Book Review: Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill

Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill

Book Review: Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill
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There is perhaps no bigger or more important issue in America at present than youth violence.

Columbine, Sandy Hook, Aurora: We know them all too well, and for all the wrong reasons: kids, some as young as eleven years old, taking up arms and, with deadly, frightening accuracy, murdering anyone in their paths. What is going on?

According to the authors of Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill, there is blame to be laid right at the feet of the makers of violent video games (called “murder trainers” by one expert), the TV networks, and the Hollywood movie studios–the people responsible for the fact that children witness literally thousands of violent images a day.

Authors Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria DeGaetano offer incontrovertible evidence, much of it based on recent major scientific studies and empirical research, that movies, TV, and video games are not just conditioning children to be violent–and unaware of the consequences of that violence–but are teaching the very mechanics of killing. Their book is a much-needed call to action for every parent, teacher, and citizen to help our children and stop the wave of killing and violence gripping America’s youth. And, most important, it is a blueprint for us all on how that can be achieved.

In Paducah, Kentucky, Michael Carneal, a fourteen-year-old boy who stole a gun from a neighbor’s house, brought it to school and fired eight shots at a student prayer group as they were breaking up. Prior to this event, he had never shot a real gun before. Of the eight shots he fired, he had eight hits on eight different kids. Five were head shots, the other three upper torso. The result was three dead, one paralyzed for life. The FBI says that the average, experienced, qualified law enforcement officer, in the average shootout, at an average range of seven yards, hits with less than one bullet in five. How does a child acquire such killing ability? What would lead him to go out and commit such a horrific act?

Colonel Grossman is a favorite author of mine, I have all of his books, and I think that every parent, teacher, politician, game designer, media head – heck everybody ought to read Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill.

How to Install an SD Card in a ESI HN03 Bullet Camera

 

ESI HN03 Bullet Camera SD Card Install
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In this video I show how to install an SD card in a ESI HN03 Bullet Camera.  It is a poor design in which you must take a camera apart and add a mini SD card to make it record.

You would think that a security camera would come ready to work.  I had to learn how to add the SD Card so I could finish my review of the ESI Bullet Camera

At least it was not hard.

All you need is a small Philips screwdriver, a flat tip screwdriver, and a mini SD card.

First remove the two screws holding the clear lens cover.

Next, remove the lens cover and pry out the rubber ring surrounding the lens.

Then, pry out the IR illumination ring and then take out the four small screws holding the camera board in place.

Additionally, to get to the circuit card holding the SD mount, you need to remove a small sponge that wedges the card in place.

Next pull out the circuit card and install the SD card in the metal mount.

In the video I had a lot of lag, but when I reduced the camera image from Maximum quality to high quality it greatly improved speed.  We set it to medium quality at the land and got a good enough picture to identify intruders and read license plates and it was responsive enough to catch them without any camera lag time.

Now that the SD card is installed I set the camera to record 24/7 and now I can record locally to the computer as well a any phones setup for the camera.  Additionally you can take still images.

Since it records to the computer and the phone I don’t understand why the camera needed an SD card, but it did to activate the recording functions.

Gear Review: Wireless Doorbell Home Kit With Over 50 Chimes

Wireless Doorbell Home Kit With Over 50 Chimes Review

 

Wireless Doorbell
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I needed a wireless doorbell to put down by the gate at my land.  Since this one says it will transmit up to 900 feet line of site or 200-700 feet normally and I am only about 150 feet from gate to shipping container I thought this may work.

Of course, that 150 feet is up and over a forested hill and into a metal conex.  If it doesn’t make the distance I won’t be a surprise.  If so, I will simply put this thing at my backdoor where the delivery guys drop packages at my house.

This wireless doorbell is simple to set up, simply plug it in and remove the battery insulating strip from the transmitter, and press the button on the transmitter to pair the devices.

It has 52 different chimes, from the default ding dong, to music, to animals, and a police siren.  It also has 4 levels of volume.

to select the chime, scroll through to find the one you want and then press and hold the volume button for 5 seconds.

That is pretty easy.

The instructions says the receiver can pair with up to four transmitters, and the transmitters can pair with more than one receiver.

It also says you can get motion detectors and door alarms, but the company I am reviewing says they do not sell them and I can’t find them, otherwise I would have gotten a couple.

I did get this wireless doorbell free in exchange for the review, but I was actually looking for one to buy, and this one seems like it is a good balance of design and cost.  I would recommend it.

 

Book Review: Harvesting Urban Timber

Harvesting Urban Timber

Book Review: Harvesting Urban Timber
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Harvesting Urban Timber explains the importance of harvesting urban trees and how to do so.

Three to four billion board feet of potential lumber is being fed either directly or indirectly into landfills throughout the United States each year.

Case studies illustrate how some cities and counties have reduced waste through the use of urban timber for various projects. Explained in detail are felling, safety, converting trees to sawn lumber, how to hire a sawyer, how to season the wood, sawing for figure, and what types of trees are worth harvesting.

Also described are the various uses for the timber, including use by the home craftsman or to build park benches or bumper strips. Each alternative use is illustrated through case studies of several municipalities and their respective programs of urban timber utilization.

As an owner of a small portable sawmill I can’t afford to buy logs, this book helps me find trees to make the lumber I need to do the projects I need to do. Harvesting Urban Timber is a great book for homesteaders and prepsteaders.  I highly recommend it.

Harvesting Urban Timber explains the importance of harvesting urban trees and how to do so.

Building the Low Impact Roundhouse

 

Building a Low Impact Roundhouse
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I really want to build a reciprocal roof pavilion at the land.  I think that it will give me lots of usable space, shade, and a great place to give classes and hang out.

My problem is that information on building a roof like this is hard to find on the internet.

I get that some experts say this is a bad roof for beginners to make because of all the angles, but I also see why it is a good roof for a lay person to build.
Either way, the most information online comes from the author of this book, so I bought it hoping to get a good offline way to share the particulars of what I am trying to do.

Building the Low Impact Roundhouse is a pretty cool book, it is not a how too guide, but rather a story of how they build their home.  You can get how to information from it, and it is enough for a thinker to use as a blueprint.

I didn’t find the story about zoning officials useful, mostly because British law is much different than the American system, but also because I just didn’t care.  The lifestyle potion of the book also did not light my fire, but I loved the pictures and the house.

I want to build just the frame and the roof and leave it open – except maybe close in every other segment of posts using a variety of alternative building methods, say in a 10 segment frame, make one filled with cob, another with earthbag, cordwood, bottles in mud, all are options to try out small walls without getting tied into building an entire roundhouse using an unfamiliar method.