Moved

Short but sweet,this blog can now be found at

www.picasso36.wordpress.com

Guns,Government and Gremlins

We are all aware of the increase in gun crime in recent years.It would be very easy to make sweeping generalisations as to why this has happened.However here are some facts and thoughts.

Hungerfoed and Dunblane were terrible tragedies that should never be forgotten.However 99.99% of gun crime is committed with illegally held firearms.To obtain a liciense to hold firearms is difficult to say the least.These are some of the conditions.

1. Membership of a recognised club and regular attendance.

2. Safety training and a probationary period.

3. References

4. Interviews with the police.

5. Interviews between you,your Doctor and the police.

6. Granted liciense only for indoor approved ranges.Any outdoor shooting requires holding a liciense for a number of years and more approved training.

They are just the basics.The banning of handguns only succeded in affecting legally held,approved target shooters.Why?This simple the guns used in street crime pre '96 were illegal anyway.Ergo banning them has made no difference whatsoever.Gangsters and scallies ignore the law so it has no relevance.

Historically,Olympic shooting was one of strongest sports.Look at Beijing,cycling,rowing,swimming etc have done incredibly well and restored our sense of national pride.Why have they done so well?Answer because of funding.The best coaches,facilities,nutritionists means we are up there with the best in the world.

What about shooting,did we have a team-hardly.The ban now means that dedicated,focused target shooters have to travel to Switzerland to practice!!It is fairly obvious why we have no team.The odd competitor faces financial ruin and the practicalities are impossible to overcome.

London 2012,billions spent and new venue being built for shooting.Will we be able to field a team-doubtfull! After the games the sports center is to be demolished!Not even given over for a five-a-side pitch or similar.

My own experiences.What does target shooting do for me?Well it relaxes me,it enables aperson with health problems to compete in a sport theoretically to Olympic standard.Our gun club has many young members;consider this

1.Some come thinking guns-Fantastic!

2.They quickly relise that it is primarily about safety and dedication.

3.They become focused and competitive.They realise to improve they must work hard and concentrate.

Most importantly guns lose their glamour.we have kids who were going down the wrong path in life."Homies,looking to cap someones ass with a Glock19"

Now they hang aroung with different people,are focused,doing better in school and they realise they can outshoot any moron on the street.It is no longer rebellion,it is a bonafide sport primarily concerned with safety.

The government wants gun clubs closed down.This is not the answer.The answer is education,showing kids the effect of street guns and the damage they can do.We want guns off the streets more than most.But please don't penalise the law abiding dedicated shooters.The scallies will ignore whatever law you pass anyway.Guns exist and they will not go away.

We need to educate and introduce stiffer sentances for illegally held weapons.

We are not lunatics please do not tar us all with the same brush.

"someone having a glass of Chianti with linguine al forno is not the same as a man in the park with a bottle of meths"

Think about it,by working together we can possibly reduce gun crime and help kids focus their energies in the right areas.

Medea/Eliza- I love you!!

Well,Tma07 is back.As usual i had no confidence with my submission.Week upon week of panic,mental acrobatics and an overwhelming fear of dread.All for nothing-88%!!!
How chuffed am i with that?was hoping for 70 or above and would have been thrilled with75%.

Here are my tutors comments;

Michael, there are no major concerns here, and yet again a clear and well-argued essay with some sound independent critical thinking. . You appear to have mastered the art of the concise introduction in a limited word length essay, and clearly show an understanding of the question and its requirements. This hearkens back to Block 1 and the consideration of form and meaning, revealing works of art as a constructed entity. Art is not reality; it is a representation of the creative intention. Therefore, that was an important task achieved.Your essay progresses through some very sound investigation, supported by some well-chosen examples. Therefore, what prevents an even higher mark? Well, you show the elements of Pygmalion and Medea separately for much of the essay. This was extremely effective per se and you provide some excellent examples, hence the very good mark. However, as I was reading of Eliza I craved to know how you might relate that to Medea and so-forth. My script comments offer some suggestion. You did attempt this on occasion and the quality of the delivery rose sharply. However, your strong point here was in maintaining the focus on the question throughout.Assimilation is the lifeblood of high quality comparative analysis and shows a sophisticated understanding of their relative values. You fully understand the need for a strong structure to your essays before deciding on the detail of the content. Therefore, I am extremely confident that you are getting there (Are you?) and it is indicative of your progress that I can spend my comments on fine-tuning. Furthermore, these are points for getting to grips with level 2 not forgetting that TMA 08 is baseline level 2. Well done Michael and keep it up till the end.

If i could ever make a decision!

