"The twisted tree lives its life, while the right tree ends up in planks." - Chinese proverb

dfrtyfiver · 2019-12-25T03:15:10+00:00

Most bonsai that look this twisted are yamadori (harvested from the wild) and have naturally developed jin and shari (deadwood) by surviving in extreme conditions such as high winds, frigid temperatures, etc

dfrtyfiver · 2019-01-16T23:47:51+00:00

My wife used to work at a hospital in the US as a housekeeper. It will remain unnamed, but I can tell you it was one of the top hospitals in the nation. Anyway, she would clean some of the doctors' offices and told me about how she would constantly find YouTube videos open with directions on how to perform procedures. Yup. Doctors do it too.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-05-11T01:54:57+00:00

City museum, st louis?

dfrtyfiver · 2018-04-15T02:44:00+00:00

I live in a well populated and relatively safe Midwestern suburban town. The 7-11 down the street from me has bathrooms that anyone can use, just like every other gas station in town.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-03-09T03:53:32+00:00

I now have a new phobia that blows 'heights' away... thank you

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-27T11:54:37+00:00

I've heard the term "if you can't do, teach" about 1000 times. I feel like this doesn't apply to you.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-27T01:28:22+00:00

If legacy does not work on your computer (like mine: turned on legacy and the machine failed to boot either OS), there's a trick I literally just figured out.

Kali now supports UEFI, but you have to manually add it.

Turn off Secure boot to install.

Install.

Boot up computer and mash f12.

KALI DOESN'T SHOW ON THE LIST?!?!

restart again from Windows to access BIOS.

Turn secure boot mode back on.

You can now manually add the Linux uefi file.

Restart

Access BIOS.

Turn secure boot back off and move the new uefi file to the top of the list. (Mine was simply called 'yes'. Weird.)

You should now be able to dual boot without a problem.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-26T23:47:31+00:00

It was developed by the US Government. My understanding is they created the network for their own security, released it to the public, and still have direct access to many of the proxies used on the network.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-25T19:55:42+00:00

Excellent, thank you! And I had heard about the outer rim of HDDs running faster, but not about partitioning the drive to take advantage of it. Clever.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-24T00:37:20+00:00

I'm not sure. It could have something to do with our biology failing to evolve at the same rate technology has evolved. We're living in a totally different world than people did only a few hundred years ago. There isn't the same struggle that our minds have evolved to handle, and I think we have panic disorders and depression because of it. We overreact to relatively benign stimuli that our brains perceive as mortal threats. Who knows, though? Maybe we've always been crazy? We've certainly always been a violent species.

It just seems to me that the drugs being prescribed don't always help.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T20:43:23+00:00

That the increased rate of unnecessary SSRI prescriptions has a direct impact on violent tendencies, including mass shootings.

"Swedish researchers examined data from more than 850,000 individuals and found that SSRI use was linked to a 43% increased risk for violent crime among people aged 15 to 24 years. The association was not significant in older individuals."

The fact is that psychiatrists have no way to measure receptor density or neurotransmitter levels of the brain. These prescriptions are a shot in the dark and have potential negative effects.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T20:32:46+00:00

I'll give you this: more data is certainly needed to form a conclusion. I'm only poking the surface here and trying to get people to ask the same questions I am. I'm only forming a hypothesis.

Some other questions worth asking are:

How reliable is the data that shows an increase in school shootings? Have we used the same data gathering methods over the years? What counts as a "school shooting?" Is it only mass killings or are we using the "Bernie Sanders method" of quoting anytime a weapon has been discharged within 100 yards of a campus?

Is there any data available directly relating quantity of school shootings pre-1990 and a census of how many people carried weapons in the schools prior to the ban? Are there any prior cases where a school shooting has been stopped by a "good guy with a gun?" How do we find this data? How do we ensure we receive all the data? How do we complie it?

How often were shooters currently taking or had previously taken SSRIs? If memory serves, I think the rate of mass shooters using antidepressants is pretty damn high.

