Posted on 11/09/2008 2:44:27 AM PST by Perseverando
All I can say is wow. Several years ago, nearly 10, where I worked we tried scanning specifications and reports. It took so long to proofread and make corrections, we hired some temps to type them directly into Word. This was software allegedly designed to read typewritten text and it was not much help. I don’t remember the software name; the IT people bought it. For all I know it was The Billy Bob Sofware Company of Bulls Gap, Tennessee.
Thank goodness for the timely Heller decision. SCOTUS has ruled we have an individual right to own firearms. Not a panacea but a huge help in the battle for RKBA.
Back then, unless you were writing on an Apple PDA, most of the OCR stuff available at retail was quite bad. The power to process it just wasn’t available in a standard desktop PC; the Apple PDAs were an exception because they used an algorithm that watched *how* you made your pen strokes and could figure out intent from that rather than trying to process the raw image into text - that’s how they got around the CPU limitations. The first gen ones didn’t work so well, but the second gen update worked like a charm. In 1996, my Apple MessagePad 100 could accurately read the “prescription pad” writing of a physician friend - which even he had trouble reading sometimes.
However, you COULD get handwriting recognition software (running on something like an SGI or Sun Workstation) that could read most anything people could write without resorting to forcing them to write on something other than paper. It cost about $250,000 for a license/setup - but if you’re a government, that’s chump change.
Today, we have far more powerful processors on the desktop and correspondingly retail OCR has gotten a hell of a lot better - but so has high end software.
Back in 2002, when I had that IRS contract, I had some free time and quite a bit of curiosity, so I made up a sample form for one of the recognizer boxes to read. I used cursive handwriting in nonsense strings (”dfjhdkam kdkaoe akwes”, that sort of thing) plus some printed Cyrillic characters.
The box scored 99% recognition. The only thing it couldn’t read 100% was my signature.
More kids probably die by the hands of their own parents.
Ban moms and dads.
[*many* more die by suction and dissection...ban abortions]
I grabbed all of the agenda pages out of caches. Anyone know where I can load them or forward them so that we can keep a record outside the memory hole?
I understand that when a FFL dealer goes out of business, all records are sent to BATF. They already have a lot of info.
As mentioned here on Free Republic in other threads, the “America Serves” page has changed nearly every day.
This morning, all of those links are gone from the Agenda tab. Now there are 2 paragraphs on that page.
Glad I backed up all his agenda pages then.
ping to remember
Without having actually donned a tinfoil hat, I'd like to know if, under current law: 1) the records and postings of persons who have NOT threatened any person or agency of government with violence can be legally obtained by government officials at any level? and
2) could anything be done to further safeguard the security of those records than has been done to date? and
3) if those records (actually, ALL such records) could be located outside of the jurisdiction of the United States?
I know that I have done nothing illegal under current or past US, state or local laws, other than a few minor moving violations. I would not be happy to have records of my e-conversations with others either easily accessible or easily reached by government officials or agents on a "fishing expedition." I assume that other FReepers would feel the same.
Inquiring FReepers would like to know - mainly because the incoming President is such a cipher, and many of his supporters are so incredibly power-hungry and disrespectful of the rule of law, and we simply don't know how far they will go in attempting to make "society safe."
They can take our records only by force. And we’re armed to the teeth. The Secret Service called me the other day wanting info on a poster who made a so-called “threatening” post. I told them (nicely) to shove info their request.
“I threw it into the lake/river/ocean just to keep you from getting your hands on it”
If they search your house and come up empty-handed, what is your crime (unless martial law is in effect)?
I am quite certain that it is a crime to knowingly lie to a government official. Thus, as is almost always the case, saying nothing is your best defense.
If you sold a firearm, best to have a receipt of some kind - and if you claim you sold the only gun you had in .308, for example, and "they" can come up with proof that you continued to order .308 ammo, reloading gear or components, mags, etc. after the date of the supposed sale...why, then you'd be in trouble. Best to have solid proof and not lie.
