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News Briefs 20-04-2009

Glimmer of hope: For the first time since I began force-feeding him food and water every 4 hours three months ago, my cat with fatty liver syndrome ate on his own yesterday – twice.

Quote of the Day:

My friends, you bow to no one.

Aragorn to hobbit heroes Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry, in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

  1. Kat’s cat
    Those are good news! 🙂

    —–
    It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
    It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

    Red Pill Junkie

  2. Herod’s Temple
    That model of Herod’s Temple is amazing.

    And about his wife being upset about him doing it, likely my wife would like me to spend that much time in a shed outside in back…. 😉

  3. Columbine
    [quote]We can perhaps be grateful that the Columbine killers saw themselves in media-age terms as performers, who chronicled their thoughts and actions in great detail. As a result, we now know a whole lot more about how to recognise potential school shooters, and how to limit the damage once the shooting starts. The Swat teams at Virginia Tech did not hesitate for an instant, almost certainly saving the lives of a dozen or more people. At scores of high schools around the US, meanwhile, teachers and mental health professionals have taken death threats or the discovery of weapons with the utmost seriousness.[/quote]

    And what about tougher guns control, America?

    Oh, yeah… I forgot. My bad.

    —–
    It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
    It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

    Red Pill Junkie

    1. really
      The same kind of thing happens in countries where gun control is very tight.

      It doesn’t not happen very much in Switzerland, where most of the population has fully automatic weapons.

      What about educating our children that bullying outsiders is a bad thing?

      Some of these outsiders are just kids with glasses. Or kids who are smaller, or fatter. Or kids who get better grades.

      How about reducing the level of anger and frustration in our societies?

      —-
      It is not how fast you go
      it is when you get there.

      1. really
        From the article:

        … Harris and Klebold had plenty of friends, did pretty well in school, were not members of the Trenchcoat Mafia, did not listen to Manson, were not bullied, harboured no specific grudges against any one group, and did not “snap” because of some last-straw traumatic event. All those stories were the product of hysteria, ignorance and flailing guesswork in the first few hours and days.

        That said, bullying can cause long-lasting problems for those who are bullied.

      2. you have touched on something here earthling,
        these are social problems that require a social fix. Let me try to explain: these kids growing now are much more in tune with everything then say our generation. They are closer to their inner selves and respond immediatly to stimuli of any sort. Now we have created a society built on lies eg:religion, greed eg:consumeristic principals and secrecy eg: goverments. So when these kids get into their teens they are confused, lost and have little hope. They live hard day to day look to heavy drinking and drugs for a chance to relax and forget.
        The adult generation of the forties and fifties created this. The baby boomers tried to change it but couldn’t and the X gens just didn’t care.
        What all these kids need is honesty and hope and love.
        Then we made see a change, but not in the system of deminished responsabilty that we have now. Give people back there personal power and they will do the right thing.

        PS: I made need to change my tag after that.

        “Life can be whatever you want it to be, as long as you do what your told.”
        LRF.

        1. Huh?
          [quote]The adult generation of the forties and fifties created this. The baby boomers tried to change it but couldn’t and the X gens just didn’t care.[/quote]

          HEY!!! 😛

          —–
          It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
          It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

          Red Pill Junkie

        2. tobacco
          Yes floppy, this is a social or societal problem.

          Abuse such as bullying does cause this sort of thing, in some cases. It is the resulting frustration, I think.

          But that is not the only reason of course.

          Feelings of superiority also make young people do things that result in killing. Some drugs do that, cocaine and/or steroids for example. These have long term effects too – just that no traces are found in the blood is no evidence, one way or the other.

          And then there is boredom. People do crazy things because they are bored.

          Some of these shootings are revenge, against people who had nothing to do with the original insult. Some other shootings are expressions of superiority.

          But it seems fairly obvious – all of these events are suicides. Extremely attention grabbing suicides.

          —-
          It is not how fast you go
          it is when you get there.

          1. Media Attention
            The article also makes one think about the result of the media desperately rushing to the sites of those tragedies to capture as much as they can for the 6 o’clock news.

