My Brain – Page 19 – We Don't Walk Slow

Fight the Right to Bear Arms

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms and was adopted on December 15, 1791, as part of the first ten amendments contained in the Bill of Rights.

I did some research on this amendment so I didn’t sound like a complete idiot on this point but I’m far from an expert. My understanding is that this law gives the military the right to do whatever it wants and individuals are allowed to carry hand guns after passing a background check. Assault rifles and bigger weapons require different permits.

The idea behind the 2nd amendment in 1791 was to:

Guns in 1791

Deter tyrannical gov’t
Repel invasion
Facilitating a natural right of self-defense

Are Guns a Problem?

A recent study found that, after Missouri repealed its background check law, the murder rate spiked by 16 percent; the researchers tracked many of the killings back to newly purchased guns. Conservative writer Robert VerBruggen double-checked the data, and concluded that “the state’s murder rate indeed soared the year after a gun law changed, and there’s no other obvious explanation.”

Deaths per 100,000 people

The United States ranks 12th in firearm deaths by country. The countries above the US are mostly South American and I can only imagine the Government’s involvement with regard to firearms. Let’s not jump to ridiculous conclusions because 10 people out of 100,000 is fairly insignificant. On the flip side, 30,000+ people dying each year by a fire arm sounds a bit higher when considering 318,000,000+ people live in the US. Another note should be that out of that 10, 6.7 are suicide related.

If you’ve been following the news, Texas now allows an open carry rule which allows it citizens to walk around with exposed guns. In Texas, no one blinks an eye. I for one would not be comfortable in this type of environment. My stance on guns is pretty easy to understand, I don’t care if you have them, I just don’t want to know about it.

Why Does An Individual Need To Carry Around a Weapon?

People who carry weapons use the thinking that if I ever get into a situation where I’m threatened by another person with a weapon, I want to be able to defend myself. People specifically go to shooting ranges to enhance their skills for these potential spots. If you’ve never used a gun before, and someone is pointing a gun at you, you are pretty much dead. If you own a gun and someone is pointing one at you, the idea is that you can fight back. This takes us to the 2nd amendment, you have the right to bear arms. If certain people are restricted from carrying weapons, and certain others are allowed to, you have an unbalanced situation. If everyone has the right to, we live like we do currently.

Some Poor Gun Control Examples

1791 was a different time period. If someone fired a gun at you and missed, I think you’d have about a hour to run away before the person was able to reload. A 9mm can hold anywhere between 8-15 bullets depending on the model. Assault rifles can fire 30 rounds per magazine. Let’s look at how damage occurs in certain scenarios.

Seung Hui Cho – Virgina Tech Shooting – 32 killed, 17 wounded
Used a Walther P22 and Glock 19 – had 19, 10 & 15 round magazines which totaled over 400 rounds of ammunition
Committed suicide at the end of attack. Had severe anxiety disorder.

Adam Lanza – Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting – 27 killed, 2 injured
.22-caliber Savage MK II-F bolt action rifle, Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, Glock 20SF
154 rifle shots, 2 glock shots (one to kill himself)
Had sensory-integration disorder

James Holmes – 2012 Aurora Colorado Attack – 12 people killed, 70 injured
76 total shots fired – six from the shotgun, 65 from the semi-automatic rifle, and five from the .40-caliber handgun
Plead insanity. Has attempted suicide multiple times while being imprisoned.

Anders Behring Breivik – 2011 Norway Attack – 68 killed, 110 injured
Used a Ruger Mini 14 rifle
Avg age of those killed, 20, trained marksman.
Sane with paranoid schizophrenia.

Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik – 2015 San Bernardino Attack – 14 killed , 22 injured
65-75 bullets fired from Semi Automatic Pistols and Rifles

Isil – Bataclan Theatre Massacre – 89 killed
3 men – AKM Assault Rifles

Is There a Point?

I don’t know. Guns in the wrong hands is problematic any way you look at it. Of course there should be background checks but even this can be bypassed by purchasing a weapon illegally. Millions of individuals like guns for defense, hunting, and a general level of awesomeness. The only time guns come into my life is when I read about people being killed with them. If someone stormed my house and wanted to rob me, I’d be dead. If the Apocalypse came and the Walking Dead surfaced, I’d be dead. If aliens attacked our planet armed with anything other than a sling shot, I’d be dead. There are many arguments to owning a weapon, I for one, will continue to go unprepared. Please don’t read my blog and take advantage of this point.

