(no subject)
Sep. 1st, 2011 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* Can we stop wasting money and lives on Iraq and Afghanistan now? Please? Imagine if we spent that much on the stimulus instead.
* They keep taking about arming teachers. have they talked to teachers? Kids and teens get into everything. Trust me on this. We never bring anything to school that we don't want kids to get there hands on. They did through your briefcase or desk looking for pencils or other office supplies. Office supplies go missing often, as they are forgetful and tend to wander off with things. Occasionally, you'll get a thief who riffles your lunch for candy or snacks, but that's surprisingly rare and heavily punished. For the most part, it's curiosity or carelessness, but trust me, if you leave a gun (or sharp knife) in a desk, every kid in the school will know where it is, and many of them will make every effort to get their hands on it because holding a gun is cool. Are you really willing to trust something that dangerous to the hope no child can pick a lock or pocket a key? I'm not. Which means teachers would have to wear the things all the time and be constantly alert for pick pockets. Remember that there are likely 33-40 of them in the room if it's a middle school and only one of you, and they can cooperate when motivated. Willing to bet they won't be motivated? I'm not. When I was in the field, I never bet on kids keeping their hands out of my gear. I sure as spit wouldn't bet someone's child's life on it.
Something else to chew on: studies on police officers have shown that accuracy with a gun on the shooting range has zero correlation with accuracy in a real life fire fight. adrenaline messes with peripheral vision and fine muscle coordination, and the result is that shots go wild in the field in dire situations. (Snipes are calm and at a distance, which is a whole other kettle of fish). What sort of situations would a teacher be using a gun in? Ones of high risk with adrenaline flowing. Now imagine a situation with a school shooter. What are the odds a teacher would be shooting back under the influence of adrenaline? Pretty much a hundred percent, right? Now imagine those wild bullets in a crowd of panicking students or going through a wall to hit kids cowering on the other side. It's a "friendly fire" situation begging to happen really. Real life is not like Die Hard or other action films, and policy should be based on reality, not fiction.
I've said before and I'll say again, that I'm not convinced anyone willing to shoot a student or risk shooting a student ought to be trusted with other people's children. The willingness to carry the gun into the school is pretty much proof you shouldn't be teaching.
* A big Lancet study of 9/11 Firefighters shows a 32% increased chance of cancer so far. This is just an early study. The numbers will go up with time. What did the health care bill for health care for first responders not cover? Cancer. Seriously folks, it's time to step up and help these folks.
* The GOP in Gabby Giffords home county is raffling the same make and model of gun used to shoot Gabby Giffords in the head in a fund raiser to unseat her. Stay classy, Republicans.
* There is another rounds of physical, emotional, and possible sexual abuse allegations from yet another unlicensed Baptist "school" for girls, all in the name of religion. As they are unlicensed and religiously exempt, this is legal in Indiana.
* NYPD has been keeping lists of people with 28 "ancestries of interest." IE: they are watching people who are born into ethnic groups they don't like, spying on their businesses, etc.. Not people who have done anything illegal, just people they don't like.
* Michelle Bachman is insisting we should drill in the Everglades for an imaginary deposit of oil that geologists continue to exist doesn't exist. So really, she's advocating destroying one of the most fragile environments in the country because she thinks destroying it is a good idea.
* "Geography and Biology are the same in Faerie:" http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/384132.html
* Pegasus award ballot: http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/2011finalballot.html
* A clique of folks angry about neo_prodigy's writing about some fanfic fetishistizing gay men has been trying to sink Hollowstone sales with one star Amazon reviews, including a lot of ad hominum stuff. If you've read Hollowstone and liked it, it would be a very cool thing to post a counter to one star reviews from people who never read it.
* This year's forum only birthday scent just dropped: http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/forumonly.html
From pirates to Princesses in one year.
