NeuroTypical

Oh don't worry - there are plenty of horror stories about bringing up Mormon kids in Utah too! Seriously, if you end up in Utah, you will find much that is the same, and some things that are different. The same: * People are people and kids are kids. That means you might find nice folks, jerks, smart people, fools, saints and evil people, the whole spectrum. Both in and out of LDS circles. * In High School, there will be cliques, groups, unjustness, random acts of kindness, unfairness, people who appreciate differences, and people who shun people who are not alike. Different: * It seems like having an opinion about the church and mormons is mandatory. There are two points on a continuum, with 'LDS who fear and shun nonmembers' on one end, and 'nonmembers who despise the church and Mormons' on the other. You can fall wherever you choose to fall - and somewhere in the middle you'll be in plenty of good company. But yes, you will probably encounter the extremes. * DO NOT LET MORMONS FOOL YOU - we fall prey to all the sins and horribleness and idiocy as anyone else. But you may encounter people who seem to prefer appearing good over actually being good. (If you think about it, you can find these people everywhere. But in Utah, it can be a neighborhood, community, or cultural thing.) * Don't expect work parties to involve alcohol. (At least, that was my experience there until I left in 2000.)

Hi Count and Texas, welcome to both of you.

Yep, if I made money off of glorifying violence, and the whole country was in shock from the latest horrible mass shooting, you bet your bippy I'd find the nearest spotlight and start yelling for a solution that didn't involve interrupting my cash flow.

Actually, I think LiterateParakeet gave the best advice so far. Do you really need to spend this time and energy on what's wrong with them because they didn't respond like you wanted after you apologized?Here's how I see things: Forgiveness and repentance - two majesstic towers of gospel blessings. When they are sucesfully implemented, they can bring great peace and joy here in this world. But here's the thing - although it's wonderful when they work together, it is also possible for them to work alone. The person who has done wrong focuses on repentance, completes the process, and receives the blessings of having done so. There are blessings available, whether or not the offended person actually forgives or not. The person who needs to forgive, is supposed to do so, whether or not the other person has repented or not. But the repentant person can't control or dictate the other party's forgiveness. And at the end of the day, doesn't need to. So yeah, what LP said: You need to forgive that person for not responding to you and let it go.

You know, when I was an Executive Seceretary, I saw the bishop get at least 3 or 4 similar questions that he didn't have a good answer for. He would ask the Stake President, who has needed to ask a GA more than once. Advising her to go counsel with her bishop, is an answer. And a pretty good one, if you're not sure.

I don't know about "as a country", but we are certainly showing some signs of declining as an empire. The next 50 years promise to be pretty interesting. They have different opinions about why empires like Rome fell. The one that makes sense to me, is that they grow in complexity and specialization and shrink in common sense and sense of community, until they eventually collapse under the weight of their own inability to adapt. As they say, California leads the nation. I'm doing everything I can to raise my kids to be moral, ethical, smart, capable, and independent, with a desire to contribute and leave places and people better than before. I'm also trying to teach them to be adaptable, so whatever changes come their way, they'll be able to handle.

That doesn't sound like a bald faced lie, kapikui, it just sounds like plain old bad science, bad reasoning, bad logic.

1. It's a small-scale survey of unrepresentative sample jurisdictions. 2. As you mentioned, it understates defensive uses, counting only those in which criminals are killed or injured. 3. Kellermann gets a different "times more likely" number every time he publishes a study. It was 22 times more likely, then 43 times more likely, then again 18 times more likely. 4. The study looked only at homes where a firearm death occurred. Kind of like a study of vehicle fatalaties that "discovered" people killed are 50 times more likely to be from families that owned one or more cars. Here is a response to the methodology of one of his earlier studies, which apparently also make it into his 1998 study. Lots of links there too.

It is possible for people to screw up a pitbull and make them dangerous. This can happen with any breed of dog. Putbulls do have incredibly powerful jaws and a fierce bite, so a screwed-up dangerous pitbull can do more damage than screwed-up dangerous dogs of other breeds. My wife will often recommend a well-socialized pitbull to, oh say, a loving family with a strong child with poor impulse control. Because pits are so very tough, they can really enjoy a lot of poking and ear pulling and whacking and whatnot. The notion that the family pitbull will be sitting there playing with a kid, and then snap and kill the kid, is pretty much an urban legend.

How cool is that. When I was dating my wife, she took me to the kennel where she worked, and made me lie down on the concrete in the middle of the large empty training arena. I had no clue why - she would only say "trust me". So I did. She went out one door for a minute, and then opened the door and ushered some things through. Six brand new Rottweiler puppies. They went bouncing through the door looking around for something fun, and saw me lying there twenty feet away. Before I knew it, they were all on top of me, under me, everywhere. Never before or since have I ever made six of God's creatures so excited and happy just by lying on the floor with a dumb look on my face. Hoosierguy often misses out on some of life's pleasures by holding some of the opinions he holds. Don't sweat it.

