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Funny, the figure I quoted was 22 to 1, not 43 to 1. I really didn't want to focus the discussion on the suicide aspect of firearms though, I agree that guns to not cause suicide, but they certainly facilitate it. Why then is there 5 times more suicides in homes with guns? And you completely ignored my point about the FBI's uniform crime report, along with most of my other points following the Kellerman study, which I think you misrepresented, I never said they didn't include suicides in it, my arguement on home invasions is based more on the FBI stats. The very way you attempt refute my arguement here seems to be a good arguement for stricter gun control. Why do these homes full of crazies have handguns? Because people with "arrest records for violent felonies" are allowed to have them ! I think your logic works against you there. It would follow that stricter gun controls would keep weapons from these homes and keep people safer from domestic violence. I do concede that you may be right about the Kellerman study not taking the appeals into account, but again the FBI stats back up the point. I must say this has been an interesting thread man, have fun jumping. There was some confusion regarding my sources for the 9x figure on child deaths. The CDC is the Center for Disease Control, not a an anti-gun organization. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

Ya, the blood effects sorta pissed me off at first because they were so obviously fake, but then I realized he might be trying to mirror the effects in the animated part of the movie. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

What's the point of a station on the moon right now? Nobody's going to Mars anytime soon, and why would they when the robots are so much cheaper? Maybe Bush wants to make the moon his permanent residence, he seems to be up there most of the time anyway. On the other hand, if you guys actually want to spend more countless billions you don't have, then more power to you. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

The show rules, but isn't a competition in selling lemonade where you put guys up against a bunch of hot girls always gonna be a little bit harder on the fellas? Trump's pad was more what i'd expect of Goldfinger, didnt' know they shared that fetish. Seriously did anyone else think that place was like a day at the beach with no shades? Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

I see I'm having some trouble convincing you based on those figures, but I'd like to point out that the Yukon and the NWT have less than 100 000 people combined living in them , so it doesn't really reflect Canada's average gun ownership. Ironically those two places also have the highest rates of gun deaths among people younger than 25 in Canada, at 20 and 53 per 100k for the Yukon and NWT. So it would appear that your own stats are working against you in that case. Ontario which has the lowest gun ownership rate, also experiences the lowest rate of gun deaths among the same age group. I think you also need to look at what type of guns these are John. There are slightly less than 1 in 30 Canadians who own handguns, and most of these (legals) have to belong to a gun club associated with the police, which implies very rigorous safety training. Although it does happen, especially in cases of domestic violence, that someone is killed with a hunting rifle here, you will find that rifles are rarely a weapon of choice. I would also like to turn my attention away from Canada to quote the 1998 study in the Journal of Trauma which found that guns kept in the home for self-protection are more often used to kill somebody you know than to kill in self-defense; 22 times more likely. (Kellermann AL. "Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home." Journal of Trauma, 1998; 45(2):263-67. ) Furthermore a gun is used for protection in less than 2 % of home invasions. The FBI's uniform crime report found that in 1999 there were only 154 justifiable homocides commited by private citizens, compared to a total of a total of 8,259 firearm murders. Homes with guns are 3 times more likely to have a homocide in them, 5 times more likely to have a suicide, and the "unintentional firearm-related death rate for children 0-14 years old is NINE times higher in the U.S. than in the 25 other countries combined" (CDC - '97). Also, from 1990 to 1998 2 thirds of spouse or ex spouse murders happened with guns. I eagerly await your reply to this post, PM me if you feel like it. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

That thing's hard, i only got a 5 Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

Ya, a suicide bomber would probably use a Bush/Cheney sign to get moved to the front of the line. This frankly scares me. If anyone told me I couldn't hold up a sign saying something against my government while there were people around me with signs supporting it, I would bury the PM... in angry letters of course. Doesn't really surprise me though, I've made up my mind on politicians. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