Saying you lost something is more credible if you have a police report or an insurance claim to back it up - but don't commit fraud of any kind.
The best advice I've ever heard is to acquire what you need off paper.
Once scenarios similar to that you have described happen to a few people, word will get around. Prior to the next round, that same history says that there's a startlingly high probability that some of the informers would receive the same treatment, with THOSE results posted in the public square as a warning. If the raids continue, history says that so will reprisals by the oppressed.
No charge for the history lesson.
Really? Didn’t happen in the USSR nor in any of the eastern European states that it swallowed. Didn’t happen in the Third Reich either. Red China maybe? Don’t think so. Or maybe Ruby Ridge in Idaho? How about Waco Texas? No?
Put something up to prove your claim.
Have a good evening.
You assume that they’ll pass the same thing again.
Try this on for size:
1) You may not own a semi-automatic centerfire rifle which can accept a detachable magazine. 5 years in prison for each count, to be served consecutively.
2) You may not own a detachable magazine of greater than 5 rounds capacity. 5 years in prison for each count, to be served consecutively.
3) No grandfathering.
4) No sunset clause.
Think it can’t be done? Take a look at NJ law - I lived under it for about 10 years, until I got out. Though it wasn’t QUITE that onerous, a few minor tweaks would make it so. The antis have learned their lessons from the ‘94 fiasco - we won’t have it so easy this next time.
We had better lean HARD on the Republican Senators and Republican Senate leadership to filibuster ANY gun legislation. They need to get MILLIONS of calls, faxes, emails and letters. Hint - snailmail letters carry more weight. Melting the phone lines carries a lot of weight.
Use the tools of our Republic while we can - because if we don’t, the entire nation is in for a VERY rough time.
At that point, I will consider both the NFA and GCA null and void. My garage machine shop is ready to go.
Advice to anyone seeing anything outrageous on any Obama-linked website - do a screenshot. Save it, somehow or other, so that they cannot deny their written plans.
The Soviet Union used to do this a bit more crudely - they’d annually issue sticky-backed articles to paste over the old ones for the Soviet Encyclopedia (or whatever it was called). People, organizations, events, etc. were routinely changed to fit the then-present version - or were completely erased. Woe unto whomever retained the original. We’re not all that far from something similar here.
I used to know an old Vietnam vet who only owned a SMLE that he had accurized and scoped. He said something like, "When the SHTF, the entire world is my store. "
Not very imaginative, are you? Tell me, do you think that the ownership of living cannibus plants is protected from seizure? No, of course not. They have been declared "contraband." Tell me what happens if Congress passes and Obama signs a law stating that all magazine fed semi-automatic rifles of greater than .21 caliber are contraband, along with the magazines and any other accessories, since they are so dangerous. A compliant Supreme Court will say that such is a "reasonable regulation" (as mentioned in the Heller case), and therefore doesn't violate the 2nd Amendment. All that you need is 1 justice to change his mind, or to be "unavailable" to hear the case. "Change his mind" and "Unavailable" can occur many ways, and in countries that have previously banned weapons to the civilian populace, many strange things have happened to opponents of the regime.
In short, please don't be naive. Under our law you are, of course, correct. Just don't assume that things will necessarily stay the same.
Clay Moore, Clayton Moore? Whatta name!
Yes the BATF has all the info from closed FFL dealers. I presume they can clandestinely transfer those records to a computer for compilation. BATF would be breaking current law if they did, but I don’t think a mere law would stop them.
Cannibus has been illegal since the 1930s. I think the marijuana prohibition survived at least one Supreme Court Challenge. Find a better example because there is no Constitutional provision to get high. Unless it is a prusuit of happiness thing.
An amendment was needed to prohibit alcohol. The only way an existing brewery or distiller could be shut down was with an amendment. The peculiar thing about Prohibition was that simple consumption was not outlawed.
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