I don't disagree with you on the point that gun laws are often used for political gain. It doesn't mean that the concept itself is invalid. And just because gun laws will never completely eliminate gun crime doesn't mean they should never be considered. A good gun control law should decrease crime and also get guns…

I didn't say there wasn't violent gun crime in England. Your friend seems to have misread the intent of my comment. I was giving the counterexample to the "gun control makes it easier for the bad people to shoot us" argument.

The real guns could have little fine print on them somewhere that says "ACTUALLY A GUN". The fake guns would have fine print in the same exact spot that says "ACTUALLY not A GUN".

I stepped on, like, three of them getting out of bed this morning. Who says they're harmless?

England is a place with strict gun control. Last time I heard, England wasn't a Wild West shootout 24 hours a day. There aren't robbers over there breaking into houses non-stop and riddling innocent families with bullets. So please explain to me why a place like England hasn't turned into a lawless criminal's…

The problem with survival manuals is exactly what you state: They assume 1) some competence, and 2) willpower, when many people have neither. That's why the best survival writing focuses as many pages on the psychology of survival as it does on technique. However, just the fact that you have to buy the book in the…

Our skin cells have whole hosts of genes that are turned off, and other genes that are upregulated to the max. They also divide like crazy. Are they also a new species?

I'd argue with your metaphor. He's really taking an old concept, relabeling it ("It's a new species evolving!"), and passing that off as groundbreaking work.

The most surprising part of this story is that it didn't happen in Florida.

As Vikings says upthread, I don't think there's much evidence that signing will delay development of normal speech in children. There appears to be a lot of linguistic activity that is happening in the minds of children well before they are physically able to articulate with their vocal apparatus. The idea of signing…

This gripe isn't so much about excessive dependence on GPS (which I also believe is getting really bad), or the fact that the maps weren't kept up to date (which is a dangerous mistake by the GPS companies). It's more a general rant about outdoor skills: I don't care what sort of tech you have; in a place like Death…

Easy to heat and cool, I guess. And I dig the snazzy UFO-style stairway that drops down. Not too keen on the desk, though. The way it faces the wall, it has to be really tough to get in and out of (you have no room to push back your chair).

Was just trying to be funny, but to respond, most anatomists wouldn't consider the brain part of the skull even in the loosest sense of the term. The only real parts of the skull that move appreciably are the jaw and the ear bones. As far as the RBCs in the marrow spaces and vessels of the skull? Yeah, that would…

Oh they make sure to fund the right kind of education. In cases such as this, the millions of dollars don't ever go to just any old thing. They go towards the construction of the MaxCoal, Inc. Coal Research Lab and Coal Education Classroom Building, part of the Coal Industries and Coal Sciences Department of the…

The f__k is an "electromagnetic skull spasm?" Does your skull have many moving parts? Are any of them ferrous?

Doesn't sound very dark sided to me either. Perhaps we should consult an expert.

Funny you should say that. My last big purchase was a Macbook, and when they asked me the "paper or email" question, I told them I wanted both. It pisses them off when you do that. If they offer email I'll take that, but I want the paper too.

The UK Would Deprive Us Our Manimal.

I agree with this, but with one argument: Treating bikes the same as cars doesn't really work, although I'd wager it would work much, much better if motorists gave them the same leeway as cars (which they are supposed to do if there's no dedicated lane). The next best solution would be laws that explicitly state how…

Everything you see in that video is happening every day, all day, at every busy intersection in NYC. Trust me. It's chaotic, but it's also sort of amazing that more people don't get hurt. Everyone is very used to being surrounded by other moving objects at all times. It's just sort of how it works.