I saw those weapons on 'Buffy'.

Offbeat News
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Fighting Crime the 11th Century Way....

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Tighter gun ownership laws are pushing South Africans to buy crossbows, spears, swords, knives and pepper sprays to protect themselves from violent crime.

"We've had to build an entirely new shop because the demand from people is so great," Justin Willmers, owner of Durban Guns and Ammo, told Reuters. "It can be anything from a Zulu fighting spear, battle axes, swords, crossbows."

New gun controls came into force last year under South Africa's Firearms Control Act, but some weapons shop owners say high crime rates are pushing law abiding citizens to look for alternative means of defending themselves.

Despite official figures showing the murder rate falling 10 percent in the year to March 2004, South Africa's Arms and Ammunition Dealers Association says individuals face a one in 60 chance of being the victim of a violent crime in any given year.

Many houses are surrounded by razor wire and electric fences, but with police turning down 80 percent of firearms license requests after an 18-month application process, Association spokesman Alex Holmes said people were forced to look at other options.

"It's not really a matter of choice," Holmes said. "Licensed firearms are not used in crime at any great rate."

Estimates of the number of illegal firearms in South Africa vary between 1 and 4 million, he said, but the real problem is from some 30-40,000 hardcore criminals using a small number of illegal guns.

SILENT CROSSBOW

South Africa began a firearms amnesty on Jan. 1 that to date has netted some 13,000 weapons, officials told Reuters, but critics say most of the weapons handed in are old and would never have been used for crime.

"It's mostly been grannies and grandpas that are handing in weapons that are probably unusable anyhow," Willmers said. In the meantime, people from all walks of life are acquiring weapons not restricted by law.

"The guys have just had enough," Willmers said.

Men are buying machetes to fight off hijackers or crossbows to shoot people breaking into their property, while women are more likely to buy a pepper spray, he said.

One customer successfully fought off three hijackers with a machete, slashing one, he said. A beggar had bought a pepper spray so he could fight off those who tried to steal his shoes as he slept on the street.

With some homeowners worried about prosecution if they kill intruders, the crossbow is particularly popular because of its silence and the difficulty of tracing the firer from forensic evidence, he said.

With no legal restrictions on sales, weapons shop staff had to exercise judgment in who they sold to, Willmers said.

hm...I dunno..

You scored as agnosticism. You are an agnostic. Though it is generally taken that agnostics neither believe nor disbelieve in God, it is possible to be a theist or atheist in addition to an agnostic. Agnostics don't believe it is possible to prove the existence of God (nor lack thereof). Agnosticism is a philosophy that God's existence cannot be proven. Some say it is possible to be agnostic and follow a religion; however, one cannot be a devout believer if he or she does not truly believe. agnosticism 71% Buddhism 67% Hinduism 67% Islam 63% Paganism 58% Judaism 50% Satanism 46% Christianity 42% atheism 42% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

As it so happens, I'm an eldest child.

Offbeat News
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Older Siblings Smarter, Norwegian Study Shows

OSLO (Reuters) - First born children in Norway get better education and as adults are more successful in the job market than younger siblings, a Norwegian-U.S. study showed.

"It is the birth order and not necessarily the size of the family that is important," said economics professor Kjell Salvanes of the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. "It is better if you are the first born." Salvanes and two colleagues from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) based their study on census data of Norwegians born between 1912 and 1975.

The findings will be published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, a Harvard publication, in May.

They found that younger siblings tend to get less schooling than their elders and then end up with lower pay on average and were more likely to be in part-time work, Salvanes said. The findings were likely to hold true in other countries, he said.

"In terms of educational attainment, if you are the fourth born instead of the first, you get almost one year less education, and that is quite a lot," Salvanes told Reuters.

And first-born children tend to weigh more at birth than their younger brothers and sisters, which is a good predictor for educational success, Salvanes said.

Children alone with two adults also tend to get more intellectual stimulation than children in large families who get less parental attention, he said.

First-born children seem to learn from teaching their younger siblings, contrary to the common notion that younger children benefit by learning from their elders, Salvanes said.

So does that mean big sisters really are smarter?

"Yes. It's hard to admit because I have older sisters," Salvanes said.

RACHEL'S THOUGHTS

Welcome to RACHEL'S THOUGHTS. Yes, I know it's been a while...that's usually the case.

I feel like I've seen a lot of movies lately. Have I? Let's see...

I saw Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior a couple weeks ago with the 19-year-old brother. YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE. It's a Thai film, and unlike anything you have seen before.

Finally saw AVP, cuz someone rented it. Sanaa Lathan kicks ass.

and I saw Constantine. I liked it more than she did. I've heard a lot of people criticize it, but I thought it was a pretty good movie, and worth seeing.

Oh! Shaun of the Dead! Very entertaining. Very. It drags in the beginning, but that's part of the whole vibe, and by the time you get to the action-y parts, you've forgotten about that and are just enjoying. I love zombie movies.

Forrest_930, Libralyte, and I had a LotR day. We watched the entire trilogy in one day. I know, I know- crazy. It went more smoothly, more quickly, than I had expected, actually. We had yummy food and yummy Men of Middle-Earth, so we definitely enjoyed ourselves.

I think that's it for recently-viewed movies.. Two out of three brothers are in the next room right now, and they're driving me nuts. If it weren't for the snow, they'd both be in class right now. Dammit.

Jeez. There's an actual LiveJournal community called _sluts_: Snarry Lovers United Through Smut. Dear God. You know they came up with the acronym first.

There's my fricking brother again, being a pain in the ass. Argh! Anyway... The RH notebook is full. This is the fourth nb. I don't have one designated as #5 just yet, so I don't know what it will be named.
I now give you some farewell quotes from the latest notebook:

* "There's nothing more confusing than watching a naked man running."

* "Stretch Armstrong was like the gay version of Ken." [RT: Considering how gay Ken could be...wow.]

* "Unless it was an e-vite. I don't read..e-vites."

* "I make my face look like this, and concerned words come out."

And finally, a bit of advice:

If Life hands you lemons today, smile and say thanks. Then when it isn't looking, give Life a quick knee to the groin. That'll learn him.
Until next time, I am The Rachel.