h a l f b a k e r yI think, therefore I am thinking.
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What if you had firearms that were designed to be in
continuous contact with a central data hub? Its GPS and
radio
triangulation tracking shuts it off when you approach
schools
or other public places, when the batteries die (because you
need to keep the phone charged and uplinked at all times)
or
when the police see that you're shooting somebody other
than
a person breaking into your house? Without ok from central
control the gun won't fire.
Pretty complicated and you'd be able to bypass it with a
little
effort. Thing is, when you bypass it a call would go out to
the
police.
Problem is, you'd be giving a pretty big task to the cops
having to roll a cruiser every time somebody forgot to
charge
their gun. Could start with a phone call I guess. If you don't
answer and say "Oh, sorry it's charged now." the cops come
out.
Probably too complicated to implement but, well, I posted
it
anyway for some unknown reason.
guns with history
https://www.youtube...watch?v=1nAfWfF4TjM
if people knew the history of the gun they're thinking of buying... [Tulaine, Oct 06 2015]
Whitey on the Moon
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PtBy_ppG4hY
If you build it, they will come. [xenzag, Oct 06 2017]
[link]
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By the way, did a little research and pretty much all
gun
deaths are from inner city shootings and suicides that
get
absolutely no media coverage. Mass shootings are
such a
small percentage of the number of total gun deaths
that,
statistically speaking, and if we're talking about
working big
to small in solving problems, it's not even something
you'd
address until the vast, vast majority of gun deaths
have
been dealt with. |
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And for starters, since suicides are such a big
percentage of
that number, it's probably important to start off by
admitting defeat in at least this department. There's
absolutely NOTHING anybody can do about that aside
from
banning all firearms of any kind. I don't know if that
would
have any effect on the number of suicides or if
people
would just do it differently. |
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Anything making it harder to defend oneself gets my no
vote. |
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Yep, that's about the size of it. Seriously, the US has pretty much what it
wants when it comes to guns and gun control. |
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Democracy finds its own equilibrium appropriate to each country. In the US,
the equilibrium is that most of the guns are owned by law abiding citizens;
this is balanced by 3.5 gun deaths per year per 100,000 people per year. |
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In the UK, we have 0.26 gun deaths per 100,000 people per year; this is
balanced by the fact that most guns are owned by criminals. |
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Either equilibrium state is fine - the world is overpopulated enough already. If
more countries adopted the American model, it would help with population
control and, in any case, people would have more fun. |
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// harder to defend oneself // |
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The linked video highlights the mistake of thinking that
keeping a firearm makes you safer. |
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//the mistake of thinking that keeping a firearm
makes you safer// |
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Yes, of course - it's patently more likely that you'll
die by the gun in a society where everyone has
guns. But (presumably) having a firearm makes
you *think* you're safer, which is the whole point. |
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After all, being killed is not such a big drawback
for the individual. They go from happy person
(reassured by their gun ownership) to not-a-
person-any-more in a few milliseconds*, so the net
result is greater total happiness. |
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(*Of course, this depends on the marksmanship of
the gunman - nobody wants a tetraplegic schoolkid
hanging on for years. This is a strong argument for
making more powerful, decisive weapons generally
available.) |
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Nobody is going to change their mind on: |
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Which is precisely why these are always issues we're
supposed to bicker about when it comes time to elect
a politician. "Don't worry that the government is
running up generational debt to buy votes, you need
to make sure that all these issues that have never
been resolved are resolved! RIGHT NOW!" The
"debate" is pretty much sport at this point. |
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Reminds me of the very very old joke about the
comedian's convention where the comedians would
all get on stage and say a number and everybody
would laugh. For the few that haven't heard this one,
the new guy asks somebody what was going on and is
told that everybody here already knows all the jokes
so they just numbered them to save time. So the guy
says he'd like to try it, gets on stage and says "327!"
