the upcoming movie Soul Man, starring Bernie Mac, who died yesterday at the age of 50 from pneumonia.

Ambivalence to murder. A case for CCW.

From Xavier Thoughts:


Thanks to my dad for bringing this to my attention...

Trinity....I need help....

From Wired:

1945: The first atomic bomb is tested successfully at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range in a remote section of desert near Los Alamos, New Mexico. The instant the bomb detonated at 5:30 a.m. that Monday, the atomic age was born, and the world changed forever.

The Trinity test, as it was known, was the culmination of the American effort to win the race against Germany (and, ultimately, the Soviet Union) in building an atomic bomb. A mere three weeks after the test, the United States used atomic bombs to destroy the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project, was under no illusions about what he and his fellow physicists had wrought. The effects of the blast, the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT, moved the intellectual Oppenheimer to quote from the Bhagavad Gita: "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds."

More prosaically, Dr. Kenneth Bainbridge, site director of the Trinity test, said: "Now we are all sons-of-bitches."

Hail to the king, baby...

Woman sues over thong injury.

From The Smoking Gun:

As she was attempting to put on a Victoria's Secret thong, a Los Angeles woman claims that a decorative metallic piece flew off the garment and struck her in the eye, causing injuries and a new product liability lawsuit against the underwear giant.

Macrida Patterson, 52, alleges that she was hurt last May by a defective "low-rise v-string" from the Victoria's Secret "Sexy Little Thing" line, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court. A copy of her June 9 complaint, which does not specify monetary damages, can be found below. Patterson's lawyer, Jason Buccat, told TSG that a "design problem" caused the decorative piece to come loose and strike Patterson in the eye, causing damage to her cornea.

He added that the eye injury, which caused Patterson to miss a few days of work, will be "affecting her the rest of her life." Patterson is a traffic officer with L.A.'s Department of Transportation. Prior to the lawsuit's filing, Victoria's Secret officials asked to examine the garment and the decorative piece, but that request was rejected by Patterson's counsel.

For those unfamiliar with "v-strings," the undergarment is the Victoria's Secret variant on the "g-string," which has long been favored in the battle against visible panty lines.

Personally, I think it was a stress fracture. :)

Man Who Beat Infant to Death Fatally Shot by Cop

From News10.net:

A Modesto police officer shot and killed a man after a Stanislaus County sheriff's helicopter crew spotted the man beating a baby boy in the middle of an intersection in rural Stanislaus County on Saturday, Modesto police said.

The helicopter responded to 911 calls around 10:15 p.m. Saturday from residents near the intersection of Bradbury and Blaker roads reporting a man was assaulting an infant. "(He) was beating an infant in the middle of the road - beating it for no apparent reason," said Stanislaus County Sheriff's Deputy Raj Singh.

The crew decided to make an emergency landing in a cow pasture near the roadway, but were blocked from reaching the man by an electrified, barbed-wire fence. A Modesto police officer serving as a tactical flight officer aboard the helicopter then shot the attacker. "According to Singh, the officer, "Pulled out his service weapon, pointed it at the suspect and told him to step away from the baby. So in an attempt to try to save the baby's life, the officer fired, hitting the suspect, which resulted in his death." The man was later pronounced dead at the scene. Emergency crews rushed the child to Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock, where the infant died shortly after arrival.

Singh said an elderly couple made the first 911 call to police after spotting the suspect's stopped pickup facing the wrong direction. They said a young man was brutally beating a child behind his truck and throwing the toddler on the ground. "They could see him being beaten and people were trying to intervene, but it was having little or no effect," said Singh, adding that one man who tried to stop the violence was repeatedly thrown to the ground by the suspect.

The names of the man and infant, who was between 12 and 24 months old, were not released and there was no immediate word on the relationship between the two. Singh said the toddler was so badly beaten it will have to be identified through blood or DNA testing.

Good shoot.

Internet Rule 34 is a bitch

Generally accepted internet rule that states that pornography or sexually related material exists for any conceivable subject.

If it exists, there is porn of it.

Fuzzy Bunnies. FUZZY BUNNIES. My eyes! MY EYES!!!!

Cold, dead hands...

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080406/ap_on_en_mo/obit_heston:

Heston, who died Saturday night at 84, was a towering figure both in his politics and on screen, where his characters had the ear of God (Moses in "The Ten Commandments"), survived apocalyptic plagues ("The Omega Man") and endured one of Hollywood's most-grueling action sequences (the chariot race in "Ben-Hur," which earned him the best-actor Academy Award).

Better known in recent years as a fierce gun-rights advocate who headed the National Rifle Association, Heston played legendary leaders and ordinary men hurled into heroic struggles.

"In taking on epic and commanding roles, he showed himself to be one of our nation's most gifted actors, and his legacy will forever be a part of our cinema," Republican presidential candidate McCain said in a statement that also noted Heston's involvement in the civil-rights movement and his stand against gun control.

Decades before his NRA leadership, Heston was a strong advocate for civil rights in the 1960s, joining marches and offering financial assistance.

Civil-rights leaders in Los Angeles held a moment of silence in Heston's memory Sunday after an unrelated news conference.

Heston had contributed and raised thousands of dollars in Hollywood for Martin Luther King Jr.'s movement, said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Round Table.

"We certainly disagree with his position as NRA head and also his firm, firm, unwavering support of the unlimited right to bear arms," Hutchinson said. But, he added, "Charlton Heston was a complex individual. He lived a long time, and certainly, there were many phases. The phases we prefer to remember were certainly his contributions to Dr. King and civil rights."

From http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=4373089&postcount=115:
He supported civil rights when it was unpopular. He supported free speech when it was unpopular (see his speech at Harvard). He supported gun rights (another civil right) knowing it would and did cost him many jobs and a ton of money.

He was a man of principle.

There are few with his courage these days.

Rule number 4 violated: Man shoots wife through wall.

http://thehighroad.org/library/safetyrules.html

RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET
Know what it is, what is in line with it, and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything you have not positively identified. Be aware of your surroundings, whether on the range or in a fight. Do not assume anything. Know what you are doing.

Man shot by killer robot

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/03/19/9039_gold-coast-top-story.html

AN 81-year-old Gold Coast man built, and yesterday used, an intricate suicide machine to remotely shoot himself, after downloading the plans from the internet.

The Burleigh Heads man, who lived alone, left notes of his plans and thoughts as he struggled to come to terms with demands by interstate relatives that he move out his home and into care.

He spent hours searching the internet for a way to kill himself, downloaded what he needed and then built a complex machine that would remotely fire a gun. He set the device up in his driveway about 7am yesterday, placed himself in front of it and set it in motion.

The Gold Coast Bulletin will not reveal how the machine worked, but it was attached to a .22 semi-automatic pistol loaded with four bullets. It was able to fire multiple shots into the man's head after he activated it.

Wanted for questioning...

Major Minneapolis Bridge Collapses Over Mississippi River

Thoughts and prayers out to all of those affected by this tragedy!

EDIT: Morning update looks like the death toll is up to 6. Given the complete structural failure of the bridge and the average traffic, I'm thankful it isn't higher.

You often hear stories about how bridges could collapse due to frequencies and vibrations, then it ends up being shifting earth or collision. The frequency issue has been the focus of several Mythbusters episodes as well. Time will only tell what exactly will be the cause, but one important thing came out of the news last night for me: If you frequently travel over a bridge, and the "sound" that it makes changes, report it to your local DOT.

EDIT2: Check out this security camera footage of the collapse.