[ exit, pursued by bear ]

Dearest Lilith:

I’m writing to you from a loft in London. Mom and dad are staying in an area called Shoreditch. William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage lived her many years ago, and now it’s a lot like Echo Park - the area where Rhodes lives. It has lots of nice restaurants, pubs, and little stores, but it isn’t posh. We are staying in a loft that we rented from a nice man named Rafa. I’ll send you pictures of the place later today. He has lots of interesting decorations.

We took a red eye flight from Los Angeles, which means we flew through the night and arrived the next day. It was interesting waking up in a new country! When I was dozing off, I started thinking about what a miracle of engineering and ingenuity it is that we are able to sleep while flying in the air. I mean, think about it… science has made it possible for us to sleep in mid-air!

A trip this distance took only 11 hours by airplane. Without planes, we would have to have traveled by ship, and that would have taken weeks. Science is wonderful!

After your dad and I freshened up last night, we went walking around the neighborhood. We found a nice Italian restaurant; you’ll be happy to know that there’s lots of spaghetti in London! After that, we went to a little neighborhood market that had more different kinds of tea and different kinds of honey than I could have imagined. I will bring you home some English honey!

When we came back to the apartment, there was a black and white cat on the stairs. He was very nice, and very insistent that we let him into our flat! I heard him meowing and playing with his friends outside all night. He is a very musical kitty cat, and I fully expect that he will visit again tonight!

The loudest raven I’ve ever heard woke me up this morning. It was like having a birdy alarm clock! The crows and ravens we have at home are loud, but this guy sounded like he had a bullhorn. When I opened my eyes, I was convinced that it was 7am. There was something about the color of the sunlight that seemed very 7am’ish. The sun rises and sets at a different time in London than it does for us in LA: right now, the sun comes up at 4:45, and it’s still a bit light outside at almost 10pm.

Your daddy and I are off to the Tower of London this morning, and might go to the British Museum if we have any energy after that. Your daddy and I love you with all of our hearts! I will write again soon! Please send me lots of pictures! I don't know if I can get texts - we can try! - so email them to us if you can.

I love you more than love! You are my sun and moon and stars. I will catch some British sunbeams for you, and make you a sunbeam pie when I get home!


Mom

I can't believe it has been a year since I've posted here. *waves*

tl;dr to follow:

It’s rare that I actually change my mind about something. I’m a stubborn old hag, and in my peculiar way, I can be very set in my worldview. Last night, I changed my mind about gun control. I’ve been on the fence for some time, and my friends that are anti-gun control proponents have made some very good points in the past that have made me wibble on my stance in this issue. Prompted by yesterday’s unspeakable tragedy, I started reading and rereading a metric shit ton of articles related to gun violence. I’ve changed my mind: I have scooted firmly into the pro-gun control camp. I don’t think that America needs to be disarmed, nor do I think that’s even possible. This country’s love of guns is too deeply entrenched in its culture. I think that common sense laws need to be enacted, and assault rifles need to be banned.


Here’s the crux of what changed my mind:

Yesterday morning, a man walked into an American elementary school with a Glock and a Sig Sauer. 28 people are dead, 20 of whom were children.

Yesterday morning, a man walked into a Chinese elementary school and stabbed 22 children and one adult. None of the victims died.


It’s the contrast that solidified my feelings once and for all. Yes, knives, mallets, rose shears, brass knuckles, broken beer bottles, and sharpened sticks can all be utilized by violent people to commit violent crimes, but you just can’t beat guns – especially automatic weapons – when it comes to the efficient slaughter of human beings.


So, here’s some links. I’m not sharing these because I’m trying to sway anyone’s opinion – honestly, I am soulsick, tired, and (hoping no one takes offense) I honestly don’t give two shits whether anyone agrees with me. I simply want to share a few of the links I pulled up in the last few days just in case some of you want to give them a look over. It’s just food for thought. Discuss, or don't, as you please.


Extremely interesting list of studies of gun use compiled by the Harvard School of Public Health
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/firearms-research/index.html
(This is a tremendously valuable resource.)

Global Murder Rates
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/oct/10/world-murder-rate-unodc


Gun Homicides and Gun Ownership Listed by Country
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list

Children and Gun Deaths
http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/protect-children-not-guns-2012.pdf

It’s Easier For Americans To Access Guns Than Mental Health Services
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/12/14/1338021/its-easier-for-americans-to-access-guns-than-mental-health-services/

A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/a-land-without-guns-how-japan-has-virtually-eliminated-shooting-deaths/260189/
(Thank you, Spencer.)