Where I'm from people are always blowing their eyebrows off with gas trying to light fires and whatnot. It sucks, but why were spectators able to get so close to the fire in the first place? Excluding the fact that it's gotta be pretty damn hot if you're close enough to get crushed by it, the people in charge of the kids' safety were the darwin candidates. The only thing they did wrong was get close to a big fire. We jump out of airplanes for christ sake. It's not like they were climbing the woodpile or something. On top of that if they're anything like my school they were probably drunk anyway, I think it's pretty uncool to even mention that in connection with the darwin awards. That being said those are some of the funniest stories I've read in a long time... Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

According to the CDC there were 3.9 firearm homocides per 100,000 people in the US in 2000. In Canada that figure was about 0.48 per 100 000. That means the US gun homocide rate was 8 times higher in year 2000. Those were the latest stats I could find. Both of these are credible agencies, I think the numbers speak for themselves. Less guns means less people die from being shot. I frankly don't see why this is even a debate. I will criticize the canadian firearms registration because it costs way too much, but gun control in general seems to be effective here. Now I'm gonna go watch a fight behind the hockey arena. These are my sources btw. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/firearms.htm www.statcan.com Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

Actually the Canadian example in the article is perfectly true, it deals with bill C-46 I think. That little peice of legislation was a total fiasco because it regulated hunting rifles for the most part. I think it was a terrible idea and that the people responsible for letting it go a billion over-budget should be turned loose on my local shooting range to serve as animated targets. Using one single example like this doesn't mean that all of our gun laws are bad. The article is also extremely vague when it talks about crime rates rising and falling in Can vs US. Our per capita gun murder rate would still have to increase like 1000% to reach that of the US. This whole thread is ignorant in conception and not much good will come out of prolonging the agony, especially as it has already been talked to death in the Bowling for Columbine and other related threads. BTW the Darwin awards are worth a look, there are some real genius minds when it comes to stupidity. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

The scariest thing about your first jump is anticipation, I didn't find it anything like a roller coaster. I think you'll probly find that as you go through first jump course you'll fear it less as you learn a bit about the mechanics of skydiving. The JM's and instructors make their livings by making people feel safer after all. BTW try to go on a day with a forecast free of clouds and winds less than 10 mph. Doing the course and then not jumping the same day blows. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

Isn't the number of gun murders in the US like 11,000 per year while Canada's is pretty much always less than a few hundred? Even adjusting for population I'd say that says something about the effectiveness of gun control. I'm just loosely quoting Bowling For Columbine here... not particularly a Moore fan but the man makes a point. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.missing.dollar.html That one is cool too, but if you really think it out it's not as hard as the door one I think. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

I bet they would still get government funding for that shit. Quack Quack Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

I think that sucks some serious ass. The penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs like weed are ridiculous considering weed's level of toxicity and danger. I think dealers should be denied loans, but what does a minor conviction really have to do with someone's marks and potential. If everyone who smoked weed in my university was denied financial aid or kicked out of res (as you are if you are caught or even are suspected of it) there would be entire floors that would be pretty empty. Even a significant percentage of our RA's and Campus Police have been guilty of this at one time or another. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

BURN It could be a winning combination though Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

Sure, here's what I remember about it, don't have the book handy. The "host" never opens a door with the prize behind it, regardless of your choice. You'll see this proves that switching yields a 2/3 probability of a win, not 50/50. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

Actually this is what I and apparently a lot of other Ph D's in math thought too, but if you construct a flow chart you will see that switching does give you a better chance of winning. The flow chart is the only way I could understand that it isn't 50/50 but it's counter-intuitive. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

I read this in a book yesterday, still can't quite wrap my mind around it. There are 3 doors available to choose from. 2 contain nothing, one contains a prize. You choose one of the three doors. Then one of the doors that you didn't choose but also contained nothing is opened and you are given the option to switch you choice of the remaining two doors or to stay with your original guess. What should you do? (Hint- it's not a 50/50 chance) Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

