That raises a serious issue, the current Google Glasses are in no way properly sized for full-scale rabbit or tiger outfits.

That is true. Even if Slashdot would be capable of providing enough writing space for a ten-volume manuscript, it is still necessary to have a better command of the subject. I am not a professional in this particular area and don't have access to specific, statistically significant cases. My opinion is based on personal observations and on what I read. My opinion may be right or wrong, but I have it and it's mine. And you have yours.

BTW, if your friend is depressed, I don't think you should give him a map to the nearest tall building. You are free to persuade him - and he is free to listen to you or not to listen. Usually people do listen, especially those who don't have physical, material reasons for their decision. (That's what I read!)

Depression is kinda nasty in that it's hell to endure and depending on the causes really hard to get out of. People help but at the end of the day there's often not a lot you can do. Note, this is partially conjecture since I hadn't known the guy for a few years and the girl was a relatively new acquaintance at the time. That being said I had one reasonably close friend who went through a divorce and used me a lot for emotional support, she later confessed she considered suicide at the time so who knows what could have happened but she (and the other girl who survived her attempt) are definitely a lot happier now.

... at least because they are not physically capable anymore of the exertion that is required to do it. Quite possible. Still, plenty of young ones around to ruin one's day. And not so young too - look at the FBI's list of most wanted criminals; most of them are well past their teens. (But, of course, those are unusually bad; statistically, they don't matter.)

Regardless of why they stop they do stop, I suspect a lot of it is just plain maturity. As for the FBI list it's actually a worse example than you realize, almost all of them were listed for activities from more then a decade ago :)

All government entities were new at one point. Your statement would suggest that all all government entities are a bad idea.

The evidence is in; it's more true than not. You sit on the wrong side of this very obvious fence what with the IRS being used as a hammer by the Democrats.

if we accept that there is violence then it should follow that there will be one organization that is capable of more violence than any other.

That sounds like a fucking horrible idea. I'll end this with one word:

Nazis.

It should not follow or be desired that there be one group more able to deal violence than another, the best situation is balanced competing groups.

More guns = more suicides, whatever you think of the different methods the numbers seem to suggest guns make it easier/more tempting.

Romeo and Juliet, something like that? Those were successful all the way through. Does the society want them dead? Not really. But, darwinistically speaking, the society benefits from mentally stable people, not from head cases. Those *should* evolve out, in the grand scheme of things. Like taxes, if you support a certain behavior you get more of it. There are people who try to commit suicide repeatedly (and fail N-1 times out of that.) Then firemen are summoned, the police, and the doctors... what for? In the USA the Constitution guarantees your right for pursuit of happiness, but it does not define what form it may take. If you cannot live without your man|girl, don't. Will I be sad? Probably. But I cannot tell you to suffer for years, if not for the rest of your life, just because it is in my personal interests, either political or religious, to keep you alive. That would be awfully selfish of me. On that subject:

No, two people who didn't know eachother. They didn't have some illness, they weren't a drag on society, and I wouldn't call them particularly mentally unstable. They were just extremely depressed for a period. I'm sorry dude but you sound like a massive asshole. People who are so depressed they're willing to kill themselves and your solution is to give them a hand and act like you're some kind of altruist? Have you actually met someone who's attempted or committed suicide? You seem to be throwing out these cardboard stereotypes about suicidal people, criminals, old people, everyone. There's such insane variety around any kind of label you can imagine and you seem to be ignoring all of it.

I'm not sure where you live, but in most countries criminals cannot stop. There are the usual socioeconomic reasons for that. There is not enough jobs even for citizens who never jaywalked. What chance, in your opinion, a man with a burglary or a theft under his belt has? How many store managers will be happy to give him the keys to the money box? The only jobs that are left for them are menial jobs, like digging of ditches. Maybe one can become a licensed professional, like an electrician or a plumber, but that's not easy - there is a requirement for apprenticeship, and with that see above.

Can a criminal reform? Yes. Most of those success stories are from white collar crime, where for example an accountant made a "mistake" toward his own bank account. Just once in his whole life. He won't do that again. Kevin Mitnick is a good example. Some violent criminals embrace religion in prison and also become ex-criminals. The vast majority, however, is stuck in the vicious circle forever. They don't know how to live differently, and the society rejects them even if they try to end their wrong ways; they become career criminals.

That's a lovely four paragraph explanation explaining how criminals are criminals for life. Unfortunately it's simply not true, even for violent crime.

It doesn't matter how much you argue otherwise, crime is a symptom of youth and as they age people generally turn away from a life of crime. (I wouldn't be surprised if incarceration was negatively correlated with future offences but that's an unrelated debate).

I'm not arguing that people shouldn't be allowed to commit suicide but you seem to be arguing that not only should we not try to prevent it, but it should even be easier.

I know a guy who committed suicide and a girl who attempted suicide and no one is happy that he succeeded or that she failed (least of all her!). I understand if you think that guns are worth the risk, but can't you at least acknowledge that more people killing themselves is a bad thing??

Actually I'm guessing the ones who don't get caught or killed stop on their own once they pass their mid-twenties. Either way I don't think criminals are all the hardened killers you imagine them to be, there are those who will constantly seek out the deadliest weapon they can find and be willing to use it, but I think most of society is on a bell curve, with criminals at the end of one tail, and the tail gets narrower and narrower with increasing levels of depravity until you actually start to get to the group you're talking about.

If someone wants to kill himself, he will do it eventually. And if someone doesn't want to kill himself, a gun will not hypnotize him into that. I, personally, don't care either way. A free man has power of life and death over his own body.