and nobody laughs. He walks off stage and says "How
come nobody laughed?" the other guy says "You told it
wrong." |
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We're at the point in debating these issues where we
could save a lot of time just having numbered
responses. "What do I think about gun control,
religion, gay marriage and abortion? 32, 57, 82 and
49. |
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Respectfully request an appeal on this idea. |
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Or a variation of same. Smart, up-linked guns that show
where they're being fired to call authorities for assistance
at the very least could be useful. I'd love to have a gun in
my home that would call the police if it were discharged. If
I'm shooting a gun at my house, it's because I'm in dire need
of police assistance. |
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Anyway, I know it's throwing the defibrillator paddles on a
cold dead idea but I think there may be something to look
into here. |
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// Nobody is going to change their mind on: |
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In my life I've changed my mind on all of these topics except gun control. |
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Nobody but Voice is going to change their mind on: |
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Gun control.
Abortion.
Gay marriage.
Religion. |
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Just curious, where were you before and where are you
now? You can do a shorty answer like |
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Static,
from pro to anti,
from anti to pro,
from believer to non believer or vice versa etc. |
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If what you say is true, then maybe there actually is a
reason for us to discuss and debate. That would be a nice
thought for the day. |
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By the way, I'm ready to change my mind on any of these
things at the drop of the right evidence but currently I'm: |
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Pro murder control, you'll have to show me the benefits
outweigh the negatives of how we get there though. |
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Anti-abortion like I'm anti-heart operation. They're not to be
taken lightly and should be avoided by use of birth control
which should be free to everybody. Of course, nothing's free
so it should come out of the welfare budget. It will pay for
itself many times over. |
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Gay marriage. I'm against it only if it involves me. If it's
somebody else I could not care less. |
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As long as your religion recognizes me as an absolute equal
to those who practice that religion I have no problem with
it.
At the point you start saying I can be killed for bonus points
to get really good seats in heaven we've got a problem. |
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A tracking chip planted in the skull of all American gun
owners would be a good initiative. I doubt if they would
even notice it being installed. |
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Ironic how you're writing about how stupid Americans are on
an American invented computer or smartphone attached to an
American invented data transportation network in a room
illuminated by American
invented light bulbs (filament or LED, doesn't matter) powered
by American invented alternating current referring to the
computer chip, also invented by Americans being implanted in
an American head which they wouldn't notice because they're
too stupid. |
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I was raised in a very religious conservative family and completely accepted their points of view. As an adult I learned and grew as a person, and became atheist, anti-abortion-law, and pro-gay-marriage.These are, to the best of my knowledge, the best course for America. But I'm completely open to changing my mind again given sufficient evidence and cogent argument. Gun control: It's just too easy to make guns for that to work, Furthermore many massacres have happened after gun control has passed. And the statistics clearly show that violence does not correlate with gun ownership. Religion: I had to choose between insanity (believing things without evidence) or atheism. Abortion: I'm morally opposed to abortion, but I don't think having laws against it are a net positive for society. Gay marriage: I no longer use a deity as my moral compass, and it's clearly better to allow more freedom. |
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Well V, I agree 100% with everything you've just said which
makes for a boring conversation unfortunately. |
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Xen, get back here and say something nasty about America! |
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By the way, Xen, I love England and the English people as well
as America and the American people. Who's getting more out
of life in that department? Me or you? |
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Something to think about. |
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//I don’t know why people have an irrational
emotional attachment to the place they were born
or grew up in// |
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Then you will be replaced in short order by
somebody who does. |
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We're still animals struggling to inherit some part
of the planet to live on. If we're strong, we get to
keep that part of the world. If we're weak, a
stronger animal will take our place. |
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The rules of nature still apply, even though we
have smart phones and communication satellites,
we're still animals. Nature does't care who inherits
the future, but it does strictly enforce the rules of
the game. You may decide to change the area of your
dominion, but at some point, if you don't say "This is my
home." you'll always be at the mercy of those who
appreciate what you have more than you do should they
decide to take it from you. |
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// you'll always be at the mercy of those who appreciate what you have more than you do should they decide to take it from you.// |
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You seem to be confusing nationalism with attachment to what one actually owns. |
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If the people don't own their nation, who does? |
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//how stupid Americans are// They just elected Trump.
