Month: November 2008

A reader writes:

The reason Switzerland has so many guns is every adult male below retirement is a reservist and, by law, has a fully automatic assault rifle (and none of your AK-47 dreck, these are SIGs, the creme de creme) plus some small but substantial supply of ammo.  46 out of a 100, yep about right for the pre-retirement male population.

Another adds:

At age 20, each Swiss man is required to officially join the armed service, beginning with a seventeen week boot camp-style initiation training.

After that, you are required to report in and participate in a three week training course every year for the next 8 to 10 years. This is followed by a period of years where men are called back every two years for two weeks, until age 40, I believe.  From then on you are considered "on call."  This of course only applies for non-career soldiers.

The entire time, each member of the military– that is, every man in the country— keeps their military-issued rifle, as well as their uniform, with them at home. 

There are efforts going on right now to change that practice.

Living in the United States when I turned 20, I was not required to report back to Switzerland for duty.  It is one of the few "outs" from the service requirement.

Just remember this little penguin:

A reader writes:

Maybe this was a typo, but just in case: All combs are, by definition, "tooth-combs." The expression you want here is "fine-toothed comb," meaning a comb with teeth so narrow and closely spaced that nothing will escape them (except, of course, hair, in the metaphor’s concrete referent).

My nit is rightly picked.

Surprise! The New Yorker stands by its story:

[PerezHilton] claims an outraged source within Prince’s camp accuses the New Yorker of misquoting Prince. The source also apparently claims that the New Yorker’s reporter, Claire Hoffman, did not record the interview, which could make it hard to unravel what really happened…However, the New Yorker stands by its story, as a spokeswoman confirmed to Wired.com on Tuesday morning. It sounds like this Prince insider may have been doing some damage control for his client, whose views may come as a surprise to some of his fans.

(Hat tip: Joe)

It’s been a good day for the Obama administration.

Ken Silverstein looks at who they are going to:

President George W. Bush has not thus far granted many pardons, but he has been generous in coming to the aid of one particular constituency group: S&L executives and others who swindled thrifts in the mid-1980’s…Bush is handing out pardons to a group of people who helped produce the last financial system meltdown just as a new crop are under investigation.

Florida’s gay adoption ban was ruled unconstitutional today:

The ruling means that Martin Gill, 47, and his male partner can adopt two brothers, ages 4 and 8, whom he has cared for as foster children since December 2004. "I’ve never seen myself as less than anybody else," Gill said. "We’re very grateful. Today, I’ve cried the first tears of joy in my life." He said the two boys have been practicing writing their new last names, and the older one said: "That’s what’s going to make us a family."

What we’re seeing is the confrontation between the logic of rationality and equal protection and the power of popular homophobia.

And who can blame them?

This is depressing:

Lawmakers in Indonesia’s remote province of Papua have thrown their support behind a controversial bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips — part of extreme efforts to monitor the disease.

Health workers and rights activists sharply criticized the plan Monday. But legislator John Manangsang said by implanting small computer chips beneath the skin of ”sexually aggressive” patients, authorities would be in a better position to identify, track and ultimately punish those who deliberately infect others with up to six months in jail or a $5,000 fine.

What on earth does "sexually aggressive" mean? It means "actively seeking sexual intercourse." As opposed to just stumbling upon it? The premise is that people with HIV should cease having sex. Elizabeth Pisani, who made a good faith attempt to convert me to heterosexuality at Oxford, has more.

(Hat tip: FP)