Hell, I don't even let my kids shoot at each other with fucking nerf guns.
I'm the only one that uses my guns, and I check to make sure they are unloaded before I put them away, and I make sure they are unloaded when I pick them up. Hell, sometimes I make sure they are unloaded randomly throughout the week even though I know no one has touched them.
I keep my guns locked up in a completely different part of the house from the ammo for them. I strive to make sure that no one will ever accidentally have the opportunity to put the guns and ammo together
It's like a lot of things in the US. Before you're allowed to do anything, you should have to take a stupidity (or common sense, not sure on the best wording) test. If you're too stupid, to raise children, then you should be sterilized. If you're too stupid to own a gun, then you should be banned from owning one. If you're too stupid to drive a car, you should be banned from getting one. The list can go on and on.
Most people in the US are responsible citizens that are intelligent enough to be able to do these things, but it's the ones that can't that should be punished. And I believe that the 2nd amendment allows us to own guns.
The more I study this, the more I realize that the the population of the US, if they agreed that the government had committed a crime so grievous that is pissed of the population, they probably could fight the government and win. There are about 1.5 million troops currently on active duty. Even conservative estimates put the number of gun owners at 50 million plus. That means that the US military would be outnumber by 5 to 1 in a head to head battle. Of course, it wouldn't be a head to head battle. It would be most likely be guerilla warfare. There would be some staged battles, but there would a lot more skirmishes. While the military is better armed and trained, so were the British troops. I know that tanks and planes are a great equalizer, but as we saw in Libya last year, troops do refuse orders. I wouldn't venture a guess, but I imagine some percentage of US troops would refuse orders to fire on the US populace, if the government did something that truly caused the population to revolt.
And I am in no way being derogatory personally towards blacks, or whatever PC name they have now, merely pointing out that your founding fathers were slave owners, gentry, and privileged men of means (In general)
You are correct in that. They weren't the saints that we have made them out to be.
It's been a part of the USians culture since the beginning of our time. Our ability to own guns stems from our fight with England for independence. Yes, it is largely symbolic. No we can't really fight the government and win. But we have the option to do so, if we so choose. It would be going down in a blaze of glory. We would probably be utterly annihilated. But maybe not. I know a lot of soldiers. They wouldn't fire on the American people.
You're right that you have more "freedoms" than we do. If we really wanted those freedoms, though, we would fight for them, and get them. You have to remember that a lot of the voting population in the US consider themselves a part of the Christian right. It is changing, and in a few more decades, I think that we will see more and more places legalize the use of recreational drugs. I'm not sure on the legalization of prostitution, it'll take longer, but I think it might eventually happen. Maybe in the next century.
So anyone criticizing Obama is racist, simply because Obama is black?
Personally, I have never understood why Obama is considered black. His father was black, and his mother was white. So that surely makes him just as white as it makes him black?
If anything, the racist part is considering him black. The "one drop" rule deserves to be buried in history, where it belongs. If we Americans can't even move away from that, we are truly subhuman.
Wow another intelligent person on Slashdot. We wll never destroy the heart of racism as long as USAians consider themselves as Japanese-Americans, Chinese-Americans, African-Americans, Native Americans. None of us our pure Americans, there is no such race. We really are the melting pot.
There is nothing wrong with keeping alive traditions from your home country, but just admit you are an American, and stop using "racist" terms to describe how you're different.
I agree that we need to study how mining the moon, might affect the Earth in both the short term and long term.
Whether you believe in the global warming or the causes thereof, I wish they would have had the technology to study it 100 years ago. It's time to stop being stupid before we do things. And I don't want asteroids put in Earth orbit. If one company fucks up, it could wipe out life on this planet. Mine them where they orbit now, and send the materials back to Earth.
I was saying that society is fucked up in that we don't have an adequate way to help those that mentally ill.
In fact, we try to hide that fact that people suffer from illnesses of the mind. My wife suffers from Anxiety/Depression disorder, but it's a true hassle for her to get the medicine she needs to keep her in balance. She is not a danger to herself or anyone else, but she is fucking annoying. A lot of people abuse the drugs that she uses. This is what makes it hard for her to get them. We have health insurance and a good doctor. The pills themselves are cheap. I think she really needs help from a psychologist/psychiatrist (I can't remember the differences between the two), but she can't get that help. Health insurance doesn't cover those types of doctors.
