Things aren't going so well for ISIS these days, evidently

I've thought for a while that applying the old Roman practice of damnatio memoriae would be the most appropriate way to deal with ISIS. How satisfying it would be for any "legacy" they hope to achieve to be wiped from the world's collective memory, so that nobody even remembers who they were in twenty years. All of their "martyrdom" and death would have resulted in a sum total of nothing. Not the most inspiring legacy for the disaffected youth of the future. 

They've finally lost Fallujah, and have been taking heavy losses from the air during their retreat (see below). Mosul is next on the list. 






A rant on the NZ gun safety fallacy

In the wake of the worst mass shooting in American history, and after seeing New Zealand's gun safety laws being described here and there in the media as "world-leading" relative to the US, I thought it would be interesting to see what I could potentially go and buy with my normal A-Category license. That is, no background checks, no lay-away period, just pay and take away. Here's a sample of what's available just down the road at Gun City:



Also, here's a recent story out of South Auckland highlighting the tools available to some of those in the local meth trade.

And this one.

And this one.

Obviously not all mass shooters opt for assault rifles and ridiculous Terminator-esque pistol-grip shotguns (although a lot do - see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). For example, my gun....


...has been used in more than a few mass shootings (for example, this one). But I feel like it's easier to make a case for shooting clays with a stock-standard Remington 870 than trying to do the same with a sliding-stock, pistol-grip Mossberg 590 Tactical Package. 

We're nothing on the batshit craziness of the US:

...but still. I'd love to know how people justify owning some of what's on offer here, especially when none of our wildlife can kill us.




From further in the archives - Random driving videos

I can't remember why I even have these. I think the plan was to make some kind of time-lapse video with them, but I obviously never got around to it. So here are some completely pointless raw videos. Just because. 

Dunedin, ~2009, in the mighty Escudo. Only a select few could manage to work that gearbox, which ultimately left me stranded on the way to a job interview about two years later. It also rode like a tank, and lost traction like no other car.


Auckland, 2012, driving back to the city from Warkworth. There seems to be a theme here: the Golf soon blew its gearbox and set me back $4,500. Asian imports all the way from that point.