We are getting tired of dodging bullets

[Abagadro]

Literally and figuratively. We very nearly went to dinner at this place tonight. Only reason we didn't is because my kid has a bit of a cough so we decided not to go. We would have been just finishing up and walking out when this started. 

My wife was in an office that was shot up in SLC in 1999.

Almost makes me want to not leave the fucking house.

[Yegolev]

Is SLC crime-ridden or something?

[Sky]

I hate big cities. I'll never live in one again, I've lived in several. Hell, even my shitty little town has shootings these days, and lots of stabbings. What the hell is wrong with people?

I've got a list an arm long of times I've been shot at, been near shootings, been near shooters. Cities are for teh sux. I lived in LA during the Rodney King riots, the guy on the corner was shot to death. I've walked out the doors and had cars fully engulfed in flame. I was walking past a parking garage and a guy jumped off and hit the pavement 50 feet away. Fuck cities, man. People are broken.

[Merusk]

Good to hear you're ok, Abo,  I didn't realize you were in SLC.

I hate big cities. I'll never live in one again, I've lived in several. Hell, even my shitty little town has shootings these days, and lots of stabbings. What the hell is wrong with people?

Rats, when crammed into tight groups will begin to eat each other to avoid competition and survive.  I imagine we've got something similar ingrained deep in our DNA.

Don't worry, when the 'azn bird flu' finally happens, we'll all have plenty of space.  Well, those of us that live.  :-D

[sinij]

Was it mad max or fallout quote... "... and those that lived envied the dead?" 30% and up global casualties have a potential to collapse our society.

[Yegolev]

I like to trot this out a lot when the topic comes up.  I'm not really advocating population shrinkage, as long as people keep the fuck to themselves.

EDIT: And!  As usual, I like to draw parallels between this real-life phenomenon and virtual ones in online games.

[bhodi]

I'm not really getting what you are saying there. Sociology wise, people have adapted to big cities, where often times they will only meet someone once for the rest of their lives. You can live in a sea of people without forming stable relationships with them.

[Yegolev]

Well, that's the whole point.  I'm not saying that you'll end up stabbing the 200th person you meet, I'm just saying that you will have a hard time giving a shit about more than whatever the number happens to be.  I figure that the number of people I am able to care about shrinks due to the fact that I have a lot more on my mind than picking bugs off of my associates, but I believe the principle is sound.  People have adapted to big cities by ignoring most of the people they see.

[WayAbvPar]

Whipping out a shotgun and going on a rampage is a long step from not giving a shit about some stranger.

[Merusk]

Whipping out a shotgun and going on a rampage is a long step from not giving a shit about some stranger.

For some of us it's not so long a step.  The more people are around, the smaller that step becomes because you start to see people more and more as obstacles rather than, well, people.

  Then add-in the fun fact that the more people that are around, the larger the number of people who feel that way becomes.   It only takes one spark in a powderkeg, as it were.

[Engels]

Everytime someone goes on some misinformed rant against cities, I love to trot this one out.  A bunch of city kids murdered by a hick from the sticks :P

[HaemishM]

I've always felt you could fire a shotgun in a crowded mall and never hit someone important.

Until of course, that mall is one I'm living in or near.

[Polysorbate80]

If you were reduced to living in a mall, wouldn't you want someone to shoot you?

[Nebu]

I'm wondering if they considered handguns when they created the second amendment?

Edit: I don't mean to turn this into a political thing... after living in west Phili for a while, I quickly began to wonder if handguns were such a good thing. 

[Samwise]

You'll be thanking Jesus for those handguns when the terrists invade en masse.

[Llava]

Sweet Lord he was wearing a trenchcoat!!!!


BAN TRENCHCOATS!  THOSE THINGS ARE DANGEROUS!

[Yegolev]

Whipping out a shotgun and going on a rampage is a long step from not giving a shit about some stranger.