            So some kid who feels unappreciated or enraged or depressed or whatever, and is thinking about hurting people to get payback or kicks, sees the news and thinks “well, if I’m gonna go, I might as well do it while grabbing my 15 minutes of fame infamy”.

            This when it comes to school shootings. Seems that the shootings involving adults are more of a ‘gut feeling’ or ‘rush of the moment’.

            OK, so you don’t want people telling you you can’t have your precious assault rifles. How about devising effective psychometric exams to test if the guy showing up at the gun shop is a well-balanced individual, or someone who’s on the verge of blowing a casket?

            And how about putting bar codes on the guns and the ammo, to keep tags on who’s buying the guns, and where those guns are? If the police dept’s computer systems picks an unexpected acquisition of ammo in a store or from a given individual, then it might be something worth checking out.

            Granted, all those restrictions could be circumvented, but maybe it would deter some individuals from attempting something stupid.

            I still think a stricter gun policy would make more sense. Guns are like condoms in a swing party: either everybody is carrying one, or nobody is safe 😉

            And would you like to live in a society where everybody is packing heat —children included, of course. They also need to be protected.

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

          2. unholy thoughts
            Ok, I will come out and say something that I will be whipped for.

            The school shooting victims die because of stupidity. The stupidity of the shooters first of course. To a lesser extent the stupidity of the teachers and the classmates. Perhaps their own too, but that is just random chance. If the shooters don’t seem to have anyone particular in mind.

            Even more unholy: how many people died on the same day because of traffic accidents? How many of these accidents were caused by drivers under the influence of drugs?

            How many fatal traffic accidents are cause by over-tired truck drivers under the influence of coffee?

            The number of deaths due to school shootings could be cut in half if the media would not be so loud about it. CNN, Fox, and the rest are as responsible as the next shooter.

            The most unholy part is this: the number of victims is tiny, compared to other avoidable causes of death.

            Of course this does not make the victims any less dead.

            —-
            It is not how fast you go
            it is when you get there.

          3. Unholy response
            Sure, plenty of people die each day due to car accidents and the like. Car accidents is the #1 cause of death among young males here in Mexico, mostly caused by alcohol abuse or reckless driving (true statistic).

            But, should we then use that as an excuse for stop pushing for tighter gun controls? I don’t think so.

            If I’m a parent that sends my kid to school, I would like to think that there’s a certain degree of safety that my kid will return safely home. Obviously we live in a dangerous world where unpredictable things happen all the time; but that’s no excuse to stop trying to prevent predictable tragedies.

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

          4. statistics
            Perhaps someone knows where to start looking (other than google):

            if we look back in history, guns were much more available. Everywhere, not just in the US.

            What has been the rate of homicide, as guns laws were tightened over the decades?

            —-
            It is not how fast you go
            it is when you get there.

  4. High hopes
    My best wishes to your Kitty-Kat for a full recovery. Caring for a sick pet is a time-consuming, worrying and often heart-breaking task, and I sincerely hope this one rewards you for all your devotion.

    Love, Kathrinn

    1. Hi Kathrinn
      Scrappy has gone to live with mum at her new home in Brisbane. I miss him but know he is doing a great service by looking after mum.

      Kat, I truely hope all turns out well for your little friend. And you. My thoughts are with you.

      “Life can be whatever you want it to be, as long as you do what your told.”
      LRF.

  5. The (Other) Hobbit
    [quote=Kat]

  6. Did humans learn from hobbits?[/quote]

    Picked up Mike Morwood’s book about the Hobbit discovery nice and cheap in a local bookstore today. I’m looking forward to reading it (along with the other 12 books on my bedside table!).

    Kind regards,
    Greg
    ——————————————-
    You monkeys only think you’re running things

  7. Gun removal
    The authorities took guns away from honest, law-abiding citizens in Oz several years ago, but shootings continue as the criminals didn’t hand theirs in.

    Not so many shootings, perhaps, but there are other weapons being used such as baseball bats, knives, fence palings and fists which make some people just as dead when used for that purpose.

    The number of suicides hasn’t decreased either, but now folk have to hang or poison themselves instead of using a quick, clean bullet.

    Taking guns from people achieves nothing as far as I can see.

    Regards, Kathrinn

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