All I want for Christmas is a Model 1938 Red Ryder:

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Earlier, I forecasted a 6-3 win in the Supreme Court for Parker v. DC, now DC v. Heller. That forecast was based on the conservative four justices being joined by Souter and Ginsburg.

Watson v. United States was decided today. The key issue was whether or not a person buying a firearm with narcotics was "using" the firearm. Souter wrote the majority opinion joined by all but Ginsburg stating that one does not "use" an item one buys and therefor the firearm wasn't "used" in a narcotics transaction. Ginsburg concurred in the result but went further saying that the whole point behind "use" in this law was to stop the offensive or defensive use of a gun in a narcotics transaction and a prior case that said buying drugs with a gun was use should be overturned too.

The implications are that both Souter and Ginsburg even more strongly feel that even criminal laws about firearms should be construed limitedly. That's certainly not a set of opinions that the anti-gun would support. I'm actually starting to think we may actually get 9-0 or an effective 9-0 with concurring opinions in Heller.

Glenn Reynolds posted on this as well, but his post had just reminded me that I was delinquent.

I know I shouldn't, but this I had to blog. This is really funny.

Updated: The video got reposted. RIchterscales is the original author in case it comes down again

Further Update: This video has caused quite a copyright stir. I've relinked the newest version in hopes that it stays up.

I found this Scientific American article regarding raising "smart" kids fascinating. Thanks to Marginal Revolution for the pointer.

I had always felt a bit of this schism in school and even in the work place. I've been lucky enough to be a fast learner, but that probably had much to do with a former farmer father who thought no work was beneath him and therefor no level of hard work was too hard. He and my mother didn't know they were giving me this advice, but in hindsight, they were.

It's probably confirmation bias, but it's very nice to be reminded that work ethic could be the largest overall influence on outcomes.