An Analytical Viewpoint

Seventeen young faces flash across the screen. Once again, a community is in mourning over lives tragically taken. American mass shootings have been in the news a lot lately.  The nature of them has changed over time, but today such shootings take the form of delinquents on a shooting spree, lone wolf terrorism and isolated estranged members of society running amok. Let's take a look at of some of the worst mass shootings for the sake of brevity and how regulations could have prevented them.  Gun regulation relies on knowledge to be effective.  The government must know who has what firearm and where they are.  They must be able to search and find an individual’s record to determine whether he or she should be able to own a firearm. To do this, the firearm must be acquired, purchased legally and have a serial number.  This is how firearms are tracked. To do an assessment on whether regulation could be effective, several things must be established: 1. ...

Roman republican legionary at Carrhae by Amelianvs - Deviantart Rome suffered many military disasters throughout its history.  Some, like Cannae and Arausio, stand out as the very worst.  The battle of Teutoburg forest was probably the worst, most humiliating defeat of the Principate period (27 BC to 284 AD).  In fact, the battle of Cannae in the Punic wars is one of the most studied battles in history.  The formations and tactics can be roughly imitated with line infantry, tanks and other military means.  It is standard curriculum in most military colleges today. The battle of Carrhae has received far less attention.  It deserves more. Rome had almost reached its territorial zenith by the end of the reign of Augustus.  Up until Trajan, the empire expanded no further.  Rome was far more aggressive during the republican era than in the Principate.  Crassus, the Roman leader at Carrhae, was very much part of the expansionist Republica...

Google's Lexus RX 450h Self-Driving Car Self-driving car manufacturers have arranged the car so that a human driver can take over once they get to a tricky spot.  But why is this? Driverless cars don’t get road rage, drunk or sleepy. They have had a few technical hiccups, but these are being ironed out as technology improves.  According to the US Department of transportation, more than 90 percent of car accidents in the United states are caused by driver error.*      Self-driving cars have the rules of the road immaculately programmed into them, so that makes them perfect for driving in large cities, right? Wrong.  The times that I have spent driving in Dublin, Ireland and America and seeing the state of driving in big cities in general tells me otherwise.  It is not a flaw in the car itself.  It is just that one must be aggressive to drive in major cities.  I will never forget the day that a sleepy truck driver in America basical...

Roman army vs the Vikings If one were to take the Roman army at its height, it would decimate any early medieval army that would cross its path, according to a claim by Dan Carlin. To test his theory, let’s take a look at a hypothetical battle fought between the Vikings and the Romans.   It is easy to see how Carlin would come to such a conclusion.  At the height of the Roman empire in 117 AD, the army boasted hundreds of thousands of soldiers, all professional, all equipped and supplied well at the expense of the state. No such force existed in western European countries in the Viking age.  Armies were mostly levies with core body of professionals such as the Germanic huskarls or household guard. One could argue that this lack of professionalism was mitigated by a warrior culture.  This is erroneous, however.  Classical Greek and early Roman societies had a warrior culture that prized courage in battle.  Every citizen was also considered a so...