1. Gotta go to xmas party and trying to work out what to wear. I'm half tempted to just go on black jeans but probably wouldn't go down well.

2. Ordered some stuff off amazon. Impulse buy. They normally use RM or occasionally a courier. Because they deliver during working hours, I've set the delivery address to my work address. Initially got an email to say it would be delivered on Tuesday. Now got an email this am saying it will be today! Courier is someone called APLE. Neer heard of them and they don't seem to provide any facilities to track or change delivery dates on their website or via a phone line.

Amazon's devleries have gone a bit.. odd for me too recently. I ordered a thing last week, they said they'd dispatched it by UPS and gave me a tracking number. UPS's tracking site said they'd generated a label (i.e. requested collection of a package for delivery to me). And nothing else. For a week. Then Amazon sent me an email saying they'd been unable to deliver the package, the order was cancelled and they were going to give me a refund.

As far as I can tell, UPS never even saw the package let alone attempted a delivery. Amazon never gave it to them.

Weird.

i think the problem with America is they struggle to work out what the problems are with America:


Posted by a US friend on Facebook.



"We glorify crime, violence, and sin on our televisions, computers, and gaming systems. We see more commercials about saving trees than saving children. It's a crime to talk about God in schools. It's a crime to talk about the importance of family. We ignore those who are different than we are and look down on those who struggle to function "normally". We lobby to allow the murder of children inside the womb. We aren't even allowed to write the words "Coose Life" on our license plates. Our culture puts everything before children. Then tragedy strikes and we ask why. I think we know why. Acknowledging it, however, would require us to actually be accountable to that truth."




So the frequent mass killings happen because the US isn't Christian enough, too environmentally friendly and allows abortion.



IT'S BECAUSE YOU SELL YOUR GUNS LIKE SPORTING GOODS TO ANYONE WHO WANTS ONE. SHEER NUMBERS OF GUNS INCREASES THE CHANCE OF ONE FALLING IN TO THE HANDS OF PEOPLE WHO LIKE COMPUTER GAMES. OH SORRY I MEAN DELUSIONAL PSYCHOPATHS.

Try this as a response.

'Your country apparently puts guns before children. Because it seems you are willing to lose the latter to keep the former'.

Well said, but it wasn't a comment aimed at me so I won't butt in. *sigh*

So they completely miss the point. So how does that explain why the murder rate in the arab world is so much lower? They have far fewer Christians so cannot be that. Then what about Scandinavia far more environmentally aware? Yet they also have lower death rates, even though they have lots of guns in the country. Hunting there is part of the culture. Yet they have very few gun deaths. As for abortions we in Britain have far more and again lower gun related death rates.

I suspect the person may well be talking about morals (albeit Christian morals). In a society with morals, you would expect there to be more respect for human life and consequently fewer tragedies such as the one above. A lack of moral fibre means people are more callous and hence more likely to take a life without thinking about it. Hence the chat about kids/abortion etc.

IMO even in a society full of moral fibre this sort of thing could have happened because:
i. You're gonnna get some who do not same moral and ethical values as the rest
ii. He may well have been unwell (physically or mentally) and hence not "thinking straight"

Either way, taking away the ability to kill with a gun would have made this event less likely. I've always felt that people should have a right to gun ownership but like driving a car, would require a period of probation and testing. This kind of thing makes me think all guns should be banned.

The thing about America that I find absolutely and utterly [LIFTED] up, beyond their gun laws that I don't entirely disagree with - I believe everyone should be able to have guns, though not quite to the level that they have and also they should be heavily regulated and checked up on - is that they [LIFTED] kill people for crimes. What the [LIFTED] is that about? They supposedly broke away from us because we were so [LIFTED] backward and invented this utopia with a constitution and turned into a bunch of fearful intolerant murdering bastards.

Not everyone can be trusted with a gun.

But they trust everyone with a gun.

I think it can be boiled down to that.

Yes but virtually every other country with a high level in gun numbers also has a decent health care for all. So problems like depression or anger can be resolved within the national health care system. In the US it might not be covered or it is financially beyond the reach of most. That allows these sorts of problems to be resolved before they explode like this on most occasions.

While I love clay pigeon shooting I am not interested in killing things. I have been invited on the annual elk hunt in Sweden but turned it down. On one occasion was out shooting and saw a pheasant and did not shoot, and the thought of actually shooting it never crossed my mind. Though if I had to choose I would find shooting a human easier than shooting an animal, though still would not shoot anyone unless in defence of someone, and then probably at the legs if completely unavoidable. Yet I am not religious, unless you count being a Jedi as such.

I've always thought it's a little hypocritical to eat things you wouldn't kill yourself. However, although I could cope with shooting a bird or a rabbit I would struggle with anything larger. I wouldn't want to shoot a pig for all the bacon butties in the world...

Meh - never bothered me tbh.

As far as I'm concerned the cuter it looks, the better it tastes

I think you are in a minority. Although many people will gleefully eat meat with no thought of how it arrived on their plate, fewer would willingly slaughter a fluffy little lamb, let alone call it "sport".

I have no problem with hunting if they eat it. My cousin gave up shooting after getting fed up of pigeon pie. When in Sweden I ate the elk that had been hunted, but just did not want to be involved in the actual killing itself.

Actually, as far as I'm concerned, anyone who shoots anything for "sport" deserves a proper kicking. I've only ever shot animals knowing that I would either eat it myself or sell it to someone else.

But clean, healthy soon-to-be-eaten lambs smell sooooooooo good, especially when the sun's out.