Shotgun

In my opinion, abusing Xanax (whether prescribed or not) is similar to abusing alcohol or other recreational drugs. Which can certainly affect one's thoughts and behaviors, and no doubt these drugs contribute to many violent crimes. But I see it as being in a different category than the antidepressant/bipolar meds that are being taken as prescribed. I do think there is a possible link between these meds and violent behavior. Part of the problem being that they can have wildly different effects on different people, and the current way of prescribing them is a bit of a gamble. Need more info to really have an opinion on this guy though. My non-professional armchair diagnosis is that he seemed to have some kind of narcissistic personality disorder. And it doesn't sound like he was open to help from anyone. Perhaps if the police had been alerted to the original youtube videos he posted, he could have been required to undergo observation at the least. But who knows.

This thread made me curious, so I went to the National Sex Offender Public Website and did a search. It seems to give detailed information about what each offender did. (Sorry if someone else already posted this; I haven't read the whole thread.) I do think it's a good idea for a DZO to check the criminal background before hiring instructors, and this kind of info could help if the person happens to be a registered sex offender. I don't know enough about how the USPA works to know if it's within their scope to issue/deny instructor ratings based on criminal background. I know that with some professional licensing agencies (such as the Board of Pharmacy), a criminal background doesn't automatically exclude someone; they look at each case individually.

If I was a desperate male virgin, a trip to a legal Nevada brothel would seem like a better idea than violence. But that's just me.

One of the seven who died was the killer, and apparently three of the victims were stabbed to death. There were at least four people who were injured from being hit by the killer's car. So it's not all about guns. I will bet $0.50 that he was taking at least one of the more popular SSRIs or other - quite legal - medications. Actually, that's not a bet, it's an investment. I wouldn't be surprised if he was taking medication. But it's also possible to be a self-pitying, whiny douchebag without the use of medication. Though I do suspect that homicidal tendencies might be increased with the mixture of certain drugs with certain people. What's bothering me is that the news is reporting that his parents called the police back in April about a youtube video he had posted "regarding suicide and the killing of people." I'm not sure what the video actually entailed or whether the police were able to view it, but it seems like something in there might have been grounds to 5150 the guy, which would have at least kept him from legally owning guns for the next five years. It might have even gotten him some needed help/counseling. (I don't know - mental health treatment is obviously not an exact science.) Of course, it wouldn't have kept him from owning a knife or a car . . .

One of the seven who died was the killer, and apparently three of the victims were stabbed to death. There were at least four people who were injured from being hit by the killer's car. So it's not all about guns.

Except they probably don't allow the use of e-cigs in police stations. But perhaps you could sip on vodka out of a water bottle and go undetected.

I have something similar or well I wouldn't call it a phobia but aversion/disgust is more apt. Something like this or this (makes me want to throw up) makes me feel very uneasy. Someone came up with the word trypophobia to describe it but the DSM doesn't recognize it. Yeah, those links kinda made my skin crawl.

A little bit cringe-worthy, but not too much. Maybe more so if I saw it somewhere and didn't know what it was. Or maybe my fascination with frogs is stronger than my phobia. But thanks for attempting to gross me out.

I have a strange aversion (perhaps a phobia, though I don't know a name for it) to things--usually circular shapes--in a particular pattern. It's hard to describe, but I remember noticing it back in the '80s or '90s, seeing a pair of jeans that had a lot of little holes in a deliberate pattern. And since then I've noticed it many other times - sometimes something in nature or some kind of man-made design. Makes me cringe. The only thing I can think to explain it is that it reminds me of some kind of disease or something, though I don't recall ever seeing anything in particular that would have created such a trigger. I did see an article a while back on NPR(?) about people having a phobia of holes, like on a honeycomb or something like that. I guess that's sort of similar though it didn't describe my aversion exactly. (Honeycombs don't bother me, but they are similar to the pattern that bothers me.)

Austin is the hippie-oasis of Texas , so there are plenty of vegetarian restaurants there. Mother's Café is my favorite (though I'm not familiar with many of the newer ones). It's been there for over 30 years, and they have really good food.

What gender is the baby?

baby

monkey

Dracula

house

Pointer

Best used to be a toss-up between The Who and Nine Inch Nails. But I think over the years the NIN Downward Spiral tour stands out as the best concert. (From the concert-viewer perspective; concert "experiences" might be another story. ;) Mind you, I already thought that album was a masterpiece, so seeing it brought to life by the creator(s?) was particularly mesmerizing. I don't know about worst. KISS and Faster Pussycat are the first bands that come to mind, but I think in both of those cases it was a sound problem that didn't necessarily reflect on the band.

Thanks to Miley Cyrus, I have heard of Molly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8uppUf2Qi0 And I actually like the song. Haven't tried Molly, but I get the picture.

Apparently they did it several times on the Fallon show. Here's one of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjeNsdgk7mU

Thank you for that. Justin Timberlake is my guilty cougar-crush. I seem to recall him and Jimmy doing something similar to that on the Jimmy Fallon Show. Which I used to watch occasionally. And Leno's Tonight Show less occasionally. Both were good, but I tended toward Jimmy. I've only seen the first 1 1/2 episodes of Jimmy's Tonight Show, but so far I like it a lot, even more than his old show. Not sure what the difference is - I'm not familiar enough with either of the shows to quickly notice, but I guess it's a blending of his own show with the traditional Tonight Show format?

It's not like we have a choice. I know I'll make the best of it. If only it were as simple as knowing the time in advance. I can't remember the exact quote, but it was from the film "Caligula" - something about how taking our own lives was the closest we would ever come to controlling our own fates. Pretty close to the goth kid who cuts himself because at least then he's in control of who is doing the harm. Yep. I don't know. I think actually intentionally killing yourself (not "trying") is quite a bit different than cutting.

It's not like we have a choice. I know I'll make the best of it. If only it were as simple as knowing the time in advance. I can't remember the exact quote, but it was from the film "Caligula" - something about how taking our own lives was the closest we would ever come to controlling our own fates. Sorry for the dark intrusion (Oh wait, this is a thread about a dead person), but apparently it is possible to at least plan on the time in advance.

My cat Cheeta often stays in the bathroom with me when I take a shower or bath. When he was a kitten, he had a stuffed-up nose for a long time, so I would always shut him in the bathroom with me when I bathed/showered so the steam could help clear his nose. Now he's around three years old, and he still thinks he supposed to be in there. Sometimes he'll pop his head in the shower or try to walk around the edge of the tub, but mostly he just takes a nap on the bath mat. I used to have a Bengal cat who would actually get in the bath or shower with me.

Depending on the partial pressure, so is oxygen. Let's not get too hung up on the word "poison" since it's the quantity that matters and not so much the substance itself. True. In the right quantity, even heroin has a beneficial use without necessarily being "poisonous."

I like the poem. The law sounds lame. Are they required to give up their vehicles too, since they "might" operate one while impaired? And are the people who use other legal drugs, like pharmaceuticals and alcohol, subjected to this same law?