Twelve Facts About Guns and Mass Shootings in the US
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/

Why School Shootings Don’t Lead to Tighter Gun Control in the US
http://qz.com/36996/why-school-shootings-dont-lead-to-tighter-gun-control-in-the-us/

More Guns, More Mass Shootings -- Coincidence?
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/mass-shootings-investigation

A Guide to Mass Shootings in America
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map

Twelve Facts About Guns and Mass Shootings in the United States

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/

The Geography of Gun Deaths

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/01/the-geography-of-gun-deaths/69354/

Cross-Border Spillover

https://files.nyu.edu/od9/public/papers/Cross_border_spillover.pdf

The Case for Gun Policy Reforms in America

http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-gun-policy-and-research/publications/WhitePaper102512_CGPR.pdf

Mythbusting: Israel and Switzerland Are Not Gun-Toting Utopias

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/mythbusting-israel-and-switzerland-are-not-gun-toting-utopias/


Look, the idea that armed bystanders would have been able to stop any of these mass shootings is absurd cowboy nonsense. Here’s the thing: if someone goes into a classroom (or a movie theatre, or a church, or a mall, WHEREVER) with a semi or fully automatic gun with a high-capacity magazine and he or she starts shooting, /a lot of people will die/, period. Even if there are armed good-guy cowboys present, people will die, and these well-intentioned cowboys, having likely never received formal training, will only add to the body count. Arming MORE people isn’t the answer; the only rational way to minimize the frequency of mass shootings is to increase access to mental health services, work towards removing the stigmas attached to asking for emotional and psychological help, and implement policies that would make automatic and semi-automatic weapons as well as high-capacity magazines illegal (at best) or (at the very least) much harder to acquire. Two-thirds of the guns used in mass shootings in recent years were purchased legally. There is something grievously wrong with our gun policy.

Here are some measures that even the NRA supports:
1. Requiring criminal background checks on gun owners and gun shop employees. 87 percent of non-NRA gun-owners and 74 percent of NRA gun owners support the former, and 80 percent and 79 percent, respectively, endorse the latter.

2. Prohibiting terrorist watch list members from acquiring guns. Support ranges from 80 percent among non-NRA gun-owners to 71 percent among NRA members.

3. Mandating that gun-owners tell the police when their gun is stolen. 71 percent non-NRA gun-owners support this measure, as do 64 percent of NRA members.

4. Concealed carry permits should only be restricted to individuals who have completed a safety training course and are 21 and older. 84 percent of non-NRA and 74 percent of NRA member gun-owners support the safety training restriction, and the numbers are 74 percent and 63 percent for the age restriction.

5. Concealed carry permits shouldn’t be given to perpetrators of violent misdemeanors or individuals arrested for domestic violence. The NRA/non-NRA gun-owner split on these issues is 81 percent and 75 percent in favor of the violent misdemeanors provision and 78 percent/68 percent in favor of the domestic violence restriction.

(Ref: http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/07/24/577091/nra-members-agree-regulating-guns-makes-sense/)

I’m not saying that we should hack apart the 2nd amendment; what I’m saying is that we need to take a long, hard look at what our priorities are as a nation, and make some efforts to keep congressmen from getting shot in the face and keep children from being massacred in their classrooms.

- - -

Harvard Firearms Research: Homicide
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/firearms-research/guns-and-death/index.html

1. Where there are more guns there is more homicide (literature review).
Our review of the academic literature found that a broad array of evidence indicates that gun availability is a risk factor for homicide, both in the United States and across high-income countries. Case-control studies, ecological time-series and cross-sectional studies indicate that in homes, cities, states and regions in the US, where there are more guns, both men and women are at higher risk for homicide, particularly firearm homicide.

Hepburn, Lisa; Hemenway, David. Firearm availability and homicide: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal. 2004; 9:417-40.

2. Across high-income nations, more guns = more homicide.
We analyzed the relationship between homicide and gun availability using data from 26 developed countries from the early 1990s. We found that across developed countries, where guns are more available, there are more homicides. These results often hold even when the United States is excluded.

Hemenway, David; Miller, Matthew. Firearm availability and homicide rates across 26 high income countries. Journal of Trauma. 2000; 49:985-88.

