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CommentsDisplaying Norden's 10 most recent comments.

• Nano-Drone Swarm Shows Off Slightly Creepy Formation Skills

  February 2, 2012 at 8:45pm

  “Technical perfection strives towards the calculable, human perfection towards the incalculable. Perfect mechanisms — around which, therefore, stands an uncanny but fascinating halo of brilliance — evoke both fear and a titanic pride which will be humbled not by insight but only by catastrophe.”
  –Ernst Jünger

• Nano-Drone Swarm Shows Off Slightly Creepy Formation Skills

  February 2, 2012 at 5:18pm

  In reply to Movinfr8.

  Ernst Jünger, “The Glass Bees”: http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Bees-Review-Books-Classics/dp/0940322552

• Nano-Drone Swarm Shows Off Slightly Creepy Formation Skills

  February 2, 2012 at 5:12pm

  Anyone ever read Ernst Jünger’s “The Glass Bees” by chance? It’s kind of like Brave New World but more approachable and better written. He writes precisely about this kind of thing, and saw it coming far in advance. (By the way, to anyone who has not read Ernst Jünger, I would highly recommend his books if you can find them. A real European conservative, interesting view points).

• NY Teachers Aren’t Crazy About Evaluations Being Based on Student Performance

  June 30, 2011 at 3:52pm

  Ah, the dilemma of education. To make this an argument about how heavily standardized testing should be weighted in the evaluation of teachers is a gross over-simplification.

  We are talking about repairing plumbing on the Titanic here. The whole system of institutionalized education based upon an assembly-line model needs a major overhaul, all the more so since schools have become indoctrination centers of the state. As with so many institutions in our society, education has become top-heavy, like an inverted pyramid. The ideologies and educational theories of those at the top are grossly out of touch with the realities on the ground. The very idea that we can quantify a student’s understanding with a highly abstract, numerical score on a standardized test betrays how undervalued education really is. You can not treat the minds of children as blank space into which modular pieces of information can be placed and assembled according to some universal template. There are no shortcuts. Education in our society is really triage indoctrination, and educational theorists will admit as much. It is a fact that one of the reigning theories of education in this country for the past century has been rooted in the ideology of “social efficiency,” that is, training children to be productive cogs in the wheel. Call a spade a spade, just don’t call it education. Don’t expect to get a clean shave with a chainsaw.

• Witness: Police Pointed Gun at Us, Smashed Cell Phone For Filming Fatal Shooting

  June 7, 2011 at 8:21pm

  In reply to Norden.

  @SDD757 “if you’re a police officer then you are part of the problem and do civilization a favor and quit your job. And I stand by my statement that people like you made excuses for goons like this while people get gassed.”

  Poor diagnosis doctor. Police are an extension of executive government. Government in all of its forms is a necessary evil, required to, if I may quote, “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” A sovereign executive power that helps ensure social order has always been one of the hallmarks of civilization. Executive power in the form of police is only the last bar of defense against anarchy and disorder. In every society where people have stopped living up to the moral Law, the powers of state have stepped in to fill the vacuum. If we live in a “police state” it is only because our civilization has already gone rotten. When people cease to govern themselves, they need to be policed. The founders knew that: they created a government “only for a religious and moral people.” Alexis de Tocqueville knew that “America is great because she is good. If America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

  Wan’t to know the REAL problem with our civilization? I know where to point you. You will not find want of slaughter of innocents. Go to your nearest abortion clinic, and I will show you today’s gas

• Witness: Police Pointed Gun at Us, Smashed Cell Phone For Filming Fatal Shooting

  June 7, 2011 at 7:57pm

  In reply to Norden.

  @SDD757

  No, its just common sense. Okay, let’s do away with the jargon. Forget “tactical mode.” Let’s try this: shooting. Does that sound right? Are you telling me that a person has a right to step into the middle of an active police shooting at night, crouch behind cars and point things at the backs of the police while they are still clearing the scene with guns drawn? Expect to see guns up at the ready. Think about it. We can debate about how wrong that officer was in pointing his firearm at the person taking the video. But the video is so shaky and edited (why are so many parts cut out?) that we simply can’t tell exactly what happened. How long was that after the shooting? What was the exact verbal exchange? Were the officers aware that the person was there beforehand? Did they think he was armed? Until then, lets not jump to conclusions. I don’t think it’s such a very difficult thing. I will be the first to condemn wrong action, but in most of these posts I see nothing more than cop bashing and the spirit of anarchism and vigilantism. Even if the facts bear out that the police broke the law here, you people have shown your true colors… “Gestapo” indeed, everyone hates the police until they need help.

