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The big SCOTUS case of New York State Rifle and PIstol Association v. Bruen was decided today, which is a big deal mostly because the last time the SCOTUS decided a 2nd amendment case was way back in 2008. PDF WARNING: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf Since I'm sure plenty of people will read too far into this case from both a pro-gun and anti-gun point of view, I'll instead try and simplify it as best as possible. New York, California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington D.C. all had what was colloquially known as "may issue" - meaning if you a private citizen wanted a concealed carry permit, there was discretion on the part of the issuing authority (usually the police or sheriffs) on if they would give you one. After this ruling, all of those states will have to be "shall issue" (the other 43 states were already shall issue) meaning if you apply for a concealed carry permit, they need to give it to you (unless you're prohibited from owning firearms). That's it. You still need to apply for a permit, and I bet it will still take weeks/months before they process that permit. Sidenote: The dissenting justices were predictably mad about this, but justice Alito correctly pointed out: "[H]ow does the dissent account for the fact that one of the mass shootings near the top of its list took place in Buffalo?" he wrote. "The New York law at issue in this case obviously did not stop that perpetrator." Yea... even in a state with very strict gun regulations the majority of mass shootings are perpetrated with legally acquired firearms, the last major one that happened with illegal guns was the San Bernadino shooting, where that terrorist got his guns from an equally crazy neighbor. I'm not sure restricting concealed carry permits does anything to stop mass shootings.

Some milquetoast legislation is about to be passed. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/21/1106466279/senators-reach-final-bipartisan-agreement-on-a-gun-safety-bill The parts that caught my eye: $1 billion for safe schools and citizenship education, with $500 million set aside for school-based mental health grants and another $500 million for grants to mental health professional development. Expand background checks for prospective gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21. The new process would incentivize states to provide access to previously sealed juvenile records and could add several days to the waiting period before a purchase can be completed. Various additional funding for mental health including $150M for the suicide prevention hotline and $250M for community mental health Expansion of an existing law that prevents people convicted of domestic abuse from owning a gun - they added dating partners, this was previously referred to as the "boyfriend loophole" Allow people who are restricted from gun access under the legislation to have their gun rights restored if their record remains clean for five years. Curious how broad that will be applied, if violent felons would in theory be allowed gun ownership and if this would include time being paroled in that 5 years. Also curious if domestic abusers could get off the prohibited list. I can't tell if this is counting on our country's stupidly high recidivism rate or a small bone being thrown to "white collar" criminals that want their rights back. I'm interested in additional background check requirements for 18-21 year olds. I agree with the idea behind certain juvenile records being made available for consideration in those background checks, normally juvenile records are sealed so this might be useful. But they're leaving this up to states which doesn't sound great, I also suspect that states like CA or NY might use this as an excuse to delay firearm purchases from 10 to 30+ days just to make it obnoxiously and deter firearm ownership.

Yea the second book was in many ways more confusing than the first. They do some weird unreliable narrator stuff that I really didn't like and the plot feels so unimpactful. This series was pitched as "lesbian necromancers in space" and honestly that's just flat out bullshit. The lesbian part is there but it's like calling faintly glowing embers a fire, the necromancer part is absolutely a component, and the in space part is almost nonexistent. I'd recommend passing on this, even if I see it brought up quite a bit as a recommendation. Currently reading Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot #6) These books are fun little romps and some of the most fun sci-fi I've read over the past few years. I appreciate that the main character is sarcastic and sassy but also shows competence. There's also some cool elements regarding their twisted worldview considering they're a construct and were considered property before breaking free. There's also plenty of evil corpo stuff that brings in dystopian/cyberpunk themes which I enjoy. Still a strong recommendation for this series, the first novellas are short enough that you can quickly figure out if this is something you'll enjoy or not.

Action gets better. Story gets more bad.

That is helpful advice, thank you.

I have never seen a personal trainer at a chain gym that seemed worth the money. Their workouts are often dictated by corporate and they are much more concerned with retention, chit-chat, etc. I think what you are talking about is more about routine and sticking to a schedule. Consider trying a group class. Most major gyms have a few. It could help queue you into the habit of being at the gym, at a certain time and for a certain length.

