US Gun lobby inciting violence against journalists

Journalist details published by US gun lobbyists

This is an ugly turn in the rising tide of support for new gun laws in the US, following the recent horrific slaughter of 20 children and six adults. A New York publication The Journal News took the bold move of mapping local gun ownership locations to a Google Map. The gun lobby retaliated by publishing the home addresses and phone numbers of the publication's journalists (which I will not link to)!

Gun ownership map published by The Journal News, New York

It's debatable whether the publication's tactic was wise, and perhaps forcing a mobilisation and fightback by the gun lobby was a retrograde step.

But this is not new from the gun lobby. In fact, I was on the receiving end of similar tactics when I was one of the organisers of a rally on Queensland's Sunshine Coast to support strict new gun laws from John Howard's Australian Government.

Emergency Services scanner feeds now online. Is there anything the interwebz can't find you??

Expensive gear now superfluous...

Following the tragic news of yet another mass shooting in America, there was an online message about the radioreference.com  live feed of the local police radio chatter - with the obvious warning that much of the feed at that time was quite disturbing.

The service also links to emergency service radio feeds for many Australian services (but not ACT or Northern Territory). There is scattered availability in the other states, with Inner Sydney an interesting omission...

Amazing that this sort of eavesdropping used to require expensive hardware of questionable legality. And now there it is, given the interwebz treatment for anyone to listen in on.

In just an hour of listening in on the Sunshine Coast feed, they nabbed a guy who lifted a $400 pair of sunglasses from a shop in Noosa (didn't arrest the shop owner for charging that much though!), a female wanted pseudo-ephedrine runner, a wanted parole defaulter and a male with suicidal tendancies after a knife-wielding house invasion in Coes Creek. Not a bad work rate guys!

Regarding the shooting in Aurora Colorado, in Australia we can be truly thankful that John Howard - strongly supported by Tim Fisher - showed true leadership following the Port Arthur shooting and (at great personal political cost) pushed through sweeping gun law changes that make such an horrific crime so much less likely here.

All guys should look through this blog...

Such a powerful use of the web to expose the horror of rape - Project Unbreakable...

Why you should wear a seatbelt...

If you have children, and you can watch this without getting a bit teary, then nothing will save your cold dead heart...



And yes - it is a very good ad.

Thanks to @sciencegoddess for the reminder.

Sage legals tips - in case of need

An interesting collection of legal tips from Smartcompany.com.au.

In case of emergency, break seal and implement contents:

Ian...barister...pointed out to me that about only 1% of legal disputes actually end up in court. Therefore the other 99% are getting resolved by effective negotiating. And unfortunately, negotiating with law firms doesn't get taught in any MBA course in Australia.

So here's six pointers I have learnt along the way: