Saturday, December 22, 2012
Mass Shootings Have A Long History
Although it sounds sadly modern, the account was published in the New York Times more than a century ago.
Dated April 10, 1891, the article described an elderly man firing a shotgun at children playing in front of St. Mary's Parochial School in Newburgh, NY.
"None of the children were killed, but several were well filled with lead," the report said.
Indeed, killing or trying to kill a mass of people is not a modern phenomenon. For as long as there has been history, there have been gruesome mass murders.
"The terms amok, a Malayan word, and berserk, a Norse word, have been used to describe individuals going on killing sprees. Both terms have been around for centuries, which reflects the fact that mass murder is neither a modern nor a uniquely American phenomenon," Grant Duwe,director of research at the Minnesota Department of Corrections, told Discovery News.
Defined as bloody events that occur within a 24-hour period and that involve
a minimum of four victims, mass murders have occurred all over the world, in
different times, societies and cultures.
Some of the earliest recorded cases include the 1893 killing with guns and swords of 11 people (including an infant) in Osaka, Japan, the 1914 shooting of 7 people in the Italian village of Camerata Cornello, not to mention the case of German spree killer Ernst August Wagner.
In 1913, he stabbed to death his wife and four children in Degerloch, near
Stuttgart, then drove to Mühlhausen an der Enz where he opened fire on 20
people, killing at least nine, leaving two animals dead and several buildings
burned to the ground.
In 1927, South African farmer Stephanus Swart shot dead at least 8 people and injured 3 others in Charlestown, South Africa, before committing suicide.
In 1938 almost half of the population of the rural village of Kaio, near Tsuyama city in Japan, was murdered as 21-year-old Mutsuo Toi killed 30 people with a shotgun, sword and axe, injured three others and then shot himself to death.
Between 1954 and 1957, William Unek murdered a total of 57 people in two separate spree killings in the Belgian Congo.
He first killed 21 people with an axe, then shot dead ten men, eight women and eight children, slaughtered six more men with the axe, burned two women and a child, and strangled a 15-year-old girl.
More recently in the bloody timeline of shooting sprees, some of the most
dramatic incidents include the 1987 Hungerford massacre in England, where gun
enthusiast Michael Ryan shot 16 people dead and wounded another 15 before
committing suicide, the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Australia, where 28 year
old Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded 21 before being caught by police,
and the 1996 school shooting in the Scottish town of Dunblane.
There, failed shopkeeper Thomas Hamilton opened fire at a primary school, killing 16 children and a teacher before turning his gun on his mouth.
"I could have been one of those children," tennis player Andy Murray wrote in his autobiography, "Hitting Back."
Britain's highest ranked player, Murray was eight when Hamilton burst into the school and began shooting. He and his 10-year-old brother Jamie escaped the fire by hiding under a desk.
In the United States, two mass murder waves characterized the 20th century. One appeared in the 1920s and 30s and another in the mid-1960s, following a tranquil period in the 1940s and 50s.
The two waves, however, were qualitatively different, according to Duwe.
The author of "Mass Murder in the United States: A History," Duwe researched 909 cases of mass killing that occurred in the United States between 1900 and 1999.
"The first mass murder wave in the 1920s and 30s was comprised mainly of familicides and felony-related massacres, which, then as now, are less likely to garner extensive media coverage," Duwe said.
On the contrary, the second mass murder wave from the mid-1960s through the mid-1990s consisted of a greater number of mass public shootings, similar to the recent Aurora movie theater shooting and Newtown school shooting.
These incidents "have always captured a great deal of interest and concern," Duwe said.
Marked by the 1966 Texas Tower shootings where student Charles Whitman climbed a 27-story tower on the University of Texas campus shooting dead 14 people and wounding 31 others, the mid-1960s do not actually represent the beginning of an unprecedented mass murder wave in the United States.
"Since 1900, the highest mass murder rate was in 1929. Mass public shootings are one of several types of mass murder and generally account for roughly 10-15 percent of all mass killings in the U.S.," Duwe said.
According to the criminologists, the 1990s had the highest number of mass public shootings with a little more than 40 -- an average of a little more than 4 each year.