3. Across states, more guns = more homicide
Using a validated proxy for firearm ownership, we analyzed the relationship between firearm availability and homicide across 50 states over a ten year period (1988-1997).
After controlling for poverty and urbanization, for every age group, people in states with many guns have elevated rates of homicide, particularly firearm homicide.

Miller, Matthew; Azrael, Deborah; Hemenway, David. Household firearm ownership levels and homicide rates across U.S. regions and states, 1988-1997. American Journal of Public Health. 2002: 92:1988-1993.

4. Across states, more guns = more homicide (2)
Using survey data on rates of household gun ownership, we examined the association between gun availability and homicide across states, 2001-2003. We found that states with higher levels of household gun ownership had higher rates of firearm homicide and overall homicide. This relationship held for both genders and all age groups, after accounting for rates of aggravated assault, robbery, unemployment, urbanization, alcohol consumption, and resource deprivation (e.g., poverty). There was no association between gun prevalence and non-firearm homicide.


Miller, Matthew; Azrael, Deborah; Hemenway, David. State-level homicide victimization rates in the U.S. in relation to survey measures of household firearm ownership, 2001-2003. Social Science and Medicine. 2007; 64:656-64.


Harvard Firearms Research: Gun-Threats and Self-Defense Gun Use
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/firearms-research/gun-threats-and-self-defense-gun-use/index.html

1-3 Guns are not used millions of times each year in self-defense
We use epidemiological theory to explain why the "false positive" problem for rare events can lead to large overestimates of the incidence of rare diseases or rare phenomena such as self-defense gun use. We then try to validate the claims of many millions of annual self-defense uses against available evidence. We find that the claim of many millions of annual self-defense gun uses by American citizens is invalid.

Hemenway, David. Survey research and self-defense gun use: An explanation of extreme overestimates. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 1997; 87:1430-1445.

Hemenway, David. The myth of millions of annual self-defense gun uses: A case study of survey overestimates of rare events. Chance (American Statistical Association). 1997; 10:6-10.

Cook, Philip J; Ludwig, Jens; Hemenway, David. The gun debate's new mythical number: How many defensive uses per year? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 1997; 16:463-469.


4. Most purported self-defense gun uses are gun uses in escalating arguments and are both socially undesirable and illegal

We analyzed data from two national random-digit-dial surveys conducted under the auspices of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center. Criminal court judges who read the self-reported accounts of the purported self-defense gun use rated a majority as being illegal, even assuming that the respondent had a permit to own and to carry a gun, and that the respondent had described the event honestly from his own perspective.

Hemenway, David; Miller, Matthew; Azrael, Deborah. Gun use in the United States: Results from two national surveys. Injury Prevention. 2000; 6:263-267.


5. Firearms are used far more often to intimidate than in self-defense.

Using data from a national random-digit-dial telephone survey conducted under the direction of the Harvard Injury Control Center, we examined the extent and nature of offensive gun use. We found that firearms are used far more often to frighten and intimidate than they are used in self-defense. All reported cases of criminal gun use, as well as many of the so-called self-defense gun uses, appear to be socially undesirable.

Hemenway, David; Azrael, Deborah. The relative frequency of offensive and defensive gun use: Results of a national survey. Violence and Victims. 2000; 15:257-272.


6. Guns in the home are used more often to intimidate intimates than to thwart crime.

Using data from a national random-digit-dial telephone survey conducted under the direction of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, we investigated how and when guns are used in the home. We found that guns in the home are used more often to frighten intimates than to thwart crime; other weapons are far more commonly used against intruders than are guns.

Publication: Azrael, Deborah R; Hemenway, David. In the safety of your own home: Results from a national survey of gun use at home. Social Science and Medicine. 2000; 50:285-91.


7. Adolescents are far more likely to be threatened with a gun than to use one in self-defense.

We analyzed data from a telephone survey of 5,800 California adolescents aged 12-17, which asked questions about gun threats against, and self-defense gun use by these young people. We found that these young people were far more likely to be threatened with a gun than to use a gun in self-defense, and most of the reported self-defense gun uses were hostile interactions between armed adolescents. Males, smokers, binge drinkers, those who threatened others and whose parents were less likely to know their whereabouts were more likely both to be threatened with a gun and to use a gun in self-defense.
Hemenway, David; Miller, Matthew. Gun threats against and self-defense gun use by California adolescents. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 2004; 158:395-400.