By Tom Stortz|2016-01-21T09:42:28-05:00January 20th, 2016|My Brain|6 Comments

Being a Millenial

Millenial Characteristic Breakdown

The Millennial generation is the largest in US history and as they reach their prime working and spending years, their impact on the economy is going to be huge.

Millennials have come of age during a time of technological change, globalization and economic disruption. That’s given them a different set of behaviors and experiences than their parents.

They have been slower to marry and move out on their own, and have shown different attitudes to ownership that have helped spawn what’s being called a “sharing economy.”

They’re also the first generation of digital natives, and their affinity for technology helps shape how they shop. They are used to instant access to price comparisons, product information and peer reviews.

Finally, they are dedicated to wellness, devoting time and money to exercising and eating right. Their active lifestyle influences trends in everything from food and drink to fashion.

These are just some of the trends that will shape the new Millennial economy.

Digging Deeper

Our parents were always told to get a 30 year mortgage and you’ll be fine due to the appreciation from the home. Invest in the stock market because it will go up in the long run. Renting is a waste of money. Get married and have a family because that’s what you are supposed to do. We have stopped listening to our parents.

People don’t have money any more! The jobs don’t pay as much. Education is more. Healthcare is a huge rip off. Insurance companies take all the money and don’t even pay it out when you need it. Civilians don’t know what the government does. It’s best to stay healthy and be happy with what you have because you aren’t getting more unless you win the Powerball.

Millennials are the leading group with purchasing and being a consumer. Our review system is unlike any other and it forces companies to produce higher quality goods for better prices. We are lean and mean with regard to efficiency when compared to the generation before us and it’s not even close. I’ve seen my dad send an email. Look at all of the advances created in bringing together the world socially. The millennials skills are communication and that’s the single most important skill to have. What good is it to have someone in Sweden producing the best product for the best price if no one knows about it? This day and age is different.

I could write for a millennial on our generation but what’s the point. I have no clue if it’s better or worse or it all evens out in the end. We have way more social connection and way less human connection. We are way busier and getting less done. We are so healthy it drives us insane. We know so much that we don’t know anything. In 25 years we’re going to be crowing how the generation before us doesn’t leave their house and commands the world from computers. Ender’s Game is a matter of time. Minority Report and I Robot won’t be far off. The future is inevitable.

By Tom Stortz|2016-01-12T16:21:39-05:00January 12th, 2016|My Brain|0 Comments

Being a Jerk

Laura asked the group a question, “give a one word answer to describe what you are looking for out of the new year.” Some answers were prosperous, adventurous, jubilee, and I gave the answer “filthy”. Laura asks the question as a nice light hearted, fun game and I completely mock it with a ridiculous answer. I’m positive I didn’t read that chapter in “how to win friends and influence people,” by mocking other people.

I had been drinking a bit which would lessen my filter but my impression of the question would have been the same sober or not. Now if I was sober I might have bit my tongue and gave a forgettable answer for what I perceived a forgettable game. Instead, I make everyone involved denounce my answer as moronic because I take the less beaten path. The more I live, the more I understand that being different will create problems. For what it’s worth, Laura didn’t seem that insulted that I didn’t play along. We should also agree “filthy” isn’t even a good answer if I was trying to make a point.

My brain doesn’t play well with others. I’m not thinking of Laura’s feelings when I shit on her question. I do it strictly for my own selfish entertainment. These small instances sit in my brain and I keep replaying them like why on Earth would I do that? Just play along, be nice, go with the flow, and you’ll never have to worry about confrontation or making people dislike you.

By Tom Stortz|2016-01-12T14:52:28-05:00January 12th, 2016|My Brain|0 Comments

Commenting to Comments

I have 5 posts in draft right now and don’t have the time to complete any of them. This will be a new theme from me. I’m not going to rush posts. I’m going to take my time and develop them without the urge to post for the sake of posting…like this post.