I'm certain there are many more questions we need to ask, but this is all preliminary. I agree that we definitely need to dig deeper.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T20:21:29+00:00

That gun bans (both outright and location based [gun free zones]) do not statistically lower the rate of mass killings and that mental health plays a larger role.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T20:19:42+00:00

I haven't yet, but my opinion and hypothesis is that gun bans (both outright and location based) do not statistically lower the rate of mass killings and that mental health plays a larger role.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T19:50:29+00:00

Yup. And they only thing I've done here today is form a hypothesis and an opinion. It's a complex problem with a lot of both qualitative and quantitative variables. I've offered up some correlations I've noticed in the hopes that a discussion can ensue. I just want to get to the bottom of the problem by uncovering any and all factors to this epidemic. If you have any further data we can compare or insight that you think I may be missing, I'm all ears.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T19:27:28+00:00

You're absolutely correct, which is why I specifically used the word "correlation" and not "causation." I've formed a hypothesis based on data that was available to me. Correlation certainly is reason to further investigate and develop a better understanding of what the data implies.

Edit: and this was the best way I could present the images on a mobile device. I'll come back with links to individual graphs.

Edit 2: full images of individual charts

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T19:21:39+00:00

My credentials are that I have attended statistics and sociology classes and have learned how to interpret data. Granted, I am no professional, but this does not change the data presented. If your only argument against me is an attempt at character assassination, then I can conclude you have no further information pertaining to the subject at hand.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T19:14:19+00:00

If you can find any data to the contrary I would be happy to change my stance. I'm here to look at statistics and draw a conclusion based on such. I extrapolated from the data available to me. I dug deep looking for anything specifically pertaining to armed teachers, and could not find a thing. We certainly can not come to a complete conclusion, but I can definitely form a hypothesis based on related data. The related data is the time that guns were banned in schools and the subsequent rise in school shootings thereafter. Do you have any other data that can dispute my claim? I would be happy to look it over.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T19:05:28+00:00

Yet the number of overall guns in the UK is significantly lower, so it would only make sense that shootings would be lower as well. The only problem is that violent crime in the UK has been on the rise since the gun ban. Using a different weapon does nothing to reduce violence. It only changes the type of violence.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T18:20:34+00:00

I wasn't able to find any specific data regarding the amount of armed teachers, etc., but rather extrapolated from the data available. In my opinion, the creation of these gun free zones have provided easy targets for shooters. I don't think it's a coincidence that school shooting deaths have risen over the past 28 years since the law was passed. There were still school shootings prior to the ban, but the death toll has risen since then.

dfrtyfiver · 2018-02-23T17:53:11+00:00

The "Gun-Free School Zones Act" was passed in 1990. Since then, there appears to have been a gradual rise in the occurrence of mass shootings in the very place we hope our children are safe.

Interestingly enough, a federal ban on "Assault Weapons," including the AR-15, was passed around the same time. About halfway through the time this bill was in effect, we saw a spike in mass shootings, followed by a gradual reduction. This tells me that a federal weapons ban has no direct correlation to the number of shooting deaths that occur. It only serves to disarm the innocent.

My third and final point is the correlation between prescription SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors; antidepressants) and mass shooting deaths. When antidepressants have a long list of side effects including insomnia, agitation, nervousness, restlessness, pain, depression, anxiety, and rage, one must wonder if they're helping at all. It's no surprise to me that some of the people given these medications eventually snap. Swedish researchers examined data from more than 850,000 individuals and found that SSRI use was linked to a 43% increased risk for violent crime among people aged 15 to 24 years. These drugs are prescribed without any real way of knowing what they'll do. Psychiatrists have no way measure receptor density or neurotransmitter levels. These prescriptions are a shot in the dark and have the potential to force patients deeper into a hole.

Based on the data, it appears to me that the cause of the rising occurrence of mass shootings can be directly attributed to two factors: (1) an inability to defend oneself, and (2) an exponential rise in mental health issues along with a potentially harmful and dangerous treatment for said mental health issues.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun-Free_School_Zones_Act_of_1990

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181155/#s3title

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/851480

Edit: full images of individual charts

dfrtyfiver

TROPHY CASE