Should the you who's having a really crappy day have the power to kill the you who will have a lifetime of other days? People have moments of weakness, if possible I'd like to make it less tempting for those moments to end with their own death.

Either way you're bringing up scenarios that, while they may justify a gun, aren't that common. If every criminal is armed, and constantly committing home invasions, then sure, I might be in favour of a lot more guns, but I don't think that's the world. With strong gun control, even if a few tragic scenarios happen where someone could have really used a gun, I think a lot more tragic scenarios will have been avoided.

You don't have the fundamental right to own (or make) firearms.

You don't have the fundamental right to defend yourself.

What you have is the fundamental right to personal security.

From that you get a the derived right to defend yourself and the derived right to own firearms.

The place where gun we disagree is that I believe your derived right to own firearms infringes on my fundamental right to personal security.

I doubt most people have the technical expertise and equipment to make a zip gun, and for those who do it's probably not going to be a very effective gun.

With a 3D printer you don't need technical expertise, you just download the design and print, and before long they're probably going to be a lot more effective than the vast majority of zip guns.

That being said for the US I think it is just a scare for now since US gun control is already non-existent. The problem is if the US ever tries to get gun control then shutting off the supply is suddenly that much harder.

This is like arguing the Wright brothers' first airplane didn't change anything because it could only fly a few dozen feet.

That would only be the case if at the same time people were already flying twin engine cubs around.

People have been crafting guns at home for decades. The 3D printing aspect adds nothing to that truth.

What it does show is how easily people can be led into an irrational fear of technology.

What you don't seem to understand is that laws are meant to keep people safe and secure, not just punish people after the fact.

No, most laws are in fact meant to punish people before the fact.

The speed limit laws are there because some people can't drive well or maintain cars, so they punish those who can with lower speeds than they could drive in perfect safety.

Gun laws exist because people have to "do something" when criminals use guns, even though criminals don't purchase firearms legally and ignore laws. So everyday people who just want to buy and enjoy guns have to jump through pointless hoops and delays.

Public nudity laws exist because some people are prudes and some people don't have a reasonable sense of when clothes are appropriate. So the people who just want a good tan at the beach or in the backyard are punished.

Basically most laws are no different than the stupid warnings you see on every packaged product to not drink a bottle of sunscreen or not to insert canned beans up your anus. They are not really there to protect anything, they are just there because it made someone feel good to pretend they were helping.

That is my first concern. If they eat wood, its bad news... really bad news. If they eat other bugs, I am gonna leave them alone.

If they like termites, where can I get some?

So how do you know you're with the 3% of geologists who believed in plate tectonics and not the 3% who thought the moon was made of cheese?

Given all the 3% vs 97% incidents though history how often do you think the 3% of scientists were closer to the truth than the 97% as opposed to the other way around?

What do you know that the 97% don't know or don't understand?

It's not fencing, the intruder doesn't have a shield. I swing a bat the inertia is going somewhere, that somewhere is the intruder.

You're expecting the average person to shoot the criminal in the eye of their choice while the criminal has a close family member at gun point (and somehow do this before the criminal realizes it's easier to shoot the dude with the gun).

You've been watching too many movies.

And you think the bat as a weapon is impractical?!?!?

Yeah, I know once someone tried inventing this sport called 'boxing' but in the first fight they tried the two dudes hit eachother in the head and just fell over dead and they gave it up.

True story.

UK, way fewer guns way fewer murders.

Wow... you just can't help yourself from taking a completely random shot at Obama.

They are not always easy to get for criminals, in other countries criminals rarely have guns, they have guns in the US because it's really easy to get guns.

In 2005 over 10% of households contained handguns, compared to 18% of U.S. households that contained handguns. In 2005 almost 29% of households in Switzerland contained firearms of some kind, compared to almost 43% in the USA.

Besides, Switzerland is a very small and fairly homogeneous country a peaceful culture and without a serious gang problem. If you have that kind of population there's not going to be much violence with or without guns.

Suicides are more likely with guns, that's actually reasonably well established (and kinda obvious). And car aren't banned because they have a legitimate purpose besides killing things.

Nice "calculations". I like how you're crediting the steady fall in violence in society to the advent of firearms.

It's big, heavy, and probably metal.

Swing with two hands and an adrenaline rush and you don't risk missing and killing one of the kids (or going through the wall and killing a neighbour).

Besides it's a contrived situation. Given me and the criminal both having guns and me and the criminal both having a bat I'll opt for the bats every time.

We might find out in the trial. Besides, even if Trayvon was beating a man who was down that's a long way from murder, sure it might have eventually resulted in death, but most likely the worst case was some broken bones and a concussion.

I'd like to live in a world where two people can get in a fight without one of them ending up shot.

Russia isn't exactly a model of good governance. Most of the criminal firearm problem in North America is due to guns coming in from the US.

Criminals don't come from another planet. They have guns because Americans say guns are acceptable, even cool, they have guns because they're really easy to get so you don't have to be part of some sophisticated underworld because they're floating around everywhere.

The more guns you have you'll get occasional cases of self defence where they saved a life. But you'll also get a bunch of offensive uses where the bad guy won, or suicides, or accidents. Every extra gun makes everyone else a little less safe. By having a gun you're maybe making you and your family more safe (more likely less safe with suicides and accidents), but you're most certainly making my family less safe.

At least the Millenials care about their fellow humans.

I have seen no indication of that whatsoever.

Oh sure they SAY they care. Actions? None at all. All efforts are token and vapid.

You can't even bring yourself to post with a real username; truly ironic. A model of impermanence that typifies your kind.