I will comment on Alex saying that my comment on the last post is the reason people don’t comment. Laura has also made similar comments to me that she doesn’t comment because my responses to her comments can be snarky. Please understand that I’m well aware of this and thoughtfully consider if I’m being a dick in my comments before I write them.

To review my comment in the past post, all I was writing is that you were accurately correcting a mistake that I had in my post. It’s like when JC would use a word he didn’t know the right definition of, someone would correct him, and he’d say, “I was testing you to see if you picked that up.” Now, I’m not exactly sure how you were taking it but believe me when I tell you that shitting on people’s comments is the last thing I want to do.

Managing relationships through the computer can be challenging. Here is another example of a time when I know I can be construed as being a dick. I’ll share my thought process behind what I was doing because it doesn’t come across the computer. The example is when I wrote that you should hit me with a 2×4, ala Tommy Boy, if I took Sam’s rationale for blogging. If I read that and I was Sam, I’d think, that’s a pretty dickhead thing to write. Why would he write that?

If you’d rather me write, “I understand that Sam has his own reasoning for why he has a blog and I totally respect that. I however don’t fully agree with it”, this would be a nicer way of writing that. From my perspective though, Sam is my brother who I’ll be painfully truthful to because we have a close relationship where I say what I feel without worrying about hurting his feelings as much as I would with other human beings. I enjoy joking around with Sam because I think he gets that I’m not seriously comparing my opinion on his blogging take with actually getting hit with a 2×4. Now if Sam went home and cried himself to sleep because my comment was too harsh in my disagreement, I’d reconsider how I went about what I said in our relationship and sugar coat what I have to say. I can improve on this but than I wouldn’t be being the real me. The bottom line is that I’m gleefully overjoyed that he maintains any blog at all because I like reading his thoughts on matters.

Writing through the internet is not easy.

By Tom Stortz|2016-01-08T12:07:35-05:00January 8th, 2016|My Brain|8 Comments

North Korea Explodes Hydrogen Bomb?

Sam’s good post about the Fermi Paradox can actually be referenced here which shows what happens when you make a good post. I’m not going to reiterate the points he made about the Fermi Paradox but one reason we may not see other intelligent life forms is because “Intelligent life can’t help but destroy itself.”

2 days ago, North Korea created a 5.1 magnitude earthquake from what they claim was a “hydrogen” bomb. What is a Hydrogen Bomb? by CNN is where I will pull tidbits to give you an idea of the differences between Hydrogen and Atomic bombs.

Atomic bombs use fission. Hydrogen bombs use fusion.
The largest hydrogen bomb ever tested was by Russia in 1961. It measured 50,000 kilotons.
In comparison, the atomic bombs used by the US on Japan measured 500 kilotons. The 2 bombs killed more than 200,000 people.
North Korea is the only nation to have conducted nuclear tests in the 2000’s.

Scientist’s don’t believe that N. Korea tested a Hydrogen bomb because the blast was inconsistent with past results.

How Many Nations Have Nukes?

9 – USA, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and N. Korea

Who has the most? – Russia and the USA have about 7,000 warheads. The other 8 nations combined have a little over 1,000. North Korea has 6-8.

Would you have any idea that Russia and the US have this many? When did this happen? It’s like during the 60’s all these country’s did was produce nuclear weapons. It sort of makes sense though because the US is all by itself and Russia is so big they can test anywhere without worrying much. Having this many nuclear weapons must be making up for other deficiencies like a small penis.

Are We Scared of N. Korea?

I have never been this happy. If a submarine energizes him like this, think about what bombs do.

This is the question everyone should be asking and I for one should not be answering. To come full circle to the top of this point and human life blowing themselves up, yes, we should be scared. Nuclear and hydrogen bombs come with severe consequences and human emotions get tested. If a nation gets blown up, the only retaliation is to blow the other side up with more destructive results.

North Korea poses the question, “you all have nuclear warheads, why shouldn’t we?” Fair question. The answer of your a fucking idiot and you’ll blow yourself up probably wouldn’t go over well. This isn’t saying other nations are so well grounded either, but Kim Jung seems particularly happy to have nuclear weapons for offense instead of defense. On the rare chance that N. Korea fires one of these at the US or anywhere else, the retaliation damage will be so severe you’ll have to use a spatula to get his remains off of the bottom of the ocean. Good luck.

