Erik

I have had a similar experience. Lost 40 lbs, and discovered that decades of weight lifting really had paid off. I also had a couple of moles removed from my face. Neither was for cosmetic reasons. (Actually, I guess the moles were. I went to a dermatologist for a skin cancer check as one should when over the age of 50, and asked if he could remove them while I was there. It took less than 10 minutes.)

I had a ton of work experience before this happened, but now people solicit my opinion. I also landed a new job that pays a lot more.

I won’t go so far as to say that women fawn over me, but I find them to be as friendly and chatty as most men are now. (I’m happily married, so I don’t go out of my way to flirt.)

Overall, I probably went from a 4 to a 6, but it’s enough to notice a difference.

I definitely disagree. I just took my son to a protest last weekend. He is 12. I thought it was important for him to understand civic responsibility.

I thought that Western style Democratic republics were leading the world toward purely secular forms of government, but yet another group of sociopaths has managed to take power. They have distracted the science-illiterate majority into petty conflicts based on different versions of magical thinking.

So, “sane” would mean that we don’t elevate the least sane among us (sociopaths) into positions of power. “Rational” would mean that public policy decisions are mostly made based on evidence, rather than fundamentally irrational belief systems.

I fear that we are barely-sentient primates doomed to repeat the same awful mistakes, when simple, obvious solutions are within our grasp.

That we can build a sane, rational society.

Chopped into several large pieces. But it will be awesome.

Interesting thought - and consistent with the way he usually fails to consider the consequences of his actions (unless they apply directly to his interests).

I doubt that he cares about rebuilding US industry, Comrade. The idea of invading Canada sounds plausible, but it isn’t necessary for a successful invasion by the US military if he were to actually order that.

Thanks for posting that! I read through it, and I don’t think that it applies to the situation described by the original poster. It includes many interactions where both sides were intoxicated in some way, and had a criminal history. They did some interesting work in matching controls to the victims of gun assaults, but as the limitations section discusses, it really doesn’t apply to a “responsible armed citizen” scenario, which is how I interpreted the recommendation above.

It is certainly still plausible that merely having a gun does not protect one very well from assault. The potential mechanisms of causation that the study authors came up with make for an interesting read, but the risk numbers don’t really seem to connect to those mechanisms.

I think there are pretty good reasons to say that more firearms in private hands is a detriment from a public health perspective. I just don’t think that this study adds much to that conversation.