Unless they have intent to use them, or have knowledge that that’s what they’re made for, no? That’s what it says in the law, isn’t it?

“ Every person having upon him or her in his or her possession a picklock, crow, keybit, crowbar, screwdriver, vise grip pliers, water-pump pliers, slidehammer, slim jim, tension bar, lock pick gun, tubular lock pick, bump key, floor-safe door puller, master key, ceramic or porcelain spark plug chips or pieces, or other instrument or tool with intent feloniously to break or enter into any building, railroad car, aircraft, or vessel, trailer coach, or vehicle as defined in the Vehicle Code, or who shall knowingly make or alter, or shall attempt to make or alter, any key or other instrument named above so that the same will fit or open the lock of a building, railroad car, aircraft, vessel, trailer coach, or vehicle as defined in the Vehicle Code, without being requested to do so by some person having the right to open the same, or who shall make, alter, or repair any instrument or thing, knowing or having reason to believe that it is intended to be used in committing a misdemeanor or felony, is guilty of a misdemeanor. ”

I have this opinion, (that police (and some prosecutors) will ascribe intent to anyone in possession of any tools, even those with other uses, so they wouldn’t hesitate to do the same for tools that are clearly purpose built breaking and entering tools having been advertised as such and with no other use,) because I watched a friend be arrested in the 80’s for having a screwdriver and pliers in their backpack that the police called “burglary tools”. He did not have a history of burglary. The case was dropped when they instead charged him with <.5 grams of marijuana for some crumbs found loose in the bottom in his backpack and sent him juvie for 6 months. (I think he was on probation, I know the police wanted to charge him with anything….and did.). I was accused of having lockpicks once because I had picked up a few metal brush bits from a street sweeper in a parking lot and police saw me pick them up, arrested, then released me on site when the supervisor showed up and heard their story.

I think the last sentence of that paragraph puts him in danger, since he clearly has reason to believe at least some of the burglary tools he sells to the public are going to be used criminally.

I don’t want to see you give someone advice that could get them in serious trouble, I know you would feel terrible. You might be correct, technically without intent to commit a crime they’re legal to own, but in reality police and prosecutors decide your intent and I don’t trust them one whit.

If it were up to me each nazi would be publicly executed. My point is people have no clue what they are talking about when they make that comparison. Please replace that palm with a crowbar...

Aliens with the tech to get here from another solar system would mop us up.

We simply couldn't fight that.

Back in the '70s scientists came up with a space weapon they called THOR, which is essentially a crowbar-sized bit of metal that has guidance fins at the back. Drop that from outer space and the simple energy of it falling creates an immense amount of damage at ground level.

Aliens who could get here from another solar system could simply throw chunks of asteroid at our cities until we capitulated. No space laser is going to stop that. Especially when they'd have space lasers of their OWN to target our space lasers.

This whole thing is pure fantasy. The same kind of diseased minds who believe in God, Ghosts, and Donald Trump's fitness to be President.

That was the homeowner spraying something at the guy coming at him with a crowbar. Possibly a bear bomb, as human-targeted pepper spray is considered a weapon up here, and you can't legally own it. Using pepper spray on a human is considered assault, regardless of the provocation.

That being said, I guarantee the charges were dropped to probably a fine, and the guy coming at him with the crowbar would have been arrested thanks to the video.

Only problem is that he never had a chance because hes too radical in the opposite direction, which pretty much proves what I said in terms of that he doesnt offer better solutions. Hes a dreamer. Admirable, but ultimately a failure, since he doesnt see reality. You cant go in with a crowbar, no matter which side youre from.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/25/french-anti-uber-protest-turns-to-guerrilla-warfare-as-cabbies-burn-cars-attack-uber-drivers/

Seems like the French cabbies still remember what worked in the past: the threat and application of violence. Unions in general should remember how they gained ground against the establishment in the first place: raw power.

Might as well bring back the Wobblies. Bats, crowbars and 2x4s for everyone!

And then we will be on our way to a real life version of Half-Life... Get your crowbars ready.

So apparently if you are an FPS that looks like it was made by Pixar then you're a TF2 clone.

I mean, the similarities are obvious. They both have guns, they both have (mostly) humanoid characters, there appears to be a control point...and, my god, was that a healing beam!?!?! "One of the characters even turns into a turrent" - Hey now, the heavy is certainly slow and fat but he's not _completely_ immobile.

I spotted something else. That Tracer girl is TOTALLY using Weaver's Time lapse. That's another shameless copypaste from another game that Valve created from a mod made by somebody else. What next, Portals? Silent crowbar wielding protagonists? Waiting almost a decade for the next installment of a hotly anticipated IP?...hold on, I think Blizzard invented that with Starcraft and Diablo. nvm.