That’s hard to beat on the international 'we’re all idiots
who live here' index. |
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Let me know when England puts a man on the moon genius. |
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So now you think that America invented the moon. Do you
know where it is? Most Americans don’t know where
anywhere is. Hint. It’s above the hills right now. |
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Nation / states are vague concepts at best, bordered by arbitrary lines either negotiated or captured. Since the rise of multinational businesses, borders are maintained for reasons other than flag waving. Sports team patriotism gives some a needed comfort level. |
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//So now you think that America invented the moon.
Do you know where it is? Most Americans don’t know where
anywhere is. Hint. It’s above the hills right now.// |
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So you don't even know that Americans have landed men on
the Moon? They walked around took pictures and gathered
samples. Then they flew home. They got there via
something called a "rocket ship", (something else that we
invented). |
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Do you know how many stages were in the Saturn 5 rocket?
Do you know why stages are used? Do you know why they
used liquid fueled rockets? Do you know the difference
between orbital velocity and escape velocity? Do you know
the name of the vehicle that landed on the Moon? Do you
know the name of the spacecraft that orbited the Moon
while the other vehicle was on the surface? Can you explain
tidal locking an how it explains why we only see one side of
the Moon at all times? |
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But I guess I should be saying, do you know the difference
between putting a man on the Moon and saying we invented
the Moon? |
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No, so stick with your knowledge of the Moon, namely: "It's
ova thur floatin' abuv them thar hills." |
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And by the way, my uncle was one of the engineers that
designed the command module for North American
Rockwell, his son went on to be the mayor of a major
American city for many years. |
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Still wanna play "Who's Stupid?"? |
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He walked on the Moon? Must have kept it a secret. |
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Think Comrade Gagarin was overheard saying something
disparaging about "Glorious Soviet Revolution"? |
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//(something else that we invented)// I think you’ll find
that the rocket was invented in China hundreds of years
ago. The Germans added much to the process, and the jet
engine was of course a British invention. In actual fact
Americans have invented next to nothing that’s of much
use. Even the moon doesn’t actually do much, so I don’t
know why they bothered inventing that. You can choose to
reply if you want, using another British invention called the
internet, and you can use English as your language, typing
it into your computer (as also invented in the UK). |
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//Let me know when England puts a man on the moon genius.// |
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Psst. [doc], as I've been trying to explain to her, [xen] is french. |
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Actually we were going to put a man on the moon, but there was a bit of a queue and we hate barging in. |
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//I think you’ll find that the rocket was invented
in China
hundreds of years ago.// |
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The liquid fueled rocket, the kind that was
actually capable
of sending a man to the moon was
invented by Robert Goddard, an American. I
understand
that you don't know the difference but that's one
of many
reasons you could never put a man on the moon. |
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The microchip, which is the center of all
computers was
invented by Jack Kilby an American engineer for
Texas
Instruments. The Babbage computing engine that I
think
you're referring to was a computer like a
skateboard is a
race car. A computer is an electronic instrument
that is
actually useful, not a useless, calamitous
collection of
cacophonous cogs and
clattering camshafts that weighs three tons. |
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Ian, Arpanet is based on the acronym for the U.S.
Advanced
Research Projects Agency. You can tell it was a
U.S.
program because it was 1- In the U.S. and 2-
Almost entirely
put together by Americans. |
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And the first typewriter to be commercially
successful was
invented in 1868 by Americans Christopher Latham
Sholes,
Frank Haven Hall, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W.
Soule.
Before that dozens of attempts were made by
people from
dozens of countries. They were all flops.
