On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:29:50 -0500, Sabrina Kilian wrote:

>> LOL!  I mean, it isn't funny, but it is, if you know what I mean. :-)
>> 
> Funny as in the cat chasing my nose around the yard, or not funny in 'oh
> crap, I lived with a cat that I couldn't go near growing up.' . . . Oh,
> both, I see.

Yes, more or less. :-)

>> Not really sure myself - all I know is when it became apparent that the
>> drug was the problem, I saw the doctor and told him what was happening
>> and he changed the prescription after giving a brief explanation.  I've
>> got a friend who worked in a hospital and learned a lot about drug
>> interactions, I suppose I could ask him.  He did confirm from his
>> sources (probably a PDR as he no longer works in the industry) that
>> that was a rare side effect.
>> 
>> 
> Sorry, my geek side started showing. I couldn't study medicine, so I
> just study drugs.

Nah, that's OK - no need to apologise for geekiness.  I tend to geek out 
about a fair number of things myself. :-)

Jim

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Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:38:51 -0200, nemesis wrote:
> 
>> Perhaps it could be as simple as gun sales requiring a sanity test of
>> some kind for people buying guns.
> 
> Most states in the US do require it.  The problem is that often times 
> people develop mental issues *after* they've purchased a weapon.
> 
> So what then?

oh.  so the guy buys a weapon and go nuts.  explains a lot... :)

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On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 02:40:47 -0200, nemesis wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:38:51 -0200, nemesis wrote:
>> 
>>> Perhaps it could be as simple as gun sales requiring a sanity test of
>>> some kind for people buying guns.
>> 
>> Most states in the US do require it.  The problem is that often times
>> people develop mental issues *after* they've purchased a weapon.
>> 
>> So what then?
> 
> oh.  so the guy buys a weapon and go nuts.  explains a lot... :)

That was the case both at the Triad center shooting here in SLC, as well 
as at the LDS Family History Library.  Both of them were unstable, but 
passed the background check years earlier when they purchased their 
weapons.

Jim

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On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:15:50 -0000, "Phil Cook"
<phi### [at] nospamrocainfreeservecouk> wrote:

>Oo ar well I be in the country so we get a lot of shotguns and the odd  
>rifle. No handguns of course since the ban. Incidently we seem to be  
>getting increased reporting of stabbing incidents.

Increased reporting, indeed. But I see little difference from when I was young.
The media loves a panic it gives them a greater audience. Oo ar, Oo ar, Oo ar :)


Regards
	Stephen

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On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:51:11 -0500, Sabrina Kilian <"ykgp at vtSPAM.edu"> wrote:

[Snip for brevity]

To reply to your last point (mine) first. I think that you are right, gun laws
won't help. It is too late for you, (not personally) there are too many guns in
circulation and the belief that you need a firearm to defend yourself too
ingrained. To quote a long dead poet who died in a fight. Why, this is Hell nor
am I out of it.
As for depression and drugs; it would probably be better (IMO) if drugs were
used as a last resort if at all. But then you would have to put more effort into
helping people which would not be as profitable to the established money makers.
"Drugs" are both fashionable and a dirty word. The easy way out until you have
to pay the final price and it looks like judgement day is getting closer.
If it is of any interest to anyone other than myself. I have turned down two job
opportunities to work across the pond because I don't want to put myself through
the hassle of living the life I see over there. Now this is not to say that I
haven't met many fine people from the land of the free, I have. Some of them
here on this newsgroup, a lot at work, some as visitors to my country etc. but
it seems like a society that is best experienced from a distance. 

Regards
	Stephen

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"Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
news:47b61208$1@news.povray.org...

> I don't know that there is any more or less than there used to be, but
> there certainly is more media coverage of these terrible events.

True. There are, what, 17000 murders per year in USA, which means ~47 people
got murdered the day the shooting happened, but because it's a school, it
makes the headline news. The other 42 don't.

It really doesn't matter if people get shot at a school or bus stop.
*School* shootings is not the problem, and constitute a very minor risk and
a very minor problem/disturbance in society, when one looks at it
objectively. *Shootings* are the problem. But school shootings get an
inordinate amount of media attention.

Same thing happens in all kinds of media coverage. How many people go
missing in USA per year? But if one white, wealthy, attractive, young woman
goes missing, it busies the headlines for weeks and months.

We waste way too much time and effort with the inconsequential and miss the
forest for the trees.

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somebody <x### [at] ycom> wrote:
> Same thing happens in all kinds of media coverage. How many people go
> missing in USA per year? But if one white, wealthy, attractive, young woman
> goes missing, it busies the headlines for weeks and months.

  I somewhat agree with this. While cases like
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_McCann
are terrible, the media attention *this* one case got is way out of
proportion IMO. How many children (and adults) disappear in Europe
every year without any newspaper even mentioning it?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Stephen wrote:
> I think that you are right, gun laws
> won't help. It is too late for you, (not personally) there are too many guns in
> circulation and the belief that you need a firearm to defend yourself too
> ingrained. To quote a long dead poet who died in a fight. Why, this is Hell nor
> am I out of it.

On the other hand, gun laws have to start at some point in time. If we 
have to wait until there are no guns to ban them, it might take some 
time indeed :-)

I'm not sure any gun law would change the mentalities or solve this kind 
of problem overnight either. However, there is something I'd like to 
point out. I believe some said that a gun law would not help because you 
would still be able to buy firearms illegally. I do think this makes 
quite a difference, because you have to step out from legality earlier 
and probably some time before the fact. It takes a new level of planning 
and premeditation, in a way.

I'm not too clear on the laws in the United States or on the specific 
reglementations on campuses etc. When are the actions of someone 
behaving like that becoming illegal exactly? Wouldn't a law give them a 
chance of realizing they are doing something wrong earlier?

-- 
Vincent

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"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message
news:47b6deb9@news.povray.org...
> somebody <x### [at] ycom> wrote:

> > Same thing happens in all kinds of media coverage. How many people go
> > missing in USA per year? But if one white, wealthy, attractive, young
woman
> > goes missing, it busies the headlines for weeks and months.

>   I somewhat agree with this. While cases like
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_McCann
> are terrible, the media attention *this* one case got is way out of
> proportion IMO.

And one of the longest articles on Wiki - some country entries have shorter
and less researched content! So it's not just the mainstream commercial
media that fuels the fire. Does it have any encyclopaedic value at all?

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On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 05:15:01 -0700, somebody wrote:

> "Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
> news:47b61208$1@news.povray.org...
> 
>> I don't know that there is any more or less than there used to be, but
>> there certainly is more media coverage of these terrible events.
> 
> True. There are, what, 17000 murders per year in USA, which means ~47
> people got murdered the day the shooting happened, but because it's a
> school, it makes the headline news. The other 42 don't.

Yup.

> objectively. *Shootings* are the problem. But school shootings get an
> inordinate amount of media attention.

No disagreement here.

> Same thing happens in all kinds of media coverage. How many people go
> missing in USA per year? But if one white, wealthy, attractive, young
> woman goes missing, it busies the headlines for weeks and months.

Yes, and that drives me out of my mind.  While I'm sure glad Elizabeth 
Smart got home safely, there was nothing else in the news here in Utah 
for *months*.

> We waste way too much time and effort with the inconsequential and miss
> the forest for the trees.

This is very true.

Jim

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