The number of mass public shootings dropped below 30 in the years between 2000 and 2009.
"This year, however, the U.S. has had at least seven mass public shootings, which is the highest number since 1999," Duwe said.
Hat Tip: Discovery News
The Cure to America's Obesity Problem: Unionized Government Farms.
It is time that America gets serious about the Obesity problem and socializes all farms, unionizes the employees and begins to thin the American population.
| New Farming technique to reduce the over-abundance |
| A New Government Farm to solve Obesity. |
Americas private farm system has created the problem of an over-abundance of food. Mountains of food are produced, way more than Americans can ever eat, unfortunately too many of us die trying. What is the cost to the valiant Americans that try to solve the over abundance of food that the private farm system is creating? Obesity.
Benefits of a Unionized Government Farm System:
1. Obesity Cured - the over abundance of food problem will be solved.
3. Less TV Time - Couch Potatoes beware! Your couch time will now be filled with healthier waiting in line time for the weekly food allotment.
4. Government and Union quality - Government IS the solution to all our problems, the innovation and forward thinking of Government Bureaucrats help to improve the quality of your life. You are welcome.
5. Proper Farm Management - Smaller crops and smaller yields will make Americans thin again and compliant to the Government Food Givers. People guilty of thoughtcrime will simply be allotted smaller portions. Thought burns calories, disallowing the deviant mind calories stimulates the conformity of obeyance.
Next Article: How Unionized Government Farms will solve the Squirrel Population Problem.
More Satire:
Man in Coma for 19 Years Asks to Go Back to Sleep
The giant star Zeta Ophiuchi is having a "shocking" effect on the surrounding dust clouds
Star Making Waves
The giant star Zeta Ophiuchi is having a "shocking" effect on
the surrounding dust clouds in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space
Telescope. Stellar winds flowing out from this fast-moving star are making
ripples in the dust as it approaches, creating a bow shock seen as glowing
gossamer threads, which, for this star, are only seen in infrared light.
Zeta Ophiuchi is a young, large and hot star located around 370
light-years away. It dwarfs our own sun in many ways -- it is about six times
hotter, eight times wider, 20 times more massive, and about 80,000 times as
bright. Even at its great distance, it would be one of the brightest stars in
the sky were it not largely obscured by foreground dust clouds. This massive
star is travelling at a snappy pace of about 54,000 mph (24 kilometers per
second), fast enough to break the sound barrier in the surrounding interstellar
material. Because of this motion, it creates a spectacular bow shock ahead of
its direction of travel (to the left). The structure is analogous to the ripples
that precede the bow of a ship as it moves through the water, or the sonic boom
of an airplane hitting supersonic speeds.
The fine filaments of dust surrounding the star glow primarily
at shorter infrared wavelengths, rendered here in green. The area of the shock
pops out dramatically at longer infrared wavelengths, creating the red
highlights. A bright bow shock like this would normally be seen in visible light
as well, but because it is hidden behind a curtain of dust, only the longer
infrared wavelengths of light seen by Spitzer can reach us.
Bow shocks are commonly seen when two different regions of gas
and dust slam into one another. Zeta Ophiuchi, like other massive stars,
generates a strong wind of hot gas particles flowing out from its surface. This
expanding wind collides with the tenuous clouds of interstellar gas and dust
about half a light-year away from the star, which is almost 800 times the
distance from the sun to Pluto. The speed of the winds added to the star's
supersonic motion result in the spectacular collision seen here.
Our own sun has significantly weaker solar winds and is passing
much more slowly through our galactic neighborhood so it may not have a bow
shock at all. NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft are headed away from the solar
system and are currently about three times farther out than Pluto. They will
likely pass beyond the influence of the sun into interstellar space in the next
few years, though this is a much gentler transition than that seen around Zeta
Ophiuchi.
For this Spitzer image, infrared light at wavelengths of 3.6
and 4.5 microns is rendered in blue, 8.0 microns in green, and 24 microns in
red.
