To yesterday’s post about gun control/2A
What is the role of journalists when covering America’s mass shooting crisis, and how can they responsibly report on tragedies like the recent shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo and Tulsa?
Those are complicated but crucial questions to answer, says Dannagal Young, a University of Delaware professor who studies the impact that news stories have on the public.
<snip>
This difference is called episodically framed stories versus thematically framed stories.
Full article HERE from NPR of all places!
I am reminded of something that Max Schindler (original director of Meet the Press) told me a number of years ago. He said words to the effect that give him blood and guts and he could get that on air for 15 minutes daily for 3-4 days. A tear jerker ‘good’ story might get 1 minute one night.
And Proud Hillbilly, references this quote-
“This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty… The right to self-defence is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine the right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.” St. George Tucker (1752-1827) Blackstone’s Commentaries: with Notes of Reference, to the Constitution and Laws, of the Federal Government of the United States; and of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As quoted in the majority opinion of the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008.
Obviously ‘we’ are NOT the first country to deal with this issue, and it is obvious that our framers thought long and hard on ALL of the Bill of Rights.
Miggy and the folks over at Gun Free Zone have been beating on this for years, along with John over at No Lawyers- Only Guns and Money. There used to be quite a few more ‘dedicated’ gun bloggers, but they have by and large dropped out of the blogosphere for any number of reasons.
And a bit of ‘fun’ follow up- The grands had to go ‘help’ clean up the school for end of year. Of course there was a little ‘payback’ for them in the form of a bounce house waterslide and hot dogs after they finished…
And light kids and obviously SLICK waterslides allowed them to LAUNCH themselves… LOL
And the granddaughter screamed all the way down and looks like she got about a foot of ‘air’! LOL
And PP ended up helping with the food… Thanks to her and the other parents for leaving the kids a ‘positive’ impression of school!
Unless “The People” in these not-so-United States, especially in those states we’d all refer to as “The Usual Suspects”, get a clue and vote to remove from office those politicians who consistently vote against our liberties, this country’s days as a beacon for freedom loving people are over.
And OldNFO, how much air did you get going down the water slide? 🙂
Glad everyone had some real, wholesome fun. If you want to see a silly patent for “kids catching some air,” go to patents.google.com and enter “US2929459” – which will be “Combustible Gas Powered Pogo Stick.” This thing was actually sold in the ’60s and I saw one for sale on eBay once – with original box. I cannot recall what the toy’s brand name was – those are usually different from the patent title.
But take a farmer’s one cylinder hit-n-miss, make the pogo stick the cylinder head with handles, feed it white gasoline (!) and you could have kids hopping 5 – 9 feet in the air with NO muffler! Pow! Pow! Pow! – did you leave the garage door open? – pow-thunk, pow-thunk, pow-think!
Lord, how did we ever survive…
You have got to be fabricating this. You actually pulled this off, presumably with siblings and close friends, and you fed the cursed thing white gas? White gas, and you lived to tell about it?
I’ll just assume since you, personally, claim to have done it and survived, you somehow escaped brain damage – which is to say damage in excess of what you already had as evidenced by trying such a stunt.
Where were your parents in all this? I don’t have much sympathy for your father, but your poor mother! Did they ever find out?
MJ – No, I didn’t *invent* or market this thing. Turns out it was marketed as the “Hop Rod.” The inventor *did* use his own kid as the test pilot though – more info here:
https://www.bpmlegal.com/content/wpogo
One kid user of the day writes: “If you maintained a forward leaning position you could really cover some ground. If you leaned ever so slightly to one side or the other you were launched awkwardly off with equal vigor with no hope of recovery.”
Real MEN grew up playing with REAL toys.
Chemistry sets ‘n’ stuff… And M-80’s.
In my own patent practice I sometimes come across weird and strange things people have patented or applied to patent, and
I’ve been collecting them in a file. Some are well known chucklers within the patent practitioners’ realm.
About 2/3 of utility applications get granted as a patent, but only about 50% of patents ever recover the money invested to get them through the system. Some people really love their inventions and then the market lets them down – you thought it was neat-o but nobody else really cared.
There are some lawyers who try to troll the examiner and it’s fun to see what they can get past.
US4022227 – Yes, even the comb-over was PATENTED.
US4792013 – A suppressor/muffler inventor has HAD it with them noisy kids!
For you USN folks, enjoy:
Application US20040216209 “Swimwear as Information Device”
Patent US5023850 – the pun embedded here is in Fig. 1, “the dog watch.”
Not about the inventor, but whomever was tapped to ILLUSTRATE US3398406 must have been frustrated that he wasn’t working for Marvel, DC, or even Astounding/Analog Science Fiction. The action/adventures begin with Fig. 14.
Enjoy!
All major publications know what their audience wants to read. The articles they publish follow their unwritten guidelines. All that being the case, one possible solution that we’ll never see happen is federal legislature passing a law requiring publications to represent all sides equally. Mention support for a new Draconian gun law, and you must give equal time to patriotic, freedom loving citizens.
If I sound biased, it’s because I am.
My children are grown and gone. It was the greatest pleasure of my life raising them. Sometimes I wanted to blow out my brains… other times theirs but on balance it was wonderful. I frequently try to buy a kid at the restaurant – after I explain the situation. Interestingly, no one will sell them, no matter how bad they are acting. (I did have one lady that said she would but I had to take all four. Sadly, I’m on Social security)
Tom- LOL, I wasn’t there… And I’m smarter than that now…
TPG/MJ- Ummm…er… Spitsmesser was crazier than a bedbug! That… Wow!!!
Bill- Excellent point!
Stuart- LOL, yeah, there ‘were’ highs and lows…
Love the slide photos!
Less happily, I think the UK led the charge on gun control in the 1920s. They were afraid of a Communist uprising, understandably, and threw the baby out with the bathwater.