I was somewhere around 11 yrs old when I was taught that the 'third part' that sided with Lucifer in heaven, came to earth and got bodies. So one out of every three people you meet on any given day, is a demon in disguise. I also had a primary teacher who pulled up shop and moved to Missouri, so he could be there before everyone else got called by the prophet to go move there. But I don't really remember anything about his lessons, so they were probably ok and out of the manual.

Maybe it's just my being a homeschooling parent, but we're not really too big on the whole "respect and obey and believe all your elders all the time" thing. That notion seems to be real good for making a classroom full of kids manageable, but it comes with a lot of drawbacks we prefer to avoid.

Here's someone who is doing the best they can, to do something for you. (Unless they're not, and seem to be there for other reasons which may seem obvious, but you probably don't know for sure.)They're not perfect, they're human. If something sounds wrong, come tell me or your mother, and we'll look it up. Who knows - maybe they're right.

Oh - and I'm not telling you which of us has this tattoo:

Hoosier, I have to give you kudos for looking into the matter further. Even if you are just confirming your own judgements, not everyone with your opinion bothers to even look as far as you are. If I could suggest something for further study, you could pick up a copy of Col. Cooper's Principles of Self Defense. Twelve bucks including shipping off Amazon.com. If you want to understand the heart and soul of a mature, sober gun nut, you can learn there. I doubt I'll agree with many of the conclusions you reach, but again, at least you're looking. Hey, you started out with a passionate, exclamation-point-fueled post about how Glocks made it "more easy to shoot oneself", and how they were "pure murder weapons". Now you're down to "those Glocks are dangerous". I'm willing to meet you halfway from there and agree that handguns, power tools, cars, and some chemicals can all be dangerous in the wrong hands.And again, the Prophet's own bodyguards carry Glocks. Since you refuse to respond, the only thing left for me to say here, is neener-neener. :) As for pitbulls, well, you're already beside yourself that my wife owns a Glock. I fear I might push you over the edge if I told you about how she used to rescue pitbulls from dog fighters and evaluate which ones were ok to place in families with small children.

Wait - so he always pays the rent? He just gripes about it?What's the problem again?

I was in Austria in the 1990's. In Salzburg, I had the absolute, hands-down, no close 2nd place best roast beef sandwich I've ever had the priviledge of encountering. They keep that to themselves apparently.

Hi and welcome.

Many people prefer bouncing rocks off the sophist's dang skull to prove the point, but it's something a good Christian should probably abstain from.

There's a difference between a brainy person and an academic. Academics are people surrounded by academia - they work/attend/live/breathe institutions of higher education. I've encountered some blindingly moronic notions from these people. In my experience, many of them are so totally convinced of their superiority and correctness and have a tendency to dismiss alternative viewpoints without bothering to consider them. They're not all like that, but many are. Brainy people can be like that too, but in much lower numbers.

Question - if you happen to make it there, and you see one, what will you do?Say howdy?Can an unrepentant thief and addict make it to the celestial kingdom? I see you've added the qualifier 'unrepentant'. Now I think we're on the same page. Because we both know that repentance is a precondition. "Not ever being a meth addict or thief", however, is not.

Why on earth would he want to bother with getting married? She's giving him what he wants without marriage, and he gets to keep the door open if he ever gets bored with her or tired of her. Sounds like a great deal for someone interested in sex without commitment.

Sorry HG, was your last post meant to be a response to my question? I asked for the study to back up your claim that glocks are more prone to accidental discharge than other guns. You replied with an unsubstantiated claim in a article written by a fearful CUNY writer, and a link to an anti-business slanted opinion piece. One would think that if the data you're looking for really existed, it would have appeared in one of those two links, but it doesn't. I'm starting to think that all your outrage and fretting is based on something other than a realistic concern. Also, there's a member of this forum who has had professional dealings with the armed security that guards the Prophet of our church. Do you know what brand of handgun he tells us they carry? I don't think you'll like the answer... Finally, it would be nice if you could respond to my other questions: You mean just like every other single gun out there that doesn't have the safety on? You mean just like every other handgun on the face of the planet? Maybe I'm missing something - please tell me which kind of handgun it's ok to treat as unloaded.

Question - if you happen to make it there, and you see one, what will you do?

Hi Hoosier! Just wondering - could you answer my question? Perhaps you could educate us here - when someone accidentally shoots themselves with something that isn't a Glock, who's fault is it?Also, I'd like to ask you again - if Glocks are so much more unsafe than other handguns, you think someone would have noticed by now. Please give us a link to the study. You know - the one that tracks gun accidents and has noticed that Glocks have more than their share? So, yes, there are three safeties, but there's only one safety? You're not making any sense, HoosierGuy. Mormons aren't trinitarians, even when it comes to guns, as far as I know. 1+1+1 does not equal 1. You mean just like every other single gun out there that doesn't have the safety on? You mean just like every other handgun on the face of the planet? Maybe I'm missing something - please tell me which kind of handgun it's ok to treat as unloaded. I think you've finally arrived at a valid point. If you have a gun that goes bang when you do something, you should make sure that something doesn't happen by accident. It's called being responsible. And you need to be responsible around guns - know how they work - how to operate them safely - how to handle them safely. Yes, if you have a round chambered, sticking any handgun in your pocket is a dumb idea - safety or not.