Looking at the writer of this article I am 90% sure that was intended.

I'll defer to your judgement about this "Blanchard" place, as you seem to actually know about it! I don't really like the "personal responsibility" route though, as there are so many areas where I think the government should go "nah, we don't trust you guys not to be idiots here". The Darwin awards you mention seem…

Same for my brother and I, though he ended up with the worst of it and ended up staying in hospital for more than a month, whilst I was relatively fine. He's still 2 inches shorter than me because of the growing he missed out on (we're otherwise almost identical).

Do you have a link to the "best" study? I'd really like to know what constitutes "defensive usage". Because if we're talking about defensive usage, we should be talking about "offensive usage" too, i.e. comparing guns used to threaten resulting in no fatalities vs guns used "defensively" with no fatalities. But if…

Yeah, and how many people successfuly defend their homes with an unloaded gun in a locked cabinet? I'm guessing that's the other reason this story is unusual, because the woman had time to notice what was going on, phone the police, then wait around for 21 minutes. I'm pretty sceptical that that is a typical scenario.

I think she was right to do it too, but on average people are many times more likely to die from a gun related accident or be murdered with a legal firearm than they are to defend themselves with a gun. For me, having a child in the house is a far greater argument against owning a gun than for. Stories like these are…

The age of consent in Oklahoma is 16 according to google.

It's not quite as pronounced, but I find myself unable to read the Guardian newspaper, despite it being by far the most left-leaning here in the UK, simply because I feel like such a class-traitor. Must all your lifestyle articles be about organic food and property investment in second homes?

I saw garden state the other day, which sounds like what you're describing, except it's about dudes and magical/pixie/wish-fulfillment Natalie Portman. I'm trying to think of a female equivalent and coming up blank.

Thank you. A lot of the bloodthirsty comments on here are unpleasant to me but I've given up chastising people.

You could be right, I just have vague memories of the mum saying something like "Don't ask, it's better that you don't know." Combined with her reaction, it made me think that she was remembering something traumatic, at odds with her off-hand attitude seconds before when she talks about "never having been with a black…

I wonder how it felt for the daughter, finding out that her father was a violent rapist. It's so sad that there would be that black mark on a happy reunion.

"The problem is the lack of nuance and understanding about the training that you mentioned."

I'm not understanding it wrong, you're simply reading too much into my comment, and also putting words in my mouth. You can leap to the defence of armed forces personnel if you wish, but you are tilting at windmills here. But I guess I should clarify that I don't actually agree with what the OP was saying exactly.

Oh, I just replied to you again on a height based article, that's all!

"Also, I think serving in the military must completely mess with the way people view human life." As I understand it, one aspect of modern military training is making killing a reflex, so soldiers do it before pesky things like empathy and compassion get in the way. Of course this guy could just have been a…

Hello again! I think you're right, but whether it's a misogynistic viewpoint depends on you're reasoning. If it's that women are fragile creatures who need to be protected, then yes, it's mysoginistic. If it's that our culture shames women who stand up for themselves and encourages the idea that they were "asking for…

Of all the things about me that stop me meeting women, my height is way down the list.

"Some Freudian shyte maybe?"

Love the Father Ted signs in the background.