Month: February 2010

ASUA Public Forum After Action Report

Here’s a video of the proceedings from the ASUA meeting tonight.
Sorry for the poor quality video and audio — I recorded it with my cellphone video camera, which is clearly not the best recording tool. Such is life.
I’ll go through the videos and add annotations/captions in the future.

At several points, I wanted to say to the pro-gun people, “Stop it. You’re not helping.” — we’re not talking about the Second Amendment, nor guns in parking lots, nor anything else. We’re talking about whether the ASUA, the University of Arizona student government, should support or oppose a state senate bill that would allow faculty with valid CCW permits to carry concealed firearms on campus. Your efforts basically confirm every negative stereotype, though most of the pro-gun females who spoke were clear, articulate, and made some good points. This is a matter of giving responsible adults — professors, specifically — the choice to carry a firearm on campus if they wish.
The ASUA is holding a voting meeting tomorrow in the Ventana Room at the Student Union at 5:00pm. They’ll allow a brief period of public discussion on the topics (the gun issue is the first thing on the schedule, so show up promptly), but then the ASUA Senate will have their own discussions and vote on the matter. I highly encourage decent public speakers (i.e. not like those who spoke tonight) to attend and speak tomorrow. If we get good public speakers, particularly those who don’t fit into classic stereotypes of gun owners (e.g. women, disabled, professors, etc.), that could go a long way toward getting the ASUA to support this measure.

Public Debates About Guns On Campus Held Tonight

The Arizona Daily Wildcat is reporting that there will be a public meeting tonight at 7:00pm in the Santa Rita room of the Student Union building at the University of Arizona to discuss whether or not the Associated Students of the University of Arizona (ASUA, the student government) should support or oppose the proposed law that would allow faculty members (but not students) with CCW permits to carry guns on campus.
From the article:

Although anyone from the public can participate in the forum, Quillin said it will be structured with an emphasis on students? opinions.

While it’s short notice, it’d be great if pr0-gun people in Arizona could show up, particularly if they are current or former students or faculty. According to the article most of the responses have been non-committal, with both students and professors indicating support for the forum, but having mixed feelings on the topic. It doesn’t sound like many students or faculty are terribly interested, and so won’t be attending.
That said, comments on last week’s article (scroll down) seem to be leaning toward the pro-gun side. Let’s keep it up.
Of course, if one decides to come to the forum tonight, be presentable, be polite, don’t be a nutjob, and don’t come armed (remember, guns are still prohibited on campus, even with a permit). This is a big opportunity, and could lay the groundwork for future improvements.

Interesting Product

I received an email the other day from Mr. Dublin ((Interestingly enough, he’s presently 19 and a college freshman, and designed his charging system at age 18. I’m impressed.)), asking me if I’d be so kind as to comment on a product he’s selling: a HK-style charging system for AK-pattern rifles.
While I haven’t actually used his product, it certainly looks interesting. After a brief email exchange, he said he’s hoping to get a left-handed model and a non-reciprocating model constructed soon. That makes me, a lefty, happy.
If you’ve got an AK but prefer the HK-style charging handle, this looks like a pretty snazzy product to check out.

Car Stuff

A Haynes manual makes vehicle maintenance easy and occasionally fun.
The fill port for the front differential on a 2002 Subaru Forester is remarkably hard to access.
Gear oil smells nasty.
The dealership charges about $200 for flushing and refilling the diffs, but it costs about $7 in new gear oil to do it yourself. Both myself and the owner of the Subaru (my friend Mark) think that $193 savings is a good thing.