8. Criminals who are shot are typically the victims of crime

Using data from a survey of detainees in a Washington D.C. jail, we worked with a prison physician to investigate the circumstances of gunshot wounds to these criminals.

We found that one in four of these detainees had been wounded, in events that appear unrelated to their incarceration. Most were shot when they were victims of robberies, assaults and crossfires. Virtually none report being wounded by a "law-abiding citizen."

May, John P; Hemenway, David. Oen, Roger; Pitts, Khalid R. When criminals are shot: A survey of Washington DC jail detainees. Medscape General Medicine. 2000; June 28. www.medscape.com


9-10. Few criminals are shot by decent law abiding citizens

Using data from surveys of detainees in six jails from around the nation, we worked with a prison physician to determine whether criminals seek hospital medical care when they are shot. Criminals almost always go to the hospital when they are shot. To believe fully the claims of millions of self-defense gun uses each year would mean believing that decent law-abiding citizens shot hundreds of thousands of criminals. But the data from emergency departments belie this claim, unless hundreds of thousands of wounded criminals are afraid to seek medical care. But virtually all criminals who have been shot went to the hospital, and can describe in detail what happened there.

May, John P; Hemenway, David. Oen, Roger; Pitts, Khalid R. Medical Care Solicitation by Criminals with Gunshot Wound Injuries: A Survey of Washington DC Jail Detainees. Journal of Trauma. 2000; 48:130-132.

May, John P; Hemenway, David. Do Criminals Go to the Hospital When They are Shot? Injury Prevention 2002: 8:236-238.

[ Zombie Institute for Theoretical Studies / Zombie Threat Level ]

One of the first (if not the first) illustrations of Cthulhu. Doodled by HP Lovecraft.

Bram Stoker’s private journal -in which he sketched out his first thoughts about his legendary creation Dracula -has been unearthed after more than 100 years.

The thin, unmarked book was discovered on a shelf in his great-grandson’s home on the Isle of Wight. It had been passed down by his ancestors for more than a century before arriving in Noel Dobbs’ home.

He was unaware of what the book was until a US researcher contacted him to ask if he knew about a journal his famous relative had written.

Dobbs then dug out the tiny tome which was signed ‘Abraham Stoker’. There were 305 entries dating from 1871 when Stoker was in his 20s. Some are pages long, with others just a few sentences. The journal also contains romantic poems.

He sent photocopies of a few pages to his cousin, Dacre Stoker, a professor in South Carolina, who has now written a book about his famous ancestor based on the journal.

‘When I saw it, I was amazed. ‘I thought, “The Holy Grail! We’ve found it,” ’ said Mr Stoker.

‘There is so little written by Bram about Bram. Family, scholars and fans wanted to know what made the man who wrote Dracula tick. And here we had a major set of clues.’

His book, The Lost Journal, will be published next March to mark the centenary of the author’s death.

The last entry of Stoker’s journal in 1881 hints at a major character he would use in Dracula, a man who was driven to eat living things including flies. One passage says: ‘A man builds up his shadow on a wall bit by bit by adding to substance. Suddenly the shadow becomes alive.’

[ source ]

It's probably terrible that I think these are funny. Good for Thanksgiving dinner with the family, yes?

I quit smoking over a year ago. Still not lovin' it.

At dinner tonight, we're talking about how Zoë eats everything. She's voracious -- this little girl has food drive like no other dog I've ever known. I tell Ted that Zoë chewed a hole in my hose again. Lilith stops eating, turns to me, and says,

"Fuck, she did? That's bad news."

>.>

Today, Lilith pretended we were all camping at Mt. Vesuvius. It was the strangest thing. We were in the car, driving out to run errands after picking her up from school. She told us that she wanted to pretend we were camping, and for me to pull up the camping place on a map. (We zoom the nav to somewhere green when she asks for this; I usually choose Griffith Park.) Then she starts telling us that we're camping in Mt. Vesuvius, and she describes it to us: there are statues everywhere, and the fountains are all black. There are butterflies, too. And caterpillars. And the flowers grow large and beautiful.

I've never mentioned Pompeii or Mt. Vesuvius, and I don't imagine that she's learned about this in preschool. I haven't been watching much tv, so I don't think she picked it up that way. It's all very strange and weirdly lovely. At the risk of sounding goofy -- is this a past life memory?