chaotic_nipple

George Carlin has died. May Joe Pesci have mercy on his soul!

Robert Asprin is dead. :-(

Gary Gygax now DMs in the Outer Planes.

Edit:So, now that he has ascended to Demigod-hood, we have to decide what his Clerical Domains are, and on what Plane his Realm is. I'm torn between Elysium and Ysgard; For domains, definitely Trickery and Knowledge, but what else? (Anyone claiming that Gary would be a First Edition Deity, let's just agree to disagree, and then gang up to pummel those who think he would be Second Edition.)

Further Edit: His Favored Weapon, of course, is caltrops, in the form of the humble D4.

I mean it too. First, listening to the jackasses voice, it's pretty clear he has a moderate speak impairment. While it _would_ be caused by any number of things, it sounds a lot like the typical "can't hear how his own voice sounds" accent of a hearing impaired person. So I wonder, if it turns out he _was_ hearing impaired, you think that the Deaf community will be scape-goated? Just a thought.

Second, armed students, or any other bystanders, would not necessarily have been able to stop him. While I disagree with bradhicks unequivocal assertion that it absolutely wouldn't have helped, I think he has several good points right here. He neglects to address the whole "deterrance" argument, though, but that's OK, because deterrence DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER when you're dealing with someone who _wants_ to die. If enough students and faculty had guns to make him seriously reconsider his plan, he would have just sniped from a rooftop instead, and could easily have killed just as many people.

Now, personally I support concealed carry, but it's not a damned panacea. All else being equal, more guns in the hands of college students _will_ result in more accidental shootings, and more impulsive 'crimes of passion'. If you go to the absolute extreme of _requiring_ everyone carry a gun, you would probably have 32 accidental deaths every freaking year on a campus that size. Obviously, like anything else in society, there has to be a balance. While I personally think it would be beneficial to tip that balance further towards responsible citizens being able to carry, how about us gun-lovers _not_ insult people's intelligence by pretending there won't ever be any negative consequences to this trade-off?

Also, what is it with "freedom loving Americans" insisting that we'd be better off if we just institutionalized all the "crazies"? Oh, sure, this particular crazy should have been, but what about all those thousands of maladjusted loners who _won't_ ever commit any crimes? In order to be sure of getting all the future shooters, you'd have to preemptively imprison countless creepy innocents. How is that just? Again, there has to be a balance, and this one I _don't_ favor changing too much. Obviously, we need more treatment options for mentally ill people who _want_ help, but no one should be forcibly treated unless they are a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER to others, which, sadly, this one wasn't clear enough to justify.

Finally, despite what certain right-wing jackals loudly proclaim, there were heroes on that day. Teachers and students alike tried to stand up to their murderer. They died just the same. That's what happens when unarmed people go up against someone who is armed. That's why their courage deserves our recognition, and to HELL with the scum who denigrate it.

Robert Anton Wilson is near death. I never got a chance to see him speaking. I never got his autograph. I never got to thank him for all the weird mind-fuck trippiness of his books. This sucks. I hope he's still planning to have his head frozen, in the faint hope that he may some day be resurrected for the enlightenment of future generations.

A woman in my battalion died today. The 'secure' building she was in was hit by a rocket. Two pieces of shrapnel pierced her lungs; one lodged in her heart. She only lived long enough to be medevaced to a hospital, where she died on the operating table.

If she had been wearing her vest, she wouldn't have been injured at all. According to our current force protection rules (which I foresee changing real soon now) she didn't have to wear it where she was. As far as she knew, she was doing everything she was supposed to do to be safe. Death came for her all the same.

I didn't know her. I'd seen her at formation, and I may have spoken to her once or twice; if I did, it left no impression in my memory. I think she worked over at the S-1 office. I couldn't tell you her first name, her hometown, or if she was old enough to drink. Now that she's dead, I'll never know her. I'll never know if she was a republican or democrat, straight or gay, christian or atheist, nice gal or asshole. All I know is that she was my comrade in arms, and her death diminishes me, as the death of any soldier diminishes all soldiers.

Whoever you are, whatever your politics, remember her and all the rest of the fallen. Some were heroes, some were bullies. Some were patriots, some were opportunists, some loved the Army, and some just had no place else to go. Whoever they were, they died serving their country. Remember them, and their sacrifice. Don't let that sacrifice be in vain.