Image:
NASA/JPL-Caltech [high-resolution]
Caption: NASA/JPL
Friday, December 21, 2012
The Walking Dead gets a fourth season, loses Glen Mazzara as showrunner
After turning around a flailing sophomore season for AMC's The Walking Dead, the network announced that on the heels of an amazing third season start -- and a fourth season pickup -- Glen Mazzara will be stepping down as showrunner after the current season is over. Mazzara, who replaced original showrunner Frank Darabont, said: "I have told the stories I wanted to tell and connected with our fans on a level that I never imagined. It doesn’t get much better than that." Here is the full statement from AMC:
Today, AMC announces the season 4 pick-up of The Walking Dead.
AMC also jointly announces with Glen Mazzara today that for future seasons, the two parties have mutually decided to part ways. Glen guided the series creatively for seasons 2 and 3. AMC is grateful for his hard work. We are both proud of our shared success.
Both parties acknowledge that there is a difference of opinion about where the show should go moving forward, and conclude that it is best to part ways. This decision is amicable and Glen will remain on for post-production on season 3B as showrunner and executive producer.
Hot Pics of Cute Girls With Cool Guns
This reminds me of a dream I had....no wait, that was a fantasy!
My Favorite Christmas Song
I love the imagery this song invokes. It puts me in a wintry snowy place, cold and far away but knowing that somewhere, far away, 2000 miles through snow away is a warm place where a hot fire is burning and people love me and are anticipating my return as I battle the elements, walking, trudging through the bitter cold to be with them.
Chrissy Hynde's voice is so filled with emotion and longing, she is so perfect for this song, the Pretenders are tight and talented musicians, yet this was such an unexpected pleasant surprise from them when they put it out.
Ever wonder what it would be like to shoot a gun underwater?
Ever wonder what it would be like to shoot a gun underwater? It looks like a scene lifted straight from a Bond flick.
Firearm aficionado Andrew Tuohy gave it a go with a .40 Glock 22 in his own pool. The video above was shot with Pentax WG-2 on the "high speed" video setting. It's been slowed down to 30fps for an added bad ass factor. (Watch for the bullet and casing to slow down and sink to the bottom at the end.) He also tinkered around with another submerged weapon—check out a picture of the .45 Kimber 1911 going off below.
Andrew said while no guns were damaged in the making of these photos, the underwater shock he felt after they were fired made him feel like he had been kicked in the chest.
Morning Exercise - Last Chance!
This may be your last chance to exercise before the apocalypse,
tongue exercise is optional....
Planetary Nebula Ornament
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates the holiday
season with a striking image of the planetary nebula NGC 5189. The intricate
structure of the stellar eruption looks like a giant and brightly coloured
ribbon in space.
Image: NASA, ESA and the Hubble
Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) [high-resolution]
Caption: Hubble
Heritage team
Thursday, December 20, 2012
ObamaCare Psychological Test For Gun Ownership
OBAMACARE - Curing Mental Instability In The United Socialist States
A Ruby Ridge Retrospective
On Aug. 21, 1992, a team of U.S. marshals scouting the forest to find suitable places to ambush and arrest Weaver came across his friend, Kevin Harris, and Weaver's 14-year-old son Samuel in the woods. A gunfight broke out. Samuel Weaver and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan were killed.
The next day, an FBI sniper shot and wounded Randy Weaver. As Weaver, Harris and Sara ran back toward the house, the sniper fired a second bullet, which passed through Vicki Weaver's head and wounded Harris in the chest.
The family surrendered on Aug. 31, 1992. Harris and Randy Weaver were arrested, and Weaver's daughters went to live with their mother's family in Iowa. Randy Weaver was acquitted of the most serious charges and Harris was acquitted of all charges.
The surviving members of the Weaver family filed a wrongful death lawsuit. The federal government awarded Randy Weaver a $100,000 settlement and his three daughters $1 million each in 1995.
The Ruby Ridge incident marked a new era in state terrorism and in government meddling of the affairs of private citizens and the suppression of their rights, privacy, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Post-It Note Art
These are very detailed post-it drawings of childhood nightmares. Don Kenn, the artist of these works does an incredible job on such little "canvases."
