Religion and I

I found this note somewhere on the Internet a long time ago, it can have been on Apmel´s blog but I cannot really remember. The note accurately expresses my feelings about religion.

Just Talking

Americans and Firearms

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The second amendment to the United States Constitution (Bill of Rights, adopted 1791)
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The poster above and the information below are from the Brady Campaign's website. The numbers and statistics are from 2010.

Gun Murders by Country
In one year, guns murdered 17 people in Finland, 35 in Australia, 39 in England and Wales, 60 in Spain, 194 in Germany, 200 in Canada, and 9,484 in the United States.

The United States has weak gun laws. The other countries have strong gun laws. 

Gun Murders by Country and Population SizeWhen the countries are compared on the basis of firearm homicides per 100,000 population, the United States remains an outlier.

In one year, the U.S. firearm homicide rate was:

• 5 times that of Canada
• 10 times that of Finland
• 13 times that of Germany
• 19 times that of Australia
• 24 times that of Spain.
• 44 times that of England and Wales

A 2010 study affirmed this pattern: U.S. homicide rates were 6.9 times higher than 22 other populous, high-income countries combined. For a summary of the study, see: http://bradycampaign.org/studies/view/191.

Guns Used in Crime = More Deaths
Research indicates that the overall rate of crime in the United States is comparable to the rates in other developed countries (see Crime Is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America). However, in part because of our weak gun laws, guns are used more often in crimes in the United States than in other countries, which means that more people die. This partly explains why, even when our homicide rates are low by historical U.S. standards, they still are far higher than comparable countries.

We Can Do Better 
The U.S. needs to do a better job of protecting its citizens from the dangers of guns by making it harder for dangerous people to get guns. We can start by requiring Brady criminal background checks for gun sales, including those at gun shows. Join us in this fight. Lives are at stake. Go to www.bradycampaign.org and sign up today!
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Addendum 12/16/2012, 05:50 PM
My initial reaction to such tragedies as the Newtown killing spree is always an utter disbelief that such a thing can happen and a then a deep sadness for the fate of the victims, their families and yes -  often enough also - for the perpetrators and their families. The initial shock is then followed by a longer lasting anger and passion concerning how something like this can happen and how we must act to stop it from ever happening again.

It seems like an open and shut case that these killings occur with such regularity in the U.S.A. due to the lack of political will to regulate the owning and selling of firearms, handguns and semiautomatic weapons.

How the American judiciary and politicians (historically and to this day) could interpret the second amendment in such a way as it is implemented today is a complete mystery to me.

Final Countdown for the Phoenix Viewer

"Volterra, Beppo,. an actor" (1996). by photografer Alex Majoli, Italy. 

Bock McMillan16 December, 2012 05:23

Finally! Wonderful news, Tonya, thanks for sharing.

The people who have refused to leave Phoenix are holding the rest of us and our world back. They have had more than ample time by now to make the move to the next generation of viewers. As you say this has been long coming.

You made my day, thanks! ;)

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I left the above comment at Tonya Souther´s  excellent summary and evaluation on her blog The Tigress´s Second Den from a TPV-meeting with Oz Linden yesterday in her post The clock is officially ticking. Go there and read the full post with the happy news from the meeting!

(P.S. T.P.V. means Third Party Viewer, i.e. those non-Linden Lab viewers that are out there to access SecondLife.)

At The SP Winter Wonderland Party

Early in the evening, while my chaperones were still with me.

Innocent Bock with the Bock´s Virginity Protection Crew (Janttu and Guyke). All clothing and other paraphernalia is still on.

Later, when Guyke and Janttu had left me alone at the dance.

Email to the Wilson´s

From: X.X.
Sent: December 15, 2012 8:53 PM
To: Debbie.X.
Subject: Happy Holidays

Dearest Debbie, Marie and the rest of my American family,

We have another Christmas and New Year coming up and I wish you all the best for the holidays and the coming year. I hope this email reaches you all in good health and that you are all doing well!

In my first life, 2012 has been a kind and consoling year and it seems that I, in spite of a few bad turns during the year, will be meeting it will all my loved ones still with me. My mother and father have both been hospitalized during the year but are both now doing very well and are – as always – enjoying each other’s company. I have two more grandnieces/grandnephews as my sisters children continue to multiply.

On a personal level I am doing well too. Although I still think of Doug/Ars on a daily basis it is now happy memories that appear in my mind. You should also know, that whenever I think of him I also think about you. Of course I already knew that you were an extraordinary family but recounts of other peoples experiences in similar circumstances have made it quite obvious to me that you are unique. The warmth, kindness and consideration with which the Wilson family received me and accepted me in such a difficult situation is still unparalleled by anything I have yet heard of. I will be forever grateful to you for that.

My SecondLife is also doing well, Guyke, Millimina and Dej are still close, in fact Dej has moved in and set up house on the south west corner of Southern Charm sim. I am sure all three of them and Jeb also send you their warmest greetings for the holidays and the new year.

With love and big hugs!
Bock

Follow-Up on My Predictions for 2012

Last year in December I felt the need to make a few predictions about the coming year. You can read them here Bock: "2023 Will Be Wonderful". As we are now getting close to the end of this year I thought it might be a good idea to see how everything turned out, so here goes (even if there are a few days still remaining)!

For my Universal predictions I would say: 1. Pass, 2. Uncertain and 3. Uncertain. The trickiest here are questions 2-3, because I have no reliable information at all.

For my Global predictions I would say; 1. Uncertain, 2. Pass, 3. Pass. Here the trickiest to assess is question 1, but I still have hopes even with the present situation in Syria where we are standing by watching with our arms crossed while the population is being slaughtered by the dictator.

For my SecondLife predictions I would say; 1. Pass, 2. Pass and 3. Uncertain. No problems on these at all, mesh seems to be on its way out already and will soon be replaced by something better.

On my Metaversal predictions I would say: 1. Fail, 2. Pass and 3. Uncertain. I saved my ass with the 42 answer on the third question.

On the Personal predictions I would say: 1. Pass, 2. Fail (in both lives) and 3. Pass. As for the second question I can only say I had high hopes but failed miserably.
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So there it is, of the 15 predictions I made I got eight Pass, five Uncertain and two Fail which seems to be a fairly reasonable outcome.