I was not saying that society was fucked up in that children die from cancer everyday. I know that a lot of money is spent on cancer research everyday, and it's not an easy disease to cure. I also know that we have made great strides, and that a lot of children who died 20 years ago, can and do get better. A friend of mine has a daughter that was diagnosed with cancer. It's all gone, and she should live a normal life now.
I played plenty of video games that my parents didn't know about. Kids can hide damn near anything, if their parents aren't super involved in their lives.
We're scared because it probably won't be a real study. And no matter what is said in the study, they will still blame video games for the crime. Not the lack of mental healthcare in this country.
And even if we had banned kids from buying games with an M rating. He was still old enough for at least three years to play them. This is even more stupid than blaming guns.
He played games he was legally allowed to, and "stole" guns (I use the quotes, because they belonged to his mother, so it's not really theft). No matter what laws we could enact right now, they would not have stopped this tragedy from occurring.
Because politicians wouldn't have any reason to get on TV and let you know how much they "care" about you and society. This has turned into one clusterfuck of one upmanship by both the Repubs and the Demos.
I won't be surprised to hear one next week talk about how we should shut down all the schools, cause then there wouldn't be an school shootings.
Oh you mean like the passengers on some airplanes did during the 9/11 attacks? No they probably wouldn't have. They would have run screaming. This was at a school, were I'm sure most of the teachers were female. That knife would have put them all at a serious disadvantage. Had they attacked, there would be less children dead, but more adults.
Getting rid of guns would never work in America anyways. There are too many gun owners, and there there is too much land to hide the guns, even if the government wanted to take the guns.
Stricter gun laws won't really work, either. Again there are too many guns in America. Too many guns south of the border, and too many guns north of the border. The guns will continue to flow for criminals and crazies, and the normal people will be the ones who suffer.
Slashdot Mirror
Hell, I don't even let my kids shoot at each other with fucking nerf guns.
I'm the only one that uses my guns, and I check to make sure they are unloaded before I put them away, and I make sure they are unloaded when I pick them up. Hell, sometimes I make sure they are unloaded randomly throughout the week even though I know no one has touched them.
I keep my guns locked up in a completely different part of the house from the ammo for them. I strive to make sure that no one will ever accidentally have the opportunity to put the guns and ammo together
It's like a lot of things in the US. Before you're allowed to do anything, you should have to take a stupidity (or common sense, not sure on the best wording) test. If you're too stupid, to raise children, then you should be sterilized. If you're too stupid to own a gun, then you should be banned from owning one. If you're too stupid to drive a car, you should be banned from getting one. The list can go on and on.
Most people in the US are responsible citizens that are intelligent enough to be able to do these things, but it's the ones that can't that should be punished. And I believe that the 2nd amendment allows us to own guns.
That sounds better.
The more I study this, the more I realize that the the population of the US, if they agreed that the government had committed a crime so grievous that is pissed of the population, they probably could fight the government and win. There are about 1.5 million troops currently on active duty. Even conservative estimates put the number of gun owners at 50 million plus. That means that the US military would be outnumber by 5 to 1 in a head to head battle. Of course, it wouldn't be a head to head battle. It would be most likely be guerilla warfare. There would be some staged battles, but there would a lot more skirmishes. While the military is better armed and trained, so were the British troops.
I know that tanks and planes are a great equalizer, but as we saw in Libya last year, troops do refuse orders. I wouldn't venture a guess, but I imagine some percentage of US troops would refuse orders to fire on the US populace, if the government did something that truly caused the population to revolt.
The US people have definitely gotten lazy.
I understand what you mean by a nation of will haves. Not sure how to explain it though.
And I am in no way being derogatory personally towards blacks, or whatever PC name they have now, merely pointing out that your founding fathers were slave owners, gentry, and privileged men of means (In general)
You are correct in that. They weren't the saints that we have made them out to be.
It's been a part of the USians culture since the beginning of our time. Our ability to own guns stems from our fight with England for independence. Yes, it is largely symbolic. No we can't really fight the government and win. But we have the option to do so, if we so choose. It would be going down in a blaze of glory. We would probably be utterly annihilated. But maybe not. I know a lot of soldiers. They wouldn't fire on the American people.
You're right that you have more "freedoms" than we do. If we really wanted those freedoms, though, we would fight for them, and get them. You have to remember that a lot of the voting population in the US consider themselves a part of the Christian right. It is changing, and in a few more decades, I think that we will see more and more places legalize the use of recreational drugs. I'm not sure on the legalization of prostitution, it'll take longer, but I think it might eventually happen. Maybe in the next century.