Honestly, it's been over 7 years. I played TF2, I loved TF2. When somebody tells me "Hey, Blizzard are shoveling all their money and expertise into creating a new game based on that other game you loved" my reaction isn't "HOW DARE THEY INTRUDE UPON GABEN'S HOLY GROUND!". I am looking forward to playing Overwatch and continuing an age old tradition of whining about how Bliz can't balance games.

Nailed it dude!

The only angle I feel hasn't really come up so far is the idea that private enterprise and public governance could easily be regarded as two manifestations of the same "real" social dynamic: Establishment/challenger (or master/slave if you want to get fully Hegelian about it)

Like, why do we even develop governmental systems in the 1st place?

I have yet to conceive a better answer than: "to curb the destructive excesses of private wealth/power."

Why would we champion personal freedom? I would say: "to curb the destructive excesses of public wealth/power".

Or something to that effect at the very least. The idea of a society with either absolute personal, or absolute collective sovereignty seems hellish to me. And probably unworkable to boot!

There seems to me a tendency in the history of societies for these two types of power to dance either side of equilibrium as the real power struggle unfolds i.e. between reigning establishment and challenger power groups/paradigms.

Right now the establishment is both economic and governmental. The corruption is mutually supporting. Corporations buy and control governments, governments facilitate corporations ruling the market and continuing to be able to buy them.

The circle jerk @blankfist IMHO is between government and private dynasty and moreover I strongly believe that in a vacuum, one will always create the other.

Pure collectivism will naturally breed an individualist challenger and visa versa.

People are at their best I think when balancing self interest and altruism. Too much of either tends to hurt others around you and diminish ones capacity to grow and adapt. (being nice is no good if you lack the will and capacity to get shit done)

It seems natural that the ideal way of organising society would always balance collective state power, with private personal power.

Libertarianism (even the superior non anarchist version) defangs the state too much IMHO. Some collectivist projects such as education, scientific research and exploration I think tend to be better served by public direction. But more importantly I expect the state to referee the market, just as I expect public transparency to referee the state.

Total crowbar separation between the three: public officials cannot legally own or control private wealth and cannot live above standard of their poorest citizens. Private citizens cannot inherit wealth legally, only earn and create it. The state cannot legally hold any secret or perform any function of government outside public view unless it is to prepare sensitive legal proceedings (which must then be disclosed in full when actioned).

In the age of global communications this kind of transparency may for the first time be a workable solution (it's already near impossible to keep a lid on most political scandals and this is very early days). There is also the possibility of a steadily de-monetised market as crowdfunding and crowdsourcing production models start to become more advanced and practical than traditional market dynamics. e.g. kickstarter style collective investment in place of classical entrepreneurial investment.

The benefits and dangers of both capitalism and socialism here would be trending towards diffusion amongst the populace.

And then there's the whole Meritocracy vs Democracy thing, but that's really getting into another topic and I've probably already gone on too long now.

Much love

His brother? But how could he narrate anything? He doesn't talk. Swing a crowbar around, sure. Defeat extra-dimensional aliens, fine. But talking? Blasphemy.

Guy who owns vending machine appears with crowbar to help....

>> ^Phreezdryd:

>> ^probie:
>> ^BicycleRepairMan:
But god DAMN that was a nice Half-Life reference with the crowbar and pickup sound!

Sheesh. A few too many imho. Portal cube, headcrab in the jar, lambda symbols all over the place. Talk about subliminal advertising. It's not like Valve needs any........more.......awesome games! Valve is the best developer ever! I love this video! I'm gonna go load up Half-Life 2.

Have you had a look at the Black Mesa overhaul of Half-Life 1?
Oh, and I think I spy a Portal turret and possibly a picture on the wall with Gordon.


Oh yes. They did a lot of good things in that mod; and some bad. Ladders, for one. There's also another team working on recreating Opposing Force for Source.

>> ^probie:

>> ^BicycleRepairMan:
But god DAMN that was a nice Half-Life reference with the crowbar and pickup sound!

Sheesh. A few too many imho. Portal cube, headcrab in the jar, lambda symbols all over the place. Talk about subliminal advertising. It's not like Valve needs any........more.......awesome games! Valve is the best developer ever! I love this video! I'm gonna go load up Half-Life 2.

Have you had a look at the Black Mesa overhaul of Half-Life 1?
Oh, and I think I spy a Portal turret and possibly a picture on the wall with Gordon.

>> ^BicycleRepairMan:

But god DAMN that was a nice Half-Life reference with the crowbar and pickup sound!


Sheesh. A few too many imho. Portal cube, headcrab in the jar, lambda symbols all over the place. Talk about subliminal advertising. It's not like Valve needs any........more.......awesome games! Valve is the best developer ever! I love this video! I'm gonna go load up Half-Life 2.

Schrodinger probably didn't even have a cat, and didn't actually perform the experiment. Poor fellow gets a bad rep because people dont get the "thought" part of "thought experiment". But god DAMN that was a nice Half-Life reference with the crowbar and pickup sound!