Shootings in US schools

[jsanders]

J - quick question, forgive me being dense, where's Northern VA? I'm not familiar with the state abbreviations.

VA is Virginia.

The reason the Northern as apposed to just plain VA is that the area close to Washington DC is completely different then the rest of mostly rural Virginia.

Don’t miss understand I don’t make the distinction to set this area above the rural, quite the contrary. I make the distinction because it makes it clear to U. S. residence at least that I live in a very large city.

The area around DC is more or less referred to as the Mid-Atlantic where about 10,000,000 people live in an area roughly 100 miles in diameter.

The Mid-Atlantic region actually extends more south and more north then the DC area, but most of the population is concentrated here.

This part of Virginia, Fairfax County, Prince William County, Loudon, were all pretty much land grants prier to the revolutionary war. Now the counties around here boast the highest per capital incomes in the nation and the highest education rates as well.

Other than the traffic Northern Virginia is a wonderful place to live, our area probably has one of the highest levels of integration in the country, making it very interesting to live here.

 

[Ksan]

VA is Vancouver isn't it?


Edit - too slow that time methinks, and I was wrong! That said though, something is niggling in the back of my mind thats making me doubt whether Vancouver is US or Canadian... lol

 

[Bodisathva]

Thats not possible. its exaggerated to full capacity by your current dictator.

Translation: We cannot miss the opportunity to reiterate what you and the rest of the world already knows. The proverbial beating of the dead horse is how we compensate for not being permitted to own firearms.

Rich and I do not lump all Americans together. We do however go by what Americans on this forum say and what we see on the TV news etc.

Tanslation:We actually do, we just won't admit to it...secretly we're hooked on CHiPs, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies and we hate ourselves for it so we take it out on you.

Many Americans here own or carry guns like we may own a mobile. Some have said they would shoot an intruder dead without question. Some kill animals with the gun - although why they can't go to a butcher like normal people is beyond me. Some have even listed many different types of weapons (guns) that they own, as if it was a "mine's bigger than yours" scenario..

Translation: We can't own guns, so we don't understand the multitude of uses, other than the sensationalistic reporting of the completely unbiased media, so we must therefore conclude that these dastardly deeds must be the only thing they're good for. The media is always right, after all. Oh, and the "some have even listed..." thing was in direct answer to the question "What types/sizes/number do you own?" question, posed by us in the first place, but we won't mention that.

So, given that the Americans here are a cross section of normal people, then therefore the majority of the US populace must own or carry a gun. There are some Americans here that abhore the thought of owning a gun.

...so they must also be a cross section of normal people...which would mean that we actually understand that not all Americans are gun toting psychopaths, but we like to start sh*te so we'll just ignore that part.

Rich and I are trying to get to the root of. . . . . why?? - and it seems its written in a scrap of meaningless outdated paper so they have to do it.

Translation: Those Yanks keep explaining it in such a manner that they don't fall into our closed minded view of the world, so we'll just keep asking the question until someone falls into our trap and answers like we want them to...muh-ha-ha-ha!

Oh, and never, ever resist the opportunity to degrade anything American...they seem to like it.

 

[ColinEssex]

JSanders - I only dip in and out of these forums and unfortunately it seems that whenever I do dip in you seem to be arguing with Col et al.

we always argue Nikki - its good for the soul In fact, Jenny said he was leaving at one point but couldn't stay away coz he missed us so much

And I'm fairly certain that we've had cases in this country of intruders being shot....

we do. But having a gun in the house or about our person is extremely rare in the UK.

And please don't get the impression that I'm in any way in favour of guns or whatever. I don't even see the point in shoot-em-up video games.

You didn't give that impression, you are after all, from the UK.

Col

 

[jsanders]

VA is Vancouver isn't it?


Edit - too slow that time methinks, and I was wrong! That said though, something is niggling in the back of my mind thats making me doubt whether Vancouver is US or Canadian... lol

...Canadian

 

[ColinEssex]

...secretly we're hooked on CHiPs, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies and we hate ourselves for it so we take it out on you.

Never heard of Green Acres.
The Beverley Hillbillies are stereotypically what US mountain folk are like - although this was superceeded by The (sickly)Waltons.

CHiPs is one of the better programmes featuring the Kawasaki K1000P motorcycle, also they had some really neat car crash scenes.
Incidentally, CHiPs was filmed in LA using unopened bits of motorways (freeways) until later episodes when they had to move the filming to the docks area near the Queen Mary. This was around the time Erik Estrada got chucked out for demanding too much money and also the other cast members hated his arrogant guts

Another couple of good programmes around that time was "Adam12" and "Emergency!" - "Emergency!" featured Robert Fuller as the star, who also was Jess Harper in Laramie. Fuller played Dr Brackett in the hospital who covered everything from brain surgery to emergency room work - he was apparently the only doctor at the LA hospital.

