Games have rules! Imagine if this were tried in Aces High

[Toad]

Sorry, Beetle, I don't have any rose colored glasses. You'll have to continue to use that distorted pair you're currently using.

As I said, your history/philosophy is on display in the General Discussion for any/all to review. It needs no commentary from a poor scribe like myself.

[mrfish]

Originally posted by lazs2
U.S. got rid of its royalty 200 odd years ago then yes... you are coming around to our way of thinking in regards to royalty.
lazs

i thought the mafia/cia/aliens got rid of our royalty back in the 60's????

[beet1e]

Thrawn - not a racist! (lived with 2 black guys when on assignment in Springfield,IL - not that it proves anything, but I don't think a racist would do that. I'm Caucasian  BTW)

To answer your question, I don't.

[tomato]

Originally posted by Toad
"In 1997 around 8% of homicides involved firearms and almost one third a sharp weapon."

A 1997 snapsnot, using Home Office figures, looks something like this:

USA, with overall population of approx 250,000,000, had 7.3 homicides per 100,000.  So, US homicides in 1997 = 250,000,000 / 100,000 x 7.3 = 18,250 (approx).

England and Wales, (E&W) with overall population of aprox 50,000,000, had 1.4 homicides per 100,000.  So E&W homicides in 1997 = 50,000,000 / 100,000 x 1.4 = 700 (approx).  If nearly a third (26% in 2001) of those are by sharp objects, then E&W suffered 180 homicides by sharp objects.  

Which means that the US is more than 26 times as murderous as E&W.  
Puts things into perspective, doncha think?  

I refer you to: http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/htius.pdf, which states that US homicides are most often committed with guns - and that homicides involving all other weapons have declined.  

Approx 22% of US homicides in 1997 were by sharp objects - not too dissimilar to E&W's 26%.  Still, it tallies to about 4,100 homicides by sharp instruments.  So the ratio of sharp object homicides between USA and E&W in 1997, is 4,100:180.  

Let's put that into perspective ... While the USA has approx 5 times the population of E&W:

• there are over 20 times the number of sharp instrument     homicides in the USA than there are in E&W.  i.e., the US is 4 times as murderous with its sharp objects than E&W.
• there are over 26 times the number of homicides overall in the US, than in E&W, per capita (see above).  
  

Hence the concern.  ;)

Tomato

[Wlfgng]

don't run with scissors and lock up your guns

isn't that what we all leanred ?

[Toad]

Doesn't change the fact that for every Englishman killed in a Homicide using firearms there are THREE lying dead from Homicide perpetrated with a sharp instrument.

And while some proud peanoodles are bleating about the "success" of their gun registration/licensing/confiscation schemes, they make no comment about solving their "sharp instrument" problems at all. After all..... if only one life were saved.... as they continually remind the US.

Seems hypocritical to me. After all, they're pretty free with the advice with respect to the US "most common method of killing" but strangely silent when it comes to the E/W/S "most common method of killing."

Further, US firearms homicides statistics have been coming down rather steadily WITHOUT utilizing the draconian measures against law-abiding citizens that are touted as the "solution" in the UK. This despite the fact that the pre-ban and post-ban E/W/S firearms homicide statistics have been essentially stable. IE: no really statistically significant change.  Same basic situation in Australia. (and we've all bandied about the stats)

So, US firearms homicide rates in decline without draconian restrictions. E/W/S & Australia are essentially stable both pre and post-ban.

Therefore, an open-minded person could conclude that the draconian measures are not necessarily "the answer". And indeed, "official" documents from those countries often include statements to that effect.

Common sense dictates that criminals, by definition, ignore laws. An FBI study shows that 87% (plus another ~8-10% committed by juveniles who's records are sealed) of homicides are committed by known felons with previous records of violent crime.

So where should the emphasis be placed? On the inanimate objects that are the tools of known felons? Or perhaps on the felons themselves?

The "sharp instrument" stats for E/W/S merely underline the obvious. It isn't the inanimate object that's the problem; it never was. It's the human that will use ANY object to achieve his goal.

Until that truth is realized and dealt with, there will always be problems in both countries. The modern trend to blame the object and absolve the human is at the core of the problem in both countries.

The registration/licensing/banning/confiscation mindset merely perpetuates the problem by ignoring the real source of homicide: the criminal.

[tomato]

Originally posted by lazs2
tomato... AH has no leaders and each person flying is an individual with his own goals.

Lazs, MrFish asserted that AH was like a real war, due to the anger, etc.  I am not saying that AH has leaders, goals, or anything else.  I wasn't even talking about AH, per se.  My dispute was with MrFish's assertion that AH is "modeling war pretty well" - I don't think so.  Armies have strategies.  Countries have armies.  Countries have allies.  They work together.  I'm saying that AH does not model this.

TBH, I can see both sides of the argument.  But I don't see that any one side is necessarily 'right' - just that each side has its views and preferences.  My point was that the MA is potentially a way to give each side what he wants.  And why not?  You're each paying your $14.?? Yes?

Tomato

[Thrawn]

Originally posted by beet1e
Thrawn - not a racist!

Of course you are.  Let me spell it out to you.  Who tells racists jokes?  Racists or non-racists?  That's right, the answer is racists.

Definition of a Yorkshireman: Someone who can buy something from a Jew and sell it to a Scotsman, and still make a profit. hehe - I think you should be flattered.

(lived with 2 black guys when on assignment in Springfield,IL - not that it proves anything, but I don't think a racist would do that.

You're right that doesn't prove anything, Shalom.

[Wlfgng]

You're each paying your $14.?? Yes?

whaaa????   you're still paying 14.95/months ?!?!?

now see if you had a gun...

[tomato]

Originally posted by Wlfgng
whaaa????   you're still paying 14.95/months ?!?!?

now see if you had a gun...

LOL!  Dunno how much it is, but whatever it is, you're all paying it.

Tomato

[beet1e]

But Mr. Toad -

Doesn't change the fact that for every Englishman killed in a Homicide using firearms there are THREE lying dead from Homicide perpetrated with a sharp instrument.

That interpretation is a nonsense, and I think you know it. It's a bit like your "deaths per gun stat". If we WERE able to command all guns out of existence such that one gun remained, then in a year like 1998 instead of seeing 750 homicides of which 59 were firearms related, we might have seen 740 homicides, only 1 committed with a gun, but 48 more with sharp objects. Thus the deaths by sharp objects has risen from 691 to 739. The overall number of homicides would be reduced because, let's face it, the handgun is oh-so-convenient a homicide tool. But Oh! 740 homicides (down from 750) with a sharp objects ratio of 740:1!!! Oh no, we can't have that, so let's furnish people with guns so that they can shoot eachother, and we can improve the stats for sharp objects! Time to stop digging, Mr. Toad-in-the-Hole. Oooh, that's made me feel hungry - time to head to Waitrose.

[beet1e]

Thrawn - I had a Jewish girlfriend for 5 years. She doesn't think I'm a racist. I had a Scottish girlie about 25 years ago - same.

And I told THIS joke to the two black guys I spoke of - just for a larf.

• Q. Why is a bikini girl like a rost chicken?
• A. Because the white parts are always the best.

They thought it was funny, well, the fact that I was telling it to them anyway. No racist overtones, just a joke.

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

When you have the same government department as in the movie "Battlefield Earth", you have already lost every argument.
-SW

[mrsid2]

The downfall of UBB quality can be observed with the increase of ww2ol / CS style signatures in posts. People stuff more meaningless toejam in their sig than what they write in their posts.

The community decades. The game decades.

[Wlfgng]

decays.....