Guns don't kill people. It's the bullets that separate some segments of flesh and shatter others. Guns just fire these bullets. Of course, this would all be impossible without the operator. The gun typically doesn't fire on it's own. So, essentially, it's the operator of the gun that kills people. The gun is merely an enabler. Sure, a person could kill without a gun, but it would generally be much more difficult. You could do it with a sword, but that requires close range and a higher level of skill. Bombs are pretty effective as well, but much more difficult to acquire, and require much more intelligence to implement effectively.

Some people just fire guns at firing ranges. With the invention of the lightgun, video games make this method inconvenient. While the real thing may be superior to one virtual, the virtual substitute is much less expensive, readily available, and would have a very difficult time killing anyone (you'd have to use it as a blugeon, in which case just about any hard object would make a better weapon).

The thing people often forget during the gun debate is that guns are merely a tool of murder. That is their purpose. They were not invented for any other reason. Much like the sword. Sure, you can slice bread with a sword, but a bread knife would do a better job, just as a bread knife can be used to kill a man but a sword would simply be more effective. You can't slice bread with a gun, though. It's only other use is in games. You would have a hard time killing someone with a paintball gun, though.

My stance on the whole "Right to bear arms" issue is that, from what I've seen, the people who want to own guns, shouldn't be allowed to. It doesn't matter what their intentions are for the gun, they shouldn't be allowed to have one. Even if you have good intentions for the gun. Remember, good intentions pave the road to Hell.

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Bob: Hello. My name is Bob. I am an accountant. I live in an apartment with my plants. I named them.

Sarah: that's... um... interesting. what are your hobbies?

Bob: My neighbor has hamsters.

Sarah: right.

Bob: Are you an attractive woman?

Sarah: i think i am. i'm about 5'4", and 110 pounds.

Bob: Are you into anal?

Sarah: maybe you should slow down here

Bob: My mother says it's bad to have sex with women because they might get pregnant. If they can't get pregnant, it's okay. So that means anal is okay.

Sarah: well, in that respect, i guess it is, but that's not the issue

Bob: I read newspapers.

Sarah: that's good. what kinds of articles do you read?

Bob: My brother has anal sex with his girlfriend.

Sarah: okay

Bob: It is okay, isn't it?

Sarah: if that's what they want to do

Bob: I draw pictures of my pants.

Sarah: oh, i have to go

Sarah has left the chatroom.

Bob: I'm not wearing any pants.

No one hears you.

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I'm circumcised. I never really thought about it much, it's just something that's always been for as long as I can remember. The procedure was performed when I was a baby. It's what I'm used to.

I've watched a lot of pornos, and as such have been forced to look at many penises. Up until recently, they were all circumcised. Not that long ago, I watched a porno that had an uncircumcised penis in it. My shock was audible. I had never seen one before. It was bizarre and alien to me. It was so shocking, in fact, that I can't recall what it looked like, or what porno it was that featured it.

This got me to thinking, though. For so many circumcisions to have been performed, there has to be quite a few people performing circumcisions. Then I thought of the process that must take place. Honestly, I know no learned information about the procedure, but I imagine it involves a scalpel and is hands-on. Being the guy who has to perform this procedure on babies has to be one of the most frightening prospects to me. I feel metaphysical pain just thinking about it. It's not just the wang-handling, it's the cutting. Oh, god, the cutting!

You know how when you're watching a movie, and something painful happens to one of the characters, and you can kind of feel it? I know I cringe when I get that. I would probably cringe with the first cut. That would probably be a very bad thing to have happen. If I were to complete one such procedure, I would have nightmares about it for the rest of my life, or until I got amnesia. I think I would have an easier time killing a man than circumsizing one.

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I got Grand Theft Auto: Vice City the other day. The first thing I noticed was how incredibly loud it is. The voices come out fine, but I have to turn my speakers down so I can handle the game. Of course, then I can't hear the voices, because, of course, there's no volume setting for those. Well, the rumored multiplayer is not present, which was a major disappointment. Surprisingly, the main character is actually a character, complete with voice and background.

Now, for the important part: The game physics. Cop cars must have rear-wheel drive in Vice City, because you can't drive those things worth shit. The Cheetah is nuts good, and prominantly available from the beginning. It drives fast, sticks to the road, and turns on a dime. So far, I haven't gotten any decent motorcycles, just the moped, which can somehow run people down. It's fun to hit guys on them, though, because they go flying off, and even tumble when they hit the ground. Damage affects driving. I've attempted driving with a bent axle, and I could only go left. Straight and right simply weren't options. I couldn't steal any rollerskates, although there are people on roller skates. One thing I wanted to do was to skate past people and nail them with the baseball bat on the way by.

As for the missions, I haven't done any yet. I've just been cruising around the city. On the map, Vice City looks pretty small, but driving from one end of the first island to the other, it takes a long time. I hear there is a helicopter. I must have it.