By Tom Stortz|2016-01-07T13:49:40-05:00January 7th, 2016|My Brain|4 Comments

WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com Fights Reverse Racism

Creating WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com sparks outrage

I guess she’s Spanish so she can’t join.

OK Kiersten Nunez. Looking good. There she is next to the “go fuck yourself” racism billboard. How did one man in Utah make local, and then national news by creating a dating site titled wherewhitepeoplemeet.com?

Reverse Racism Attacked

Sam Russell was home sick one day and noticed network TV being bombarded by ads for specific dating sites. He decided to do take matters into his own hands and give a huge fuck you to discrimination. What makes this story even more fascinating is he started this in a town in Utah that is 90% white.

Sam Russell, founder of Where White People Meet

How well did this promotion work? Well, there were 5 starting members…and now there are over 2,000. His servers have been flooded with traffic.

Love this. A guy got fed up with whereblackpeoplemeet, farmersonly, and hispanicswholovetacos.com. and used it to say that white people can do the same.

“This is 2016,” he said. “You think a lot of those issues we should be able to move past. We should be able to move past the sensitivity, not get offended every time we hear some word you don’t think is politically correct.”

The spokesperson for colored people said that she didn’t feel like it was a hate group. She’s right. It’s just a guy who used smart marketing to grow a business. If other groups can do it, so can white people.

The problem people have with this idea is that there are 390 million people in the US and over 290 million of them are white. This means that whenwhereblackpeoplemeet is created, they are in the minority and you can’t call them racist. Minorities can’t be racist. This guy basically said, well if you’re not racist, we’re not racist. Tell me I’m being racist because I’m doing exactly what you are doing. Is he committing any crime? Any one can join, as he says, but they probably won’t want to. He’s testing the waters and I, as a white person, really don’t give a shit. Neither should you unless your goal is to ban every group’s dating websites…which would be an odd life goal.

By Tom Stortz|2016-10-28T15:38:26-04:00January 6th, 2016|My Brain|2 Comments

Heroin: Cape Cod, USA

Just using the word heroin garners attention. HBO had a documentary on heroin addicts and I watched their struggle for 70 minutes. 2 of the 8 stories didn’t even make it through the documentary which was pretty sad.

There were 1,250+ deaths due to overdose from opiates last year in Massachusetts alone. Cape Cod was highlighted in this documentary to show that this happens in affluent, white areas as well as lower income places. Some stories started from car accidents which left the people damaged and put on painkillers, then moved to heroin. Although each story had its own flavor, each person found themselves being called back to the drug over and over.

[dropcap background=”yes”]Oh, what a nice drug.[/dropcap]

This girl was especially tragic. When she was going through her story I figured she was 30+, but it turned out she was 23. She rationalized why she stripped or (didn’t) steal in bizarre fashion. Just a lost soul who desperately needed help but there was no one there. Her explanation of how everyone abandons you was sad.

One of the worst stories for me was a guy named Daniel who not only ruined his life, but those around him. From what I could tell, hardly anyone had jobs and would deal to maintain their habit. Daniel in particular would deal just to get himself and people around him high. A repeating story from these addicts was going to detox and then relapsing.

As I watched, I felt myself thinking how lucky I was to not have to deal with what these people were going through. There were stuck in a black hole with little escape. It’s easy to see the drug encompassing their brain and life. You’d like to think that all they have to do is stop taking it but it’s not that simple. This video which I’ve embedded before is a great explanation. I strongly suggest you watch it.

By Tom Stortz|2015-12-29T11:44:05-05:00December 29th, 2015|My Brain|0 Comments

The Atari 2600 in its Glory

Howard Scott Warshaw

I watched a cool documentary on the rise and fall of Atari and how programmer Howard Scott Warshaw is wrongfully given the blame for creating “the worst video game ever” and this lead to the demise of Atari. The game was ET and the story behind Atari is one of volatility which make the best stories.

Pong

Atari starts with Pong which is a game of hitting a ball back and forth between two paddles. This set the stage for programmers to code more intricate games. The allure was that people could play these games in their homes, instead of feeding quarters at arcades. This breakthrough resulted in Atari to be the fastest-growing company in the history of the United States at the time (1983).

