So while I abhor what happened in Newtown CT, the calls for new gun control laws seem unlikely to have any significant impact as long as we already have almost 300 million guns in the wild. Unless and until we dramatically reduce the number of weapons, the violence will almost assuredly continue unabated. 

Reshared post from +Dan Gillmor

"… the same old lies: it doesn’t happen here more often than elsewhere (yes, it does); more people are protected by guns than killed by them (no, they aren’t—that’s a flat-out fabrication); guns don’t kill people, people do; and all the other perverted lies that people who can only be called knowing accessories to murder continue to repeat, people who are in their own way every bit as twisted and crazy as the killers whom they defend."

On the other hand the manual transmission was wonderful as I noted in this review http://www.luxist.com/2009/11/17/review-2009-audi-r8-5-2-fsi-v10-an-everyday-supercar/.  In the aforementioned podcast I referred the R8 while talking about the S5 Cabrio and its absolutely sublime S-Tronic gearbox http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/12/2010-audi-s5-cabriolet-review/

Unlike the single-clutch R-tronic with its hydraulically actuated gears, the S-Tronic is a dual-clutch unit with silky smooth and fast shift action. This year Audi finally did a refresh of the R8 and installed a 7-speed S-Tronic beefy enough to handle the output of the V8 and V10 engines in that car and according to +Jonny Lieberman of +Motor Trend Magazine who was fortunate enough to go to Italy to drive it, it cures all the problems caused by the old transmission. 

Reshared post from +Talking Points Memo

The scene outside a Connecticut elementary school where 27 were reported killed today, including children. More photos: http://tpm.ly/SWHWTF

Reshared post from +Ford Racing

Galpin Ford's Mustang Boss 302S arrives at dealership. 

The voters stated pretty clearly that they are no longer buying the message of the contemporary GOP, so the Michigan legislature is ramming through every bit of retrograde legislation they can before they get booted from office. 

Reshared post from +Daniel Suarez

Just to clarify: Orwell's 1984 was a cautionary tale — not a frickin' how-to manual…

"Transit authorities in cities across the country are quietly installing microphone-enabled surveillance systems on public buses that would give them the ability to record and store private conversations, according to documents obtained by a news outlet."   Wired Article:  http://bit.ly/QVHiqN  

h/t +Wade Aaron Inganamort