Month: November 2023

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Is It just Me?

Yeh, it’s probably just me. *heh*

Lil hitches in a sci-fi (or really, any) story stand out when the rest is well-written (especially if it’s “hard” sci-fi, which must meet a stricter standard for suspension of disbelief). Here’s a marginal blip: in order to “blend in,” a Chicom operative orders a cheese pizza. . . and eats it. The thing is, while lactose intolerance among those of northern European ancestry has generally been around 5%, among the Chinese, especially the Han, it’s around 90%. A cheese pizza just doesn’t seem normal. To me, that would stand out, not blend in.

*shrugs* My Wonder Woman chides me sometimes about being a bit too detail oriented, so maybe this is just an idiosyncratic problem.

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The Best Thing About Being a Libertarian

The best thing about being a libertarian is not caring what anyone else thinks is the best thing about being a libertarian.

(IOW, you do you as long as you mind your own business and don’t infringe on others’ rights. If you stray from that, the consequences are all on you.)

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Gotta Love Gun-Grabber Morons on Quora

Why love ’em? Because they are the single best argument for NOT surrendering one’s firearms to tyrants, fools, and liars — an even better argument than the existence of the ATF.

Recent exchange:

“Gun violence is the leading cause of death in the United States, so why are guns still legal? There is no reason for anyone to own a gun.”

[response]

Really? Since you start your question off framing it with a lie, then close the frame with an arguable statement, stated as if it were fact, I see no reason to respect your statements, your question, or you.

Per the CDC:

FastStats

“Heart disease: 695,547
Cancer: 605,213
COVID-19: 416,893
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 224,935
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 162,890
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 142,342
Alzheimer’s disease: 119,399
Diabetes: 103,294
Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis : 56,585
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 54,358”

Firearms deaths are regularly under, 40,000/year, so alcohol kills more people (liver damage), and we know how well the last attempt to ban alcohol went. Oh, sorry, by “we” I meant anyone who’s not a complete historical illiterate who’s been playing with an autolobotomy kit, so, obviously, not you.

BTW, that “under 40,000” figure includes suicides (who can always find a way), gang violence, and execrable marksmanship from LEOs (interesting lil factoid: ATF firearms casualties at Waco were “blue on blue”).

Facts and Figures

“The human toll There were 39,707 deaths from firearms in the U.S. in 2019. Sixty percent of deaths from firearms in the U.S. are suicides. In 2019, 23,941 people in the U.S. died by firearm suicide. 1 Firearms are the means in approximately half of suicides nationwide. In 2019, 14,861 people in the U.S. died from firearm homicide, accounting for 37% of total deaths from firearms. Firearms were the means for about 75% of homicides in 2018. The other 3% of firearm deaths are unintentional, undetermined, from legal intervention, or from public mass shootings (0.2% of total firearm deaths). There are approximately 115,000 non-fatal firearm injuries in the U.S. each year.”

One last bit of “due respect” for your lie and disingenuous question:

“Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.”