So anyone criticizing Obama is racist, simply because Obama is black?
Personally, I have never understood why Obama is considered black. His father was black, and his mother was white. So that surely makes him just as white as it makes him black?
If anything, the racist part is considering him black. The "one drop" rule deserves to be buried in history, where it belongs. If we Americans can't even move away from that, we are truly subhuman.
Wow another intelligent person on Slashdot. We wll never destroy the heart of racism as long as USAians consider themselves as Japanese-Americans, Chinese-Americans, African-Americans, Native Americans. None of us our pure Americans, there is no such race. We really are the melting pot.
There is nothing wrong with keeping alive traditions from your home country, but just admit you are an American, and stop using "racist" terms to describe how you're different.
That's why Page wants to mine asteroids. So Google no longer has to pay earth taxes. Well played, sir, well played.
Are you sure about that trajectory thing?
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Americas/NASA-satellite-to-crash-into-Earth-on-Friday/Article1-749351.aspx
I agree that we need to study how mining the moon, might affect the Earth in both the short term and long term.
Whether you believe in the global warming or the causes thereof, I wish they would have had the technology to study it 100 years ago. It's time to stop being stupid before we do things. And I don't want asteroids put in Earth orbit. If one company fucks up, it could wipe out life on this planet. Mine them where they orbit now, and send the materials back to Earth.
I was saying that society is fucked up in that we don't have an adequate way to help those that mentally ill.
In fact, we try to hide that fact that people suffer from illnesses of the mind. My wife suffers from Anxiety/Depression disorder, but it's a true hassle for her to get the medicine she needs to keep her in balance. She is not a danger to herself or anyone else, but she is fucking annoying. A lot of people abuse the drugs that she uses. This is what makes it hard for her to get them. We have health insurance and a good doctor. The pills themselves are cheap. I think she really needs help from a psychologist/psychiatrist (I can't remember the differences between the two), but she can't get that help. Health insurance doesn't cover those types of doctors.
I was not saying that society was fucked up in that children die from cancer everyday. I know that a lot of money is spent on cancer research everyday, and it's not an easy disease to cure. I also know that we have made great strides, and that a lot of children who died 20 years ago, can and do get better. A friend of mine has a daughter that was diagnosed with cancer. It's all gone, and she should live a normal life now.
I played plenty of video games that my parents didn't know about. Kids can hide damn near anything, if their parents aren't super involved in their lives.
Good thing we banned pillars in schools.
What's wrong with circumcision? I've heard things on both sides, but never any real facts.
We're scared because it probably won't be a real study. And no matter what is said in the study, they will still blame video games for the crime. Not the lack of mental healthcare in this country.
And even if we had banned kids from buying games with an M rating. He was still old enough for at least three years to play them. This is even more stupid than blaming guns.
He played games he was legally allowed to, and "stole" guns (I use the quotes, because they belonged to his mother, so it's not really theft). No matter what laws we could enact right now, they would not have stopped this tragedy from occurring.
You've never played the old Battle Chess I take it?
Because politicians wouldn't have any reason to get on TV and let you know how much they "care" about you and society. This has turned into one clusterfuck of one upmanship by both the Repubs and the Demos.
I won't be surprised to hear one next week talk about how we should shut down all the schools, cause then there wouldn't be an school shootings.
3000 kids a day die from cancer, again the parents are just as sad, but unsung. Our society is just fucked up. That's all there is to it.
The world is ending Thursday night/Friday morning, so they can trot out the predictions early this year.
Oh you mean like the passengers on some airplanes did during the 9/11 attacks? No they probably wouldn't have. They would have run screaming. This was at a school, were I'm sure most of the teachers were female. That knife would have put them all at a serious disadvantage. Had they attacked, there would be less children dead, but more adults.
Getting rid of guns would never work in America anyways. There are too many gun owners, and there there is too much land to hide the guns, even if the government wanted to take the guns.
Stricter gun laws won't really work, either. Again there are too many guns in America. Too many guns south of the border, and too many guns north of the border. The guns will continue to flow for criminals and crazies, and the normal people will be the ones who suffer.
To keep the government honest.
I bought $50 monster cables from Best Buy. You mean they weren't worth all that?
Oblig XKCD
http://xkcd.com/855/
zombo.com/