• Witness: Police Pointed Gun at Us, Smashed Cell Phone For Filming Fatal Shooting

  June 7, 2011 at 7:35pm

  In reply to Norden.

  @MATEYTWO

  Your post strains the limits of coherence. It has nothing to do with “professional” vs “amateur.” It has to do with predicting the unpredictable, and dealing with unknown threats. The police are extensively trained to deal with these situations, but in the real world you cannot predict what someone is going to do. You cannot read a person’s mind. You are in the dark. Anyone who knows anything about police work will tell you that one of the primary dangers is facing the unknown. Traffic stops are the most dangerous because you simply don’t know the intentions of the driver or whether he is armed. In these situations, you have a split second to decide whether to use deadly force. After someone has run over an officer and is believed to be armed, the decision becomes much easier. That’s just reality.

  How about this: don’t play with fire. Don’t be a moron. Don’t run over police officers and give them a reason to think you are a threat to their lives. Life isn’t a game. They have guns. They will shoot you if they think they have to.

  Let’s wait for all of the facts to come out before we condemn. The facts will bear out whether these officers were justified or not. In any case, this has nothing to do with the “Gestapo.” It may be that they were wrong and this was murder, but that just makes them bad cops. I’ll call “Gestapo” when I see the ideology-steeped party thugs going door to door cracking skulls. Until then, please, don’t cry “wolf”.

• Witness: Police Pointed Gun at Us, Smashed Cell Phone For Filming Fatal Shooting

  June 7, 2011 at 7:17pm

  In reply to Norden.

  That’s funny, because logic would lead me to another conclusion. You try stepping into an active tactical situation (shooting) at night while hiding behind cars and pointing small black objects at police. A reasonable person can expect to see a gun up at the ready. Common sense, really.

• Witness: Police Pointed Gun at Us, Smashed Cell Phone For Filming Fatal Shooting

  June 7, 2011 at 5:25pm

  It is curious that so many people here are doing in principle what they accuse these cops of doing. Jumping the gun, so to speak. Noone here (I hope) would defend police officers for an unjustified shooting. The problem here is clearly a case of knowledge versus conjecture. We don’t know what happened on the ground. You may think that the video shows the whole story, but it does not. It does not show what happened immediately before the incident, and it doesn’t even show everything that happened during the incident. For all you can see, the driver could have been pointing a Mac-10 at the officers. You simply can’t see. Did he have a gun at some point during the incident? Did the officers know about it? Did he have something in his hand? Did he not just prior to this run an officer over? Could one reasonably presume that he was armed and dangerous? His attorney said that he did not have a weapon “on him.” What does that mean? Were there other people involved?

  You do not know. The video doesn’t show you. What do they say about people who assume?

• Witness: Police Pointed Gun at Us, Smashed Cell Phone For Filming Fatal Shooting

  June 7, 2011 at 5:04pm

  In reply to Norden.

  @SDD757

  Maybe you should be more hesitant before you go throwing out wild accusations. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t around when the Nazis were gassing Jews, and I’m pretty sure you know nothing about me. But more to the point, this story isn’t about cops using deadly force. That happens all the time, and they have the authority to do that if necessary. This story is about allegations that after a deadly shooting, police stook and smashed witnesses’ cell phones at gun point. That is what the story is about, and it is this that has cast a shadow of doubt upon the use of deadly force. As it stands, these are just allegations, and that is what I have tried to point out.

  I am not quite sure what you mean when you say that officers should be more hesitant to use deadly force. They have the authority to meet perceived deadly force with deadly force. They are equipped to use deadly force and trained how and when to do so. They are placed in highly volatile situations, expected to make split second decisions, and are accountable for all of their actions. Should they not use deadly force at all, or should they just generally be “more hesitant?” What does that mean? What is your standard? Should they all be retrained to your standard? Is this standard something other than the standard that all police officers are held to, that is, the reasonable use of deadly force in defense of life? Help me, I am a little confused. Either they were justified or not. What does “more hesitant