How can anyone who professes to be a follower of Jesus so completely ignore his teachings? When Jesus was crucified was he making empassioned speeches about retaliation from the cross? I don't f@cking remember that passage. How about thou shalt not kill? How is it that the most religious leaders are so often the most militant? The hypocrisy is ridiculous. How anyone can reconcile war with their faith is really beyond me. I respect people who live every day by the same principals. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

Do you know how mad it makes me to be forced to take Saddam Hussein's side because of what Bush said prior to the war? I don't think anyone is saying he complied perfectly with the UN, but that has nothing to do with what Bush lied about. Bush originally justified the invasion on the basis of Iraq posing a credible threat to the US, even though the intelligence community seems to have disagreed. There seem to have been no WMD's which posed this threat. Soon the issue became bringing democracy to Iraq, and subsequently the insurgents became terrorists and all of a sudden we're fighting the war on terrorism in Iraq. If you could honestly say to me that you believe Bush isn't a liar I would be sorry for you, but not as sorry as I am for every american who has had the wool pulled over their eyes by every president during my admittedly short lifetime and many before that. I don't blame them or you though, and I certainly don't hate america or any of that horseshit. What really gets to me is american media that lets them get away with that and more. And now that the economy is back in full swing Bush has a better chance of re-election, which also pisses me off, not because of the prosperity but because any idiot can get an economy going with billions in fiscal spending, it's simple macroeconomics Canada got into trouble with massive deficits dating back to Trudeau, and now money which could be better used goes to debt maintenance. My generation is paying for the excesses of those before, but at least we got some value for the money that was spent so recklessly. Bush isn't helping the average american with these tax cuts, they are geared to the rich. Now I don't really have a problem with this from my point of view because there is a possibility i can take advantage of them some day by moving to the states, but when I hear that Bush is acting in the interest of the average american joe I can't help but wince. 90% of americans believe they are middle class, yet 70% live on a combined family income of less than 50k. The American health care system spends more per capita than Canada's, but only 60 some percent have coverage. Bush is a good president in the sense that he excells in the duplicity that seems to be a standard in politics rather than the exception, but if you tell me he represents any degree of moral integrity or economic vision you'll have to excuse me while I puke. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

***Find me one terror attack with a higher body count? You can't. Thats why its such a big deal.*** It was a 'big deal' not only in terms of magnitude but also because of who the victims were. Chomsky argues that Clinton's attack on the Al Shifa plant in Sudan resulted in the preventable deaths of 10 000 people give or take a few, which is a statistic from NGO's and the German ambassador to Sudan. The sanctions on Sudan made it impossible for them to replace the medicines which were produced exclusively by the plant. The administration wasn't sure that the plant produced WMD's, but they did know that it produced something like 90% of Sudan's medications and that these would be impossible to replace. So there's one case. I'd also be happy to refer you to the US code's definition of terrorism if you'd like to see if the attack qualifies as such. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

Hah, ever since I saw Mike bounce off the runway and mess up his leg on a crosswind landing an hour before my 3rd jump you'd better believe I pay attention to my jm's advice. Maybe those guys need a little dose of reality. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

That's a good point, I heard a discussion of it on the radio the other day. In Canada our provincial supreme courts have recently begun to rule in favor of homosexual marriage on the grounds that our charter of rights gives them the freedom to do that. I wonder if they could then deny the same right to a threesome , or how they would rule on a bigamy challenge. I doubt the threesome scenario would happen though, I have a hard time wrapping my otherwise liberal mind around that one. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream

I doubt it would be in the best interest of American politicians to try him in the Hague. He would probably point out who supported him through his worst crimes against humanity, and who likes to be (ya, couldn't wait to point that one out). I think a nice public firing squad would really expedite the transfer of power to Iraqis, that way everybody wins. Hopefully the insurgents will back off the attacks now. Life is ez On the dz Every jumper's dream 3 rigs and an airstream