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.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 06 2015 guns with history https://www.youtube...watch?v=1nAfWfF4TjMif 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_ppG4hYIf you build it, they will come. [xenzag, Oct 06 2017] 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.
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.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 06 2015 Anything making it harder to defend oneself gets my no vote.-- cudgel, Oct 06 2015 I respect that.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 06 2015 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.
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.
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.
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.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 06 2015 // harder to defend oneself //
The linked video highlights the mistake of thinking that keeping a firearm makes you safer.-- Tulaine, Oct 06 2015 //the mistake of thinking that keeping a firearm makes you safer//
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.
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.
(*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.)-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 06 2015 Nobody is going to change their mind on:
Gun control.
Abortion.
Gay marriage.
Religion.
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.
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."
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.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 06 2015 Respectfully request an appeal on this idea.
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.
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.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 04 2017 // Nobody is going to change their mind on:
Religion. //
In my life I've changed my mind on all of these topics except gun control.-- Voice, Oct 04 2017 I'll amend that.
Nobody but Voice is going to change their mind on:
Gun control. Abortion. Gay marriage. Religion.
Just curious, where were you before and where are you now? You can do a shorty answer like
Static, from pro to anti, from anti to pro, from believer to non believer or vice versa etc.
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.
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:
Pro murder control, you'll have to show me the benefits outweigh the negatives of how we get there though.
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.
Gay marriage. I'm against it only if it involves me. If it's somebody else I could not care less.
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.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 04 2017 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.-- xenzag, Oct 04 2017 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.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 04 2017 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.-- Voice, Oct 04 2017 Well V, I agree 100% with everything you've just said which makes for a boring conversation unfortunately.
Xen, get back here and say something nasty about America!
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?
Something to think about.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 04 2017 //I don’t know why people have an irrational emotional attachment to the place they were born or grew up in//
Then you will be replaced in short order by somebody who does.
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.
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.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 05 2017 // 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.//
You seem to be confusing nationalism with attachment to what one actually owns.-- Voice, Oct 05 2017 If the people don't own their nation, who does?-- doctorremulac3, Oct 05 2017 //how stupid Americans are// They just elected Trump. That’s hard to beat on the international 'we’re all idiots who live here' index.-- xenzag, Oct 05 2017 Let me know when England puts a man on the moon genius.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 05 2017 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.-- xenzag, Oct 05 2017 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.-- normzone, Oct 05 2017 //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.//
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).
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?
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?
No, so stick with your knowledge of the Moon, namely: "It's ova thur floatin' abuv them thar hills."
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.
Still wanna play "Who's Stupid?"?-- doctorremulac3, Oct 05 2017 He walked on the Moon? Must have kept it a secret.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 05 2017 Think Comrade Gagarin was overheard saying something disparaging about "Glorious Soviet Revolution"?
Could be.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 05 2017 //(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).-- xenzag, Oct 05 2017 //Let me know when England puts a man on the moon genius.//
Psst. [doc], as I've been trying to explain to her, [xen] is french.
Actually we were going to put a man on the moon, but there was a bit of a queue and we hate barging in.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 05 2017 //I think you’ll find that the rocket was invented in China hundreds of years ago.//
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.
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.
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.
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.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 05 2017 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.-- xenzag, Oct 06 2017 Let's not forget the American Werner von Braun.
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."-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 06 2017 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.-- xenzag, Oct 06 2017 //Let's not forget the American Werner von Braun.//
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.
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.
Reality is actually a pretty fascinating place.
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.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 06 2017 Balderdash! It was all invented by the French.-- Voice, Oct 06 2017 LOL, oh yea. I forgot about that.
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?
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."
God that's evil.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 07 2017 What [voice] said, except that, in my case, it's all four, and the other way around.-- pertinax, Oct 08 2017 //America was invented by [...] // ... and possibly also the Basques, but they kept quiet about it.-- pertinax, Oct 08 2017 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.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 08 2017 Changed my mind on religion. The two others naturally followed.
Gun control, not really. Just went from no opinion to having one.-- RayfordSteele, Oct 08 2017 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:
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.
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.
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.
Everybody wins.
You didn't fall for that "I propose a truce." nonsense did you? Remember, an olive branch can make a pretty good weapon. ;)-- doctorremulac3, Oct 09 2017 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.-- xenzag, Oct 09 2017 Hmm. Good point. Thank you for that.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 09 2017 random, halfbakery