You're re-railing my derail, I wasn't commenting directly on the original issue of someone deciding he had to go kill some people for an unknown reason.  I agree with you, actually.

[Lantyssa]

I've been in Houston for eighteen years and only heard a handful of gunshots.  (The ones in the apartment behind the one I was visiting was pretty scary though.)

I really don't know how your cities manage to have so much trouble.

Edit - The Dunbar Number is interesting when considering MMOs and social behavior.

[Sky]

Edit - The Dunbar Number is interesting when considering MMOs and social behavior.

I first heard that theory from Raph when he was still wearing his Designer Dragon costume.

[bhodi]

I've heard the dunbar's number adapted to management techniques, in that the most you should ever have working for you is 10 people, and the most that they should have working for them is 10 people. That way, you can have a relationship with not only the people under you and on your level, but the people under them as well.

It's less than the dunbar's number, but then again you're supposed to have a personal life too, right? It's supposed to be one of the ways you can avoid getting too separated.

Edit: Oh look, it's right there on the wikipedia page, points to business management.

[Yegolev]

I'm wondering if they considered handguns when they created the second amendment?

I feel that they were thinking of weaponry in general, and I don't know that they would have differentiated... not that I'm a Constitutional scholar or anything.  Ensuring the common man would not be rendered defenseless is my take on it, be it blade or gun or whathaveyou.  Of course, I'm about to start up a nasty discussion if I keep going, so I'll just leave that topic right there.

[Paelos]

It's all about Monkeysphere's baby!

The Theory Of Monkeysphere!

[Furiously]

The only time I've ever been shot at was hunting. And I didn't even go with Dick Cheney.

By shot at I mean not the target but someone not looking where their shot was going.

[Nebu]

It's all about Monkeysphere's baby!

The Theory Of Monkeysphere!

They won me over with this quote...

Picture a monkey. A monkey dressed like a little pirate, if you wish. We'll call him Slappy.

Mmmmmm ... pirate monkeys.

[Sky]

Ninja monkeys!

Apparently ground well-trodden.

[Llava]

That deserves a waffle.

 

[Azazel]

This thread, and also Sky's post specifically, are reasons why some of us are quite happy to live in Australia.  :-D

[Merusk]

This thread, and also Sky's post specifically, are reasons why some of us are quite happy to live in Australia.  :-D

You're not safe in Australia either, though, so don't be so smug.  They're PIRATE ninja monkies, man.  Ninjas come from the Orient, which is much closer to you than us by boat.

[stray]

I like cities. Especially the type with scooters and a lot of people walking into each other.

[Paelos]

I'm just happy to bring more monkey to any thread, really.

It's part of my job here.

[Azazel]

You're not safe in Australia either, though, so don't be so smug.  They're PIRATE ninja monkies, man.  Ninjas come from the Orient, which is much closer to you than us by boat.

There's actually a bunch of real-life pirates a few thousand K's north of the top end.

[Merusk]

You're not safe in Australia either, though, so don't be so smug.  They're PIRATE ninja monkies, man.  Ninjas come from the Orient, which is much closer to you than us by boat.

There's actually a bunch of real-life pirates a few thousand K's north of the top end.

Yes, but are they monkeys who are also ninjas?

[Calantus]

Most of them don't come from Australia itself, but from the SE Asian countries near us. I'm pretty sure they have access to monkeys, though I am not sure if they train them as ninjas and put them on pirate ships. The only ones I've seen on TV just seem to be sapians of the asian variety, as opposed to the monkey variety. I didn't see any black clothing or masks either, but I did see a sword. This sword could potentially have been dropped by a ninja monkey as he jumped overboard before the cameras could spot him and thus expose the great conspiracy so secret I don't even know what to call it. So yes, I would say they are almost definitely ninja monkeys.

[Llava]

That's so much easier to explain than you just made it.

1) They're Asian.  All Asians are ninjas.
2) They are ultra-evolved monkeys.