Yes, there are many, many examples of responsible gun ownership. Nobody is questioning that, and I count many good friends as examples.

The problem is that our society does not just accept guns, it is obsessed with guns, it looks at guns with hungry eyes and it latches tenaciously to the false sense of security given by unbridled ownership. It wants guns in more variety, with more capabilities and in larger quantities than any sane citizen could ever use.

And this has effects.

These excesses find use in Mexico. These excesses find use in gang warfare, school shootings, domestic disputes, armed robberies and at least on a more personally felt level, these excesses reflect a value system of fear, mistrust and isolation that I detest.

Give me one example of a high capacity magazine being both necessary and properly used in self defense. I want you to give me an example of one person unloading more than ten rounds against aggressors, and doing so in a situation that legally warrants it and was necessitated by circumstance (freaking out and shooting rounds indiscriminately does not count).

Give me one example of government over-reach being suppressed primarily by personal firearms. I'll even let you look around the world and as far back as the early 20th century for examples - I think you'll find that armed internal conflicts tend to sway with the military's whims or with external support.

For each instance of high capacity magazine use, I will give you ten instances of mass shootings made possible in part by their existence.

For each instance of successful armed civic insubordination, I will give you a hundred examples of change being accomplished with nothing more than a pen, a voice or a peaceful protest.

The problem here is that though gun owners are frequently responsible on an individual basis, their overall view on the utility of these tools in our society is completely out of line with the reality of a modern world. This is what gun control should be about: diluting these fantasies.

The irony is too much...good friend of mine last night while watching football mentioned he does this alone at home. Room full of friends were silent, yes he's getting this in his inbox

Wow, I've never been much of a Frum fan, despite his being a good friend of the late Christopher Hitchens, but he's making a whole lot of sense here. Gonna have to pick up that E-book...

I have been in the septic service business with my good friend Bob since 2003 and can
handle whatever septic system problems you may have.

I was raised around guns, I've been trained with guns through the Hunter Core program. Purely for hunting game. (not human targets on the shooting range - mostly tin cans and paper circle targets.)

I've seen rampant gun use by teens because they thought guns were cool. I've seen my dog get his eye shot out because the neighbor kid didn't know the gun he just loaded was loaded. I've seen powder burns up the arm of a friend who thought it would be cool to saw off a shot gun and fire it. I was standing there when a good friend fired a rifle and the barrel exploded showering us all in shrapnel as it ripped apart his ear drums.

I was trained to handle guns, how to hold them, and all the safety and respect that anyone needs to handle guns. But that doesn't change the fact that they can be dangerous.

I live in Canada, yes, I could go out and get a gun any time I wanted, but our culture on guns is different. I don't feel the need to own one and I know the guy next to me isn't holding a concealed one. I have never let my kids have any toy gun that looked like a gun. (Nerf is ok) Guns are never toys - ever - and I've taught my kids that their entire life, just like matches and fire aren't toys. You just don't mess around with them.

I don't own a gun now nor do I ever see myself owning one. I like the culture of not needing to own one. I can understand a rifle and a shotgun for hunting (locked in a gun safe when not used.) I don't understand and cannot support the necessity for handguns and automatic weapons. Even semi-automatic weapons are unnecessary. Having an Uzi is just plain ridiculous as it's only intended use is for killing humans. That's just how I feel.

On the flip side....

I do understand the need for a militia. They are an integral part of a free society. the last defense against invasion and more so against government forces when the military is turned against the people.

I just don't believe military weapons should be kept in a home environment. There are any number of places they can be stored but at the very least - a proper gun locker with a lock is the only alternative. I don't care whether you have kids living in the home or not. I also don't think anyone should be in possession of military weapons unless they are registered with the militia.

@Reefie -- come to where I live. There are all sorts of men who are attracted to women who aren't into stereotypical men's things and felt alienated growing up.

They tend to be my favorite people -- gentle, intelligent, funny. Their struggles made them more human and vulnerable, and not carapaced away from themselves and others.

Two of them I count as good friends. Both in happy partnerships with women who accept them as non-stereotypical males. One guy has even jokingly labeled himself an "honorary woman."

You need to find a more supportive community, honey bunny. Get thee to a therapist, as hpqp says, and then get thee to a community that embraces you as much as you embrace yourself.

The saddest thing about this vid for me was seeing how pumped up this poor person made herself in order to fit in to society. I am so glad she stopped that struggle and embraced herself.

The guy at 2:56 is a good friend/colleague.

Yeah I know that you wanna be Canadian, please
Even if in winter things tend to freeze
We've got the world monopoly on trees
And our country's bordered by three different seas

Yeah I know that you wanna be Canadian, please
We invented the zipper, we've got expertise
We made insulin to combat disease
Yeah I know that you wanna be Canadian, please

♫ Brits have got the monarchy
The US has the money
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

The French have got the wine and cheese
Koalas chill with the Aussies
But I know that you wanna be Canadian ♫

Et si ce n'était pas assez
On a deux langues officielles:
L'anglais et le français
Ooh la la

Yeah I know that you wanna be Canadian, please
Where else do you find mounted police
Or go to the hospital and not pay fees
Yeah I know that you wanna be Canadian, please

And when freshwater is in high demand
We've got the world's largest supply on hand
So you know that we could make a pretty good friend
But it's even better if you can be...

