Another Terrifying Headline & Some Glock Thoughts

The scariest headline of the week:

Piranha attack in Argentina reportedly leaves at least 70 injured

It's just a matter of time, my friends! If the piranha link up with the beavers, it won't be just Time Magazine calling for more animal-whacking.

I've been interested in various Internet reactions to the (maybe) the new little Glock .380. At least half the response seems to be personal offense that Glock didn't consult them first, the rest that Glock is psychotic for releasing too little too late and that unfortunately zillions of people will buy the gun. Hmmmmm...

Glock isn't nuts...they're just conservative on new products and slow. You can afford to be slow with the kind of installed base Glock has. Glock knows that "X" percentage of Glock owners has been frothing at the mouth to avoid buying an LCP or 238 or Kahr and will jump at the new .380 faster than piranha on an Argentine school group. Secondly, it appears to me that this platform is easily scaleable to 9mm and .40, and no doubt Glock will happily ride that new product curve up, up and away.

I got an interesting comment on a blogpost a couple of days ago and I wanted to give at least some opinions that might masquerade as answers. From Sheepdog1968:

On a separate note, on occasion you've mentioned popular artists who you aren't impressed with. I'm just curious, what do you hear or don't hear? What separates the great artists from the rest? 

On a completely unrelated matter, I've heard many say the number one most important thing in a firearm is reliability. I can't argue that. What would you consider to be the number two and three things?

The former music critic in me says that most popular music is hopelessly repetitive, derivative and, for the most part, dull...I suspect those are criticisms that could be leveled at any popular music at any time in history (damn that Beethoven!). The bottom line is that with the mass Balkanization of music styles and virtually universal distribution through the Internet, there is less potential for what I might think of as music that takes a risk. I believe that truly profound music can actually threaten the status quo (the racial aspect blues in the 1920s; the sexual aspects of rock and roll in the early 1950s). At the least, music should have a risk factor, something springing from the heart of an artist and damn the torpedoes. 

RE: 2 and 3...number 2 is probably that the tool be appropriate to the task; number 3 that the tool fits the user. Of course, I could be wrong.