Remember, people
tried to build airplanes too before the Americans
figured it
out and made one that could actually, you know...
fly. |
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Of course, everyone knows that America invented
everything that ever existed. We should simply forget about
people like Tim Berners-Lee, or Alan Turing, or Sir Frank
Whittle, or even the likes of John Dunlop. But! America did
invent the moon. They certainly went to a lot of trouble to
fake the photographs of that pile of washing machine boxes
they claim to have sent there. (Gill Scott-Heron link
celebrates all of that and more) And they definitely
invented
Trumpf. No one else wants to challenge that particular
achievement. |
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Let's not forget the American Werner von Braun. |
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Greek guy and Italian guy are having an argument over whose ancestors were the greatest. "We built the Parthenon" says the Greek "Yes, but we built the Colloseum", says the Italian. "We invented the Torsion Catapult", says the Greek "Yes, but we invented the Siege Engine", says the Italian. "We invented recreational sex" says the Greek; "Yes", says the Italian "but we thought of doing it with women." |
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Yes, but Gravity, which controls everything, was invented
by Sir Issac Newton. Without Newton, everything would just
float around chaotically as it used to do, and whitey
wouldn’t have needed a German rocket to go to the moon
he built earlier out of discarded egg boxes and bog roll
tubes. |
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//Let's not forget the American Werner von
Braun.// |
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Who built on the work of Robert Goddard who
designed the liquid fueled rocket because after
doing the calculations he saw that solid fuel
rockets were impractical to get to Mars which was
his goal. |
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He was discrete about the final goal of putting a
man on Mars because
he thought people would believe he was wacky so
he worked primarily on the interm step of getting
to the Moon. Did it all without slave labor too,
unlike Von Braun. |
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Reality is actually a pretty fascinating place. |
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To wrap up this little tardfest, there have been
lots of Brilliant Americans, lots of Brilliant
Englishmen, a few Brilliant Germans and even
some brilliant Frenchmen. The measurement that
counts is not where you're from, but what you
accomplish as an individual. |
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Balderdash! It was all invented by the French. |
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LOL, oh yea. I forgot about that. |
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I was thinking, how evil would it be to just put up
a page with all the inventions of the modern world
with long made up stories about the Frenchmen
who invented them? Would these stories catch on?
Would people memorize them and tell long winded
stories at cocktail parties about how Francois
Moreau invented the first lightbulb in 1748 using
horsehair in a wine glass? |
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You could escape scrutiny by saying "It wasn't
particulary successful or practical, but it WAS
TECHNICALLY the
first light bulb, airplane, turbojet, television,
computer etc." |
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What [voice] said, except that, in my case, it's all four, and the
other way around. |
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//America was invented by [...] //
... and possibly also the Basques, but they kept quiet about it. |
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It's entirely accurate to say The Unites States was an
invention of Great Britain. The founding fathers of
the country were British subjects when they came up
with the idea, so... well done. |
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Changed my mind on religion. The two others naturally
followed. |
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Gun control, not really. Just went from no opinion to
having one. |
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Not having an opinion on this might be more enlightened
than it sounds. Just read an article that says both sides of
the gun control debate are full of it. Not agreeing or
disagreeing with the article, but it contends that: |
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A) Those who say removing guns reduces murders are wrong
because the murder rate stays about the same. Pointing out
that the murder rate has dropped in Australia they point out
that the murder rate has also dropped in America after
Australia removed its guns. Yup, murder and crime rates are
going down in the U.S. at a steep rate even as gun
ownership increases. |
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B) Those who say removing guns causes crime to skyrocket
are only partially correct. There's an increase in violent
crime for a year or two after guns are outlawed but then
the line reverts back to whatever trend it was already on.
Citing several charts and graphs (that may or may not be
accurate) it shows that gun law changes, one way or the
other, haven't changed the murder rate except for a
temporary bump that quickly goes away. |
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So I propose a truce. The murder and violent crime rate in
America has been plummeting since a peak in the 90s and
this isn't being contended by either side. More guns are on
the street so let's give the one side credit for that. On the
other side, they can take credit because they started
putting up those
"Gun Free Zone" signs. |
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You didn't fall for that "I propose a truce." nonsense did you?
Remember, an olive branch can make a pretty good
weapon. ;) |
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America = guns, more guns, and you better not try and take any of them away because we've got lots and lots and lots of guns - billions of guns. |
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Hmm. Good point. Thank you for that. |
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