♫ Brits have got the monarchy
The US has the money
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

The French have got the wine and cheese
Koalas chill with the Aussies
But I know that you wanna be Canadian ♫

So you're thinking to yourself,
"How do I live in this beautiful country?"
Well we've got some steps for you to follow...

STEP 1: Lose the gun
STEP 2: Buy a canoe
STEP 3: Live multiculturally
STEP 4: You're ready, there is no more!

We got beavers, caribou and moose
We got buffalos, bears, and Canadian goose
And we're sorry about Celine Dion
But she did do that good song for James Cameron...

♫ Brits have got the monarchy
The US has the money
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

The French have got the wine and cheese
Koalas chill with the Aussies
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

The Greek chilled out with Socrates
Can't build a wall like the Chinese
But I know that you wanna be Canadian

In Kenya they have safaris
We've missed lots of other countries
But I know that you wanna be Canadian ♫ ♫

You say that but I was round at my dads today and he'd had to roll back his Vista laptop to an earlier backup because the latest "updates" meant it no longer had the USB resources to run both his printer and scanner. When's Win 8 out again?


>> ^oritteropo:

The new versions give new features, and new bugs and performance problems. I am not running the newest supported version on my phone for exactly that reason, but I'm only one or two versions below it.
You can always go back to the old version if the new one isn't to your liking.
When iOS 4 first came out it was truly woeful on the older phones, then fixes came out clawing back some of the performance. I don't think this was a marketing strategy, I think it was a result of testing on the new phone first. Anyway, the new phones are always faster than the old ones they don't even need to slow the old ones down to make them seem slow in comparison!
>> ^messenger:
This is important. Jimmy may have uncovered a really underhanded marketing technique. Anyone else heard/noticed this?>> ^zaust:
This is total conjecture but, according to a good friend of mine who's unfortunately a crapple fan, the new models do make the old ones obsolete. He's adamant the, near compulsory, updates have significantly slowed his older model iphones over time.

The new versions give new features, and new bugs and performance problems. I am not running the newest supported version on my phone for exactly that reason, but I'm only one or two versions below it.

You can always go back to the old version if the new one isn't to your liking.

When iOS 4 first came out it was truly woeful on the older phones, then fixes came out clawing back some of the performance. I don't think this was a marketing strategy, I think it was a result of testing on the new phone first. Anyway, the new phones are always faster than the old ones they don't even need to slow the old ones down to make them seem slow in comparison!
>> ^messenger:

This is important. Jimmy may have uncovered a really underhanded marketing technique. Anyone else heard/noticed this?>> ^zaust:
This is total conjecture but, according to a good friend of mine who's unfortunately a crapple fan, the new models do make the old ones obsolete. He's adamant the, near compulsory, updates have significantly slowed his older model iphones over time.

This is important. Jimmy may have uncovered a really underhanded marketing technique. Anyone else heard/noticed this?>> ^zaust:

This is total conjecture but, according to a good friend of mine who's unfortunately a crapple fan, the new models do make the old ones obsolete. He's adamant the, near compulsory, updates have significantly slowed his older model iphones over time.

This is total conjecture but, according to a good friend of mine who's unfortunately a crapple fan, the new models do make the old ones obsolete. He's adamant the, near compulsory, updates have significantly slowed his older model iphones over time.

I have a good friend of mine that got hit hard by an IED in Iraq. He lost both his legs and suffered some serious brain injuries. It took him a year just to be able to talk again, but he persevered and recovered as one can from something like that. He eventually got an entry-level job working as a teller at a bank. Within 5 years, he had worked his way up to branch manager. He is now on the short list for the regional manager's slot. He has to work 10x harder than his peers to even be considered, but he does it because he wants to be better than "just a cripple" (his words).

Honestly, a lot of people make excuses for why they can't instead of making strides to make it happen for them. He could have done nothing for the rest of his life and lived off his disability and pension modestly, but he chose to be better than that and worked his ass of for his successes.

Sure, there are people out there that flat out can't work or can't function normally in society, but that is a tiny fraction of the world as a whole.

>> ^alien_conceptWhat about people with moderate learning difficulties, or disabilities? They're able to work, but not a chance in hell they could go into the army and take advantage of what they have to offer, or work in an IT department. I think the only people who believe in this dream are the ones who are lucky enough to have had it happen for them. Not everyone is in the same position as you were or are now. Some people will never be able to have a good job, because they just aren't able.

Or just pay one of your good friends half as much as you would pay these corporate pieces of shit. You solve about a million problems at once.

>> ^dag:

I like Macs. I have good friends who love their PCs. The reason the OS wars still rage is the same reason Korea and Japan generally don't get along.

Which one is the expensive shithole?



When you purely look at hardware the PC trounces Mac on price. There isn't really a debate there. But thats not really the whole picture. Software and the resulting user experience is really coloured by personal preference. Macs have better image, and while I don't like the idea of something selling on that alone...well designer clothes exist. People are vain, its not new.

Anyway, lets talk about 360vsPS3 now.