* Vader cake: http://cakewrecks.squarespace.com/home/2011/9/1/noooooo.html
* I know that I've posted this before, but it's been stuck in my head since June, damnit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5U-YT-mRmI
* They keep taking about arming teachers. have they talked to teachers? Kids and teens get into everything. Trust me on this. We never bring anything to school that we don't want kids to get there hands on. They did through your briefcase or desk looking for pencils or other office supplies. Office supplies go missing often, as they are forgetful and tend to wander off with things. Occasionally, you'll get a thief who riffles your lunch for candy or snacks, but that's surprisingly rare and heavily punished. For the most part, it's curiosity or carelessness, but trust me, if you leave a gun (or sharp knife) in a desk, every kid in the school will know where it is, and many of them will make every effort to get their hands on it because holding a gun is cool. Are you really willing to trust something that dangerous to the hope no child can pick a lock or pocket a key? I'm not. Which means teachers would have to wear the things all the time and be constantly alert for pick pockets. Remember that there are likely 33-40 of them in the room if it's a middle school and only one of you, and they can cooperate when motivated. Willing to bet they won't be motivated? I'm not. When I was in the field, I never bet on kids keeping their hands out of my gear. I sure as spit wouldn't bet someone's child's life on it.
Something else to chew on: studies on police officers have shown that accuracy with a gun on the shooting range has zero correlation with accuracy in a real life fire fight. adrenaline messes with peripheral vision and fine muscle coordination, and the result is that shots go wild in the field in dire situations. (Snipes are calm and at a distance, which is a whole other kettle of fish). What sort of situations would a teacher be using a gun in? Ones of high risk with adrenaline flowing. Now imagine a situation with a school shooter. What are the odds a teacher would be shooting back under the influence of adrenaline? Pretty much a hundred percent, right? Now imagine those wild bullets in a crowd of panicking students or going through a wall to hit kids cowering on the other side. It's a "friendly fire" situation begging to happen really. Real life is not like Die Hard or other action films, and policy should be based on reality, not fiction.
I've said before and I'll say again, that I'm not convinced anyone willing to shoot a student or risk shooting a student ought to be trusted with other people's children. The willingness to carry the gun into the school is pretty much proof you shouldn't be teaching.
* A big Lancet study of 9/11 Firefighters shows a 32% increased chance of cancer so far. This is just an early study. The numbers will go up with time. What did the health care bill for health care for first responders not cover? Cancer. Seriously folks, it's time to step up and help these folks.
* The GOP in Gabby Giffords home county is raffling the same make and model of gun used to shoot Gabby Giffords in the head in a fund raiser to unseat her. Stay classy, Republicans.
* There is another rounds of physical, emotional, and possible sexual abuse allegations from yet another unlicensed Baptist "school" for girls, all in the name of religion. As they are unlicensed and religiously exempt, this is legal in Indiana.
* NYPD has been keeping lists of people with 28 "ancestries of interest." IE: they are watching people who are born into ethnic groups they don't like, spying on their businesses, etc.. Not people who have done anything illegal, just people they don't like.
* Michelle Bachman is insisting we should drill in the Everglades for an imaginary deposit of oil that geologists continue to exist doesn't exist. So really, she's advocating destroying one of the most fragile environments in the country because she thinks destroying it is a good idea.
* "Geography and Biology are the same in Faerie:" http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/384132.html
* Pegasus award ballot: http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/2011finalballot.html
* A clique of folks angry about neo_prodigy's writing about some fanfic fetishistizing gay men has been trying to sink Hollowstone sales with one star Amazon reviews, including a lot of ad hominum stuff. If you've read Hollowstone and liked it, it would be a very cool thing to post a counter to one star reviews from people who never read it.
* This year's forum only birthday scent just dropped: http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/forumonly.html
From pirates to Princesses in one year.
* Vader cake: http://cakewrecks.squarespace.com/home/2011/9/1/noooooo.html
* I know that I've posted this before, but it's been stuck in my head since June, damnit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5U-YT-mRmI