If you're looking for a completely revolutionized new Grand Theft Auto, don't bother with this game. It's more of the same, but with a more vibrant theme, and a few changes. The gameplay is essentially the same. There are some improvements to the graphics, but nothing really worth noting. This game could've been a patch and add-on to Grand Theft Auto 3.

One thing that's still there that I hate. You can look at a car about 20 feet down the road, turn around for one second, and it's gone. In this game, if you can't see it, and it's not chasing after you, it's really not there.

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The real reason nVidia is beating the shit out of ATI is because they write better drivers. Maybe the hardware's not as good, and maybe it's better, but when ATI releases newer drivers with fixes like "Fixes a crash in Unreal 2 when overlaying part of the HUD", it doesn't matter anymore. I've never had any problems with any of my nVidia boards like crashes or the like, but with ATI it seems I have nothing but headaches. Being a network administrator, I deal with a lot of computer hardware, and the ATI boards are the only video boards I have to replace in these systems.

Another thing I like about nVidia is that they release all their drivers in one pack, so I don't need to figure out which model of video card is in the computer as long as it says nVidia on it somewhere. With ATI, it can be like pulling teeth. The slightest variation in name means a new driver set, and they rarely have that variation printed somewhere on the card itself.

I actually have many more gripes with ATI, but rather than post them, I'll just recommend that, when buying a video card, steer clear of them.

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I have returned from Anime Mid-Atlantic half-triumphantly. I will have a convention report up sometime later this or next week (they take a while to organize properly). I will talk some of why it was only half-triumphant.

I'm making a movie. It's a movie of interviews with cosplayers. I ask questions like "Who are you cosplaying as?", "How long did it take to make your costume?", and "Who are you and what are you doing in my house?". All pretty standard. Well, I was using a borrowed camcorder, and apparently the night-vision was on the whole time I was there, which resulted in very faded reds and absent blues. It was almost just shades of green. I may be able to enhance it to usable levels in some editor, but I doubt it. Fortunately, I had two friends along with camcorders of their own, and some interviews were taken with two or all three cameras. For all the interviews where Jay was recording, I'm pretty sure I'd just use his footage anyway, as his camcorder was vastly superior to mine. The audio sucked, too. For Otakon, I'm using an external microphone.

Of course, had I thought to hook the camera up to a television and do a test beforehand, the night vision wouldn't have been a problem. It might have been too dark, then. Well, I may be able to use just a little of the footage stylishly in black & white. Although, I've never had much of a sense of style. It may be difficult. My interviewing style sucks, too. "Oh shit, I forgot all my questions again. Hold on."

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This weekend both Yuricon and Anime Mid-Atlantic are taking place. I will be attending Anime Mid-Atlantic, as it is closer to me and less expensive in relation to hotel rooms. I am looking forward to stormy weather all weekend long. Those of you going to Yuricon only have to worry about storms on Friday. It will be especially fun for me, not staying in the convention hotel. Walking in the wind and rain will remind me of my childhood, braving the storm just to see the streams running rampant.

If you are going to be there for some reason, I will be at the AnimeUSA table on Friday at 7:00pm. I don't know where it will be, but it will not be in the dealer's room. It will be somewhere else. If I can find it, I'm sure you can, too. I have confidence in you. I'm sure it will be fun regardless. That is, assuming it doesn't suck.

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The Secret Weapons expansion for Battlefield 1942 adds motorcycles to the array of vehicles you can ride around on/in. I've heard there's a mod for the game that adds weapons and a helicopter. If such modifications can be made, they should add another new vehicle: the prostitute. You ride in it and on it. Someone could just replace the motorcycle model with a hooker model. The player model would get down like he was getting on the motorcycle, only positioned appropriately for booty to be jammed in his crotch. Imagine zooming around the map at top speeds riding dat ass! Awww yeah!

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Why's lemonade gotta be pink? It doesn't come that way. Last I checked, lemonade was a very whitish yellow. That's what it's supposed to look like. I'm okay with that. It looks refreshing. So why do all these restaurants have to be serving me pink lemonade? That doesn't look refreshing. That looks like one of the waitresses had her period in my refreshing drink. I don't want to think about that. Although, a lot of these waitresses are cute.

What if someone gets the wrong idea? "Oh, he's drinking pink lemonade. He must be gay." Then, instead of that beautiful Spaniard chick who thinks I'm hot stuff, I've got a guy named Gary buying me a light beer. I don't even like beer. It becomes an even bigger problem when I'm thinking about her later, trying to relieve the stress of the day, and suddenly this guy Gary pops into my head. That's like slamming into a brick wall at 50MPH. It hurts, too.

It's like, someone decided that lemonade was only for women and gay men, and in order to enforce that idea, added ground cherry peel and a little more sugar to a near-perfect drink. That's like upgrading a car with box-shaped wheels. Sure, it'll work, but it ain't right, and it certainly ain't comfortable.

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