Watching: The Wire. Old show but finally watching it after many recommendations. Enjoying it and I feel like I understand all the praise it gets. Slow and very deliberate pace. STBNW. Best Star Trek show in a while? I think so. They seem to get it. I don't like everything about it but it's a refreshing change. Stranger Things. Newest season. SW Obi Wan. Agreed that the Mandalorian was still the best recent show and this doesn't measure up. Watching it but not Severance. Okay so far but I hope they actually start going somewhere with it soon. They are spending a lot of time hyping up the psychological horror elements of the show. Random stuff on my backlog: Last Kingdom. Newest season. Ozark Season 4 part 2 Halo. I have just one episode left but this is just so bad........ Peaky Blinders Season 6 The Legend of Vox Machina

On a side note, I'm debating hiring a personal trainer to keep me on track. I don't think I have enough motivation to go on my own right now.

Last of Us is coming to PC. They're updating it for PS5 as well launching on 9/22/22. The PC version does not have an official release date.

One of the most reasonable videos I've seen on transgender athletes in competition.

Doesn't look good

Dove the Channel Islands from the dive boat Spectre. This involved staying overnight in Ventura since the boat leaves at 7am and the thought of doing a ~2hour drive before getting on a boat wasn't particularly appealing. The boat itself was fairly large (85') and allowed for 40 divers + crew (~6 I think). It had an indoor galley with several booths and a sun deck. The boat was super packed with all 40 divers and some additional freedivers/spearfishers onboard. The boat ride out was rough and took about 2 hours for us to get to Santa Cruz. We had the first dive at a small site that didn't have much going on, I did spot a giant black seabass but otherwise the visability was only 10' and combined with the kelp and some surge it was a bit messy. The boat moved all the way to the eastern-most point of Santa Cruz for the second and third dives. These were much better with 50' visibility and a moderate current going in one direction. There were cool rock formations and a large number of starfish and a gigantic jellyfish. The boat also had a bit of a weird platform instead of simple ladders for getting back onboard, I wasn't a fan of having to hoist myself into a kneeling position onto a platform covered in kelp. The boat ride back had one extremely rough patch but was actually fairly calm considering the crew kept telling people to brace for something awful on the return journey. The entire trip was a long day, with an early wakeup so we could check in with the boat at 6:30am and we arrived back at the harbor at 5:30pm, plus a drive home. I think the diving was solid but I'd probably lean towards more local options like Catalina, the Oil Rigs or even potentially some shore diving. I still want to go to Wreck Alley down in La Jolla at some point. I briefly talked to the instructor at my local dive shop about wreck certification and he started talking about complete redundancy like it was a technical diving certification, which is a bit beyond what I'm currently looking to do.

I am not sure how I missed this video from last year. Long video. Short summary: A respected researcher and an accomplished professional athlete partially debunk the popular myth that lifting with a curved back is bad for you (within reason) using a combination of study results, technical description and practical demonstration using atlas stones (a strongman competition).

Finished: Halo - 1st Episode was good....started going down hill real quick. Agree with Malaphax comments that they stayed true to some of the core aprocrypha (Halsey etc.) but definitely WTF near the end. Watching: How I Met Your Mother (S2) - Finished S1, teaching me a lot about social interactions and some modern dating practices The Office (S4)- Teaching me a lot about humor Densha Otoko (Ep4) - Teaching me a lot about social issues and dating Seinfield (S1E7) - Teaching me a lot about dry humor SW: Book of Boba Fett (Ep5) - This feels extremely woke, and writing feels poor SW: Obi Wan (Ep2) - Better than Boba Fett but not as good as Mandorlian at all. ST: BNW - Really enjoying this so far, no big complaints as the writing seems superb and logical so far, even with the diversity so far, none of the characters diversity feels force, and all of it feels natural. ST: Picard - I stopped at Episode 7 or 8 and its just getting too hard to watch at this point. First 2 or 4 episodes was strong the modern LA sequence felt like a drama than any Star Trek. Its like they blew their whole sci fi budget early. Orville: - Just about finished Season 1 and enjoy Seth McFarlene greatly Pacific Rim: The Black (S2-E1) - Dirty Robot fun with an anime twist.

Used vehicles are similarly impacted. My neighbor bought his Model Y in October 2021, and is just sold it for a $5k markup (post tax) after driving it for 16,000 miles and 9 months.

I just finished the last 2 episodes last night, and would push up Mason's Rat from a C to a B. Very Pulse of the Machine stays at a C for me.

yah i think that's fair. i don't even own a firearms.