Adam12 was the "sister" show of CHiPs following the patrol cars in LA. A sort of updated "Car 54 where are you" or "Highway Patrol" which of course starred the brilliant Broderick "10/4" Crawford

Col

 

[nikkypickles]

Geography

VA is Virginia.

Thanks J - Given that I know very little about the geography of my own country (I went to Ormskirk for my geography fieldtrip - a town which made such an impression on me I am unable, to this day, to find it on a map! ) and my education of most things American actually came off the cartoon Animaniacs (I can still sing all the presidents up to and including Clinton) it's nice to learn something new.

And I actually knew that Vancouver was in Canada - but only because I used to be an X-phile and read up about it.

 

[KenHigg]

we always argue Nikki - its good for the soul In fact, Jenny said he was leaving at one point but couldn't stay away coz he missed us so much

It's like physical pain. Everyone wants a life without it. But without pain we'd never know if something is wrong. Pain is a like a warning signal. So....

In this case we're not sure if the pain (of enduring Col & Rich's rude comments), is trying tell us something is wrong with the US or if something is wrong with Col & Rich

 

[KenHigg]

CHiPs is one of the better programmes featuring the Kawasaki K1000P motorcycle, also they had some really neat car crash scenes.
Incidentally, CHiPs was filmed in LA using unopened bits of motorways (freeways) until later episodes when they had to move the filming to the docks area near the Queen Mary. This was around the time Erik Estrada got chucked out for demanding too much money and also the other cast members hated his arrogant guts

Another couple of good programmes around that time was "Adam12" and "Emergency!" - "Emergency!" featured Robert Fuller as the star, who also was Jess Harper in Laramie. Fuller played Dr Brackett in the hospital who covered everything from brain surgery to emergency room work - he was apparently the only doctor at the LA hospital.

Adam12 was the "sister" show of CHiPs following the patrol cars in LA. A sort of updated "Car 54 where are you" or "Highway Patrol" which of course starred the brilliant Broderick "10/4" Crawford

Col

This reads like a book review from Mile-O. You're spending way to much time in front of the tube Col.

 

[ColinEssex]

This reads like a book review from Mile-O. You're spending way to much time in front of the tube Col.

Sadly, these programmes arn't on any more, I'm going back a few years here.

Anyway, can't you read into this that some good stuff comes out of the USA?

Col

 

[KenHigg]

...Anyway, can't you read into this that some good stuff comes out of the USA?

Col

Oh. Sorry. I guess they were ok for their time -

 

[Bodisathva]

Anyway, can't you read into this that some good stuff comes out of the USA?

But you spell your other ideas out so clearly...guess we were just taken aback by the sudden shift to subtlety.

 

[ColinEssex]

Oh. Sorry. I guess they were ok for their time -

They were brilliant - all real stunts, not your computer generated rubbish you get these days. Much better than anything the UK TV had to offer at the time.

Other such classics are

Whirlybirds
77 Sunset Strip
Gunsmoke

Yes, credit to the Yanks in those days, they had everything we didn't - the fab cars, pop stars, neon, refrigerators, non bombed out buildings . . . . . . .. .if it was American, it had to be good.

why did it all go so horribly wrong?

Col

 

[Bodisathva]

why did it all go so horribly wrong?

That's more like it

 

[jsanders]

But you spell your other ideas out so clearly...guess we were just taken aback by the sudden shift to subtlety.

Which is funny; because TV shows, of all things, I would not rate at the top of our export list.

It seems to me that if you’re going to acknowledge fine American workmanship and quality exports, you would want to talk about F15s, Tow Missiles, M1A2 Abrams tanks, and the likes of those.

Now that's American, by gosh.

 

[ColinEssex]

But you spell your other ideas out so clearly...guess we were just taken aback by the sudden shift to subtlety.

oh my god - what am I saying . . . . . . ."credit to the Yanks"????

I feel strange, its like St Paul on the road to Damascus - I'll be saying "howdee doody pardner" next. . . . . .

Col

 

[KenHigg]

why did it all go so horribly wrong?

Col

Seems it ended about the time Jimmy Carter and the democrats showed up

 

[Bodisathva]

- I'll be saying "howdee doody pardner" next. . . . . .

I'm betting on "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition", myself

 

[jsanders]

Seems it ended about the time Jimmy Carter and the democrats showed up

That’s right Ken, because those highly moralistic Republicans that preceded him were so honest, Beaver Cleaver, and Apple Pie.

 

[jsanders]

oh my god - what am I saying . . . . . . ."credit to the Yanks"????

I feel strange, its like St Paul on the road to Damascus - I'll be saying "howdee doody pardner" next. . . . . .

Col

A simple "howdy" would suffice.

Which by the way is short for "how are you", and is being replaced by comostas.