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Messages - Steingar

Pages: 1 ... 132 133 [134] 135 136 ... 184
1996
Spin Zone / Re: genetically modified pig-skin
« on: December 28, 2016, 08:01:09 AM »
What has that to do with Arabs, Jews and pigs?

Nothing whatsoever.  Lots of people allow their primitive superstitions to interfere with advanced medical treatments.  Vaccination comes quickly to mind.

1997
The one and only thing I can give Obama is he had to deal with a crisis.  In 2008 we were staring down a depression.  I can't blame the POTUS or Congress for sending us into debt to deal with a crisis.  What I don't like is that we're not dealing with a crisis, we're at peace (more or less), and we're still deficit spending.  Problem is there is no easy way to address this.  Everyone has to pay.  Since no one wants to pay our politicians keep kicking the can down the road.  Given the big promises made by the POTUS elect during his campaign I expect to see lots more kicking.  That guy is clearly comfortable with lots of debt.

1998
Spin Zone / Re: Obama claims...
« on: December 27, 2016, 02:48:49 PM »
Thank God for term limits.  We should have them in the House and Senate too.

Actually, they might be a bad idea.  Where will the leadership come  from for all the new people occupying those posts?  No doubt special interests would be happy to show the way.

1999
Spin Zone / Re: genetically modified pig-skin
« on: December 27, 2016, 01:33:10 PM »
That's just racist!  Why are they developing a treatment that a third of the world's population can't use?

Anatomically pigs are actually closely related to humans, and are one of the beast candidate sources for Xenotransplantation.  There have been longstanding efforts to "humanize" porcine organs for Xenotransplantation.  Personally, I think iPS cells hold much greater promise.

2000
Spin Zone / Re: Soldiers of Odin!
« on: December 25, 2016, 10:01:47 AM »
Unfortunately, the all-father was adopted by the American White Supremacist movement as well.  The use of Odin as the Steingar deity-surrogate predates off of this, of course.  Sorry guys, I've been an Atheist since my youth.  Citing supernatural beings is part and parcel of our language, but I always felt hypocritical doing it.  Citing the Norse Sky God felt a bit better, since I don't think any one really takes that religion seriously anymore.

So may Odin bless your Saturnalia and may it be joyous.

2001
Yeah, transgender bathroom laws come to mind.

Tyranny of the majority certainly. I dislike discrimination in all its forms.

2002
Spin Zone / Re: Tell me again why American Jews support Obama!
« on: December 23, 2016, 09:04:00 PM »
I don't see it as any big whip. The Israelis will tell the UN to pound sand. Personally I don thin they should be building settlements. Gets in the way.

2003
Good to hear.  No justification for onerous unconstitutional limits on the right to bear arms.

I could not agree more.  The number of firearm deaths in this country may seem frighteningly high, but given all the firearms in private hands is actually quite low.  Moreover, the vast majority of firearm deaths involve the firearm owner and someone familiar to them. Atrocities like the mass shooter in Miami are not at all the norm, indeed they are vanishingly rare.  I believe that legislation based on outlying phenomena is poorly representative and bad law.  Those prumolgating such statues are engaged in the lowest form of politics, playing to what they perceive is majority opinion to win elections.

2004
...said the sheep on the way into the slaughterhouse.

Steingar is no coward.  And well-applied intelligence is a far stronger weapon than any firearm.

That said, where I work is private property.  I will therefore obey the wishes of its administrators.  Even if I couldn't get fired for carrying a firearm (I can), I wouldn't just out of courtesy.  I feel carrying a weapon onto private property against the wishes of the owners is outright discourteous.

Of course, intelligence is also useful for risk assessment.  The number of school shootings in the nation is actually very, very low, spectacularly so for the number of firearms in private hands.  The cost of obtaining and maintaining said firearm, along with the risk of discovery far outweighs the risk of a school shooter.  Had the fellow responsible for the "incident" showed up in my classroom I'd not have hesitated to engage him.  Sorry, just can't get worked up over a cleaver.

2005
I would have asked who was carrying and positioned them by the doors.  ;)

If someone is carrying firearms in my class and I learn about it they will be asked to leave. Moreover, they'll likely be disciplined or expelled.

As far as the "incident", there was an armed LEO right outside.  I wasn't terribly worried about armed assailants entering the building from outside.  I have to admit, armed persons entering a classroom are a persistent nightmare.  But I'll trust to my wits.  When I balance the likelihood of an armed intruder with the likelihood that I'd be discovered with a weapons and fired, the decision becomes quite easy.


2006
No, those things can't kill efficiently.  We need to create gun free zones so the criminals with guns won't go there.

Funny you should mention it, the University is a gun-free zone.  And look, it worked!  The guy was armed with a cleaver.

Anyone armed with a cleaver has the advantage over someone that doesn't anything

Says you.  Steingar does not fear cleavers.  Now, arm someone with my French chef's knife and they could do some damage.  Thing is long, sharp, pointy, and well-balanced.  Of course, only losers bring knives to a gun fight.  The attacker was killed by an OSU police office within minutes.

2007
What people often forget is one purpose of the lockdown is so first responders have fewer people getting in the way (easier for the bad guy to hide in a crowd, etc)

Kinda what I figured.  Also, in the confusion of when this first happened no one was certain if it was one attacker or many.  They had the whole street closed off all day too.  Had to detour around the back side of campus to get home that night.



a question for the group:  who knows (without googling) what weapons were used in the worst school mass murder in US history?

Guy was armed with a cleaver.  If I really wanted to attack a person with a knife, the last one I would choose is a cleaver.  One edge and no point.  No good for stabbing, and no good at all on the upswing. 

2008
Not a lot of room to build up speed where he was, and he was in a small car, not a big truck.

2009
I was in a giant lecture hall.  A couple of my students were worried because of all the open doors, and thought they should be somewhere more secure. I pointed out that there really wasn't another space for me to cram 600 students. I ran outside and asked the LEO outside the building what was going on.  He said ther was an incident a couple buildings down, that we were on lockdown and that I should keep my students indoors. I went back in and told everyone they were stuck for the duration.  Then, just to get everyone's mind off things I conducted an impromptu Origami lesson.

I was able to release them a shot time later, and they cancelled classes to give the cops time to do cop things.  The dude was really whacked from the sounds of it.  Good thing too, he could have done some real  damage with a firearm.  Thankfully he was limited to his car and a cleaver.

2010
I got stuck in a classroom with 600 students because of this guy.

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