So, A103 is drawing to a close and this begs the question what next?First do i go straight into another course or go for a January start which will give my tired brain a rest.Since A103 i have not picked up a paint brush so maybe a break will reinvigorate?

A216(Art and its histories) feb start,but some of the comments are worrying.

A251(World archaeology) only a 30 pointer,Sept start,but quite fancy it.That would mean doing another 30 point course and AD252(Islam in the West)looks interesting.

A200(Creative writing) can't write

Even think of doing one of the history courses!

So,do I take a break and paint,draw,and fancy trying a bit of sculpture.Or do I get of my lazy arse and plough on?It all seemed so easy when we were younger.Wish there was a journalism course,that I do fancy.If only i could stop waffling...

Schrodinger's cat

A cat is placed in a box. It should be pointed out that this is not a cardboard box, or a lead box. The box is a method of separating the cat from the observers. Placing the cat one light-hour away would perform the same function. Alongside the cat is a vial with a radioactive isotope and a Geiger counter linked via a complex device to a hammer over a vial of cyanide gas.
The isotope has a 50/50 chance of decaying during the course of one hour. If it does, the Geiger counter will go off, the hammer will smash the glass and the cyanide gas will kill the cat. The cat is put in the box for one hour, then the box is opened.
Since the quantum superposition of the isotope says that it is both decayed and not decayed until we look at it, and the box prevents us from knowing whether the isotope has decayed until we open it, it's impossible to know the fate of the cat. So until the box is opened and you look at a bemused Fluffy or the start of an awkward conversation with the wife, you can't tell what you'll find.
This happens because the isotope decay/non-decay creates a quantum probability wave. This is related to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which says that the position of any sub-atomic particle cannot be measured precisely, the best one can get is a probability wave function of its position. In other words an approximation to its position. This happens because sub-atomic particles can be in two 'states' at once. This is called superposition. For example, it can be in two locations, or in the same location but can be spinning in opposite directions at the same time. In fact, it can be in many states at the same time. Heisenberg proved that this was true and not a contradiction1. He also showed that the particle falls into one of its possible states only when it is measured, eg looked at. Thus, before measurement, the particle's position cannot be described easily. The solution to this was the probability wave function, which describes every possible location and 'spin' of the particle, along with a probability that the particle will be in that location.
The probability wave function for the isotope says it is decayed and non-decayed, because of the 50/50 chance, and that both waves exist at the same moment, and only when you open the box and look in, does one wave collapse (it is reduced to a probability of zero) and the other becomes established as the result. This means that the cat also has a quantum probability wave (although scientists argue whether it has its own wave or simply shares the isotope's one), which means that the cat exists as a dead cat and a living breathing cat, at the same time.
The problem is that until you look in the box, the isotope is both decayed and not-decayed, and as its fate is linked, the cat is both dead and not-dead. At the same time. This is not the same thing as saying that the cat's fate is unknown, or that the cat is half dead. The cat is dead and non-dead (alive) at the same time.
Science has yet to determine if the cat exists in both states or if two 'pseudo'-cats exists in the box. The theory raised a lot of eyebrows, particularly in the clergy, because it suggests that not even God can know the fate of the cat until the box is opened (assuming you ban him from using time travel).

How freaky is that?

What kind of mind can think that up?

Am I as dumb as a box of rocks?

Duality of man

Yesterday was a good day.I fired my new gun for the first time.It's a Remington 1858NMA .44.Ok,that means bugger all to anybody.Huge boom,heavy calibre,and a two foot flame out of the end!Strangely this is somewhat therapeutic and soothing.

Earlier I was studying Medea and reading poetry.Just shows what complexities we all have.Or maybe I am a person of extremes?

Unless of course I am showing the first signs of schizophrenia...

Good day-Bad day

Today is fundamentally a good day I think. Got my shiny new dictaphone and dragonfly voice recognition software, which is really rather cool. Have got a feeling that this post may sound slightly robotic. I am certainly speaking in a slow and robotic manner. Hope this doesn't make my essays sound artificial and strange. But look everybody no hands! Ally I know you did not go for the dragonfly option but it's free and quite a lot of fun. Remember your status is "live" so you can order it at any time.

Heard from a friend on Crete today which was both good and bad. Great to hear from them but am somewhat envious of her lifestyle at the moment. Having said that been there and done that. She is working 12 hours a day seven days a week which is somewhat tough. Would still change places with her though at least it's not chucking it down with rain like here. Think I'd definitely suffer from seasonal affected disorder, and many other things no doubt.

Anyway time to study (about bloody time) and to continue to talk robotically.