The fascinating part of this story was the video game ET. Howard Scott Warshaw was given 5 weeks to produce it so that it could be released during the holiday season after ET, the movie, was released. Normal production of a game was 6 months to a year. Howard had a reputation of producing games with million unit releases and worked his ass off to finish the game in time. Ultimately the game was a huge flop because it was too hard, ET kept falling in holes, and it felt distant to the movie. People ended up returning it which lead to a huge overproduction of the game. The story goes that Atari had to bury millions of units in a landfill in New Mexico. Story has it that ET started the crashing fall of Atari which lost huge sums in subsequent years and then folded.

ET in a pit.

This isn’t really true but when many people say something, it starts to form. Atari was killed off because it mass produced too many units and over saturated the market. This caused them to hemorrhage money and eventually had to cut it’s workforce and one step led to the next until the company went away. There was also increasing competition at the time. However, ET is sometimes credited with, unfairly, being the worst game of all time and causing this fall. I wasn’t young enough to play Atari or ET but I’ve played bad video games.

What makes a bad game?

Anytime you don’t want to play a game anymore, that’s what makes it bad. Reasons could be it’s too hard, enemies are unfair, or the concept is just plain stupid. Games are good when you don’t lose because of the game, but because you aren’t skilled enough. When I think back to Battletoads, I didn’t hate the game because it sucked, but because I could never advance past the driving/wall stage. This doesn’t make it a bad game, just a game that will piss people off. People couldn’t advance past ET and that’s why they claim it was bad.

Bayou Billy pissed me off. Sure I was about 10 but I watch this walk through and just shake my head.

By Tom Stortz|2015-12-23T10:21:06-05:00December 23rd, 2015|My Brain|0 Comments

Glass of Wine Equals 1 Hour of Exercise

Read this ridiculous find about Wine = Exercise

Jason Dyck

Jason Dyck, real last name, from the University of Alberta in Canada, is researching whether resveratrol is equivalent to exercise. He tested this on rats and came to the conclusion that it could.

I’m starting to hate this planet.

Has this poindexter ever been to a bar? This study is comparing one glass of wine (which no one does), instead of binge drinking, but the findings are legitimately comparing drinking wine to exercising. As much as I think Jason Dyck is a moron, the people funding him have to be even dumber.

Am I being completely close minded to Mr. Dyck’s findings? Absolutely. Why? It’s because the work put into exercising for an hour vs the work put into drinking one glass of wine can’t possibly be equal. EVER. Yesterday I spent 28 minutes running on a treadmill. I couldn’t even do an hour. However if I go today, I may be able to do 30 minutes. I may gradually be able to get to an hour if I try hard. Do you seriously think that I’d be able to do an hour if I stopped exercising entirely and just drank a glass of wine every day? Where do these activities correlate? Plus your testing is on rats. Rats don’t exercise the way humans exercise. The whole idea behind this is beyond me.

My conclusion is this guy probably hit a civilian in dark, while driving after drinking some wine, and is using this research to explain how good drinking wine is for you. Have you not seen Fargo, bro? You won’t get away with it.

By Tom Stortz|2015-12-16T11:09:35-05:00December 16th, 2015|My Brain|3 Comments

250 Idiots Pay It Forward At McDonald’s

250 “Merry Christmas” Idiots Pay It Forward

Call me a scrooge but this is bizarre. In Lakeland, FL, (a bit East of Tampa), 250 customers responded to “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays”, and paid it forward 250 times during a 6 hour span. This started it:

“She said, ‘If you don’t mind, I want to pay for the next lady’s order. But I want you to tell her that I said, ‘Have a Merry Christmas,’ not ‘Happy Holidays,” Figueroa explained.

Best Comment

Don’t these people get it that in the end, you still paid for McDonalds. Whether it was your order or the next person’s, it doesn’t matter.

Nothing was gained here, other than people paying for each other’s McDonalds and making a complete stranger feel awkward and obligated to pay for the next person.

What Gourlay Would Say

I would have no problem being the last one in the chain

By Tom Stortz|2015-12-15T14:45:24-05:00December 15th, 2015|My Brain|0 Comments

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