Almost Like Reporting At The NY Times

As reassurance that the dog barks and yes, the caravan passes by, the NY Times picks up on the link between suicide and guns.

They manage to make several important points:

Guns are particularly lethal. Suicidal acts with guns are fatal in 85 percent of cases, while those with pills are fatal in just 2 percent of cases, according to the Harvard Injury Control Research Center.

And yes, suicides can be prevented. For many people, especially teenagers, the suicidal impulse is transitory; if a quick and lethal gun is not available, by the time the would-be suicide cobbles something else together the urge has passed:

Suicidal acts are often prompted by a temporary surge of rage or despair, and most people who attempt them do not die. In a 2001 study of 13- to 34-year-olds in Houston who had attempted suicide but were saved by medical intervention, researchers from the C.D.C. found that, for more than two-thirds of them, the time that elapsed between deciding to act and taking action was an hour or less. The key to reducing fatalities, experts say, is to block access to lethal means when the suicidal feeling spikes.

They also offer a fascinating speculation on the correlation between gun ownership and suicide:

Still, some dispute the link, saying that it does not prove cause and effect, and that other factors, like alcoholism and drug abuse, may be driving the association. Gary Kleck, a professor of criminology at Florida State University in Tallahassee, contends that gun owners may have qualities that make them more susceptible to suicide. They may be more likely to see the world as a hostile place, or to blame themselves when things go wrong, a dark side of self-reliance.

The dark side of self-reliance... hmm. Obama's Julia will never kill herself, since that would be taking charge of her own life; the boldest step she will ever take is voting for an even more compassionate Democrat.

This article is almost like reporting. No attempt is made to explain how an 'assault weapons' ban or limits on magazine capacity could bring down the suicide rate. And the one area where reforms might be helpful in preventing suicide - background check reporting on the mentally ill - goes unmentioned. For a bit on that, here is Dr. Swanson of Duke, who has been studying violence and mental illness for decades:

Depression is the particular psychiatric illness most strongly associated with suicide. Social disadvantage plays a role both in the etiology of depressive illness and disparities in its treatment. Depression is not, however, a disorder that gets most patients a gun-disqualifying record of involuntarily commitment. In other words, people suffering from the one mental health condition that is most closely and frequently linked to suicidality are unlikely to show up in a gun background check.

I was afraid of that. And the side effects of some common anti-depression drugs include the promotion of suicidal thoughts, so the web is tangled.

Dr. Swanson has more:

To date, the only empirical evidence that gun restrictions on people with a history of mental illness might prevent firearm violence in the US population comes from a national evaluation of the Brady Act (Ludwig & Cook, 2000). That study found that gun purchaser background checks and waiting periods had no significant effect on homicide rates, but did reduce the suicide rate by 6 percent in people over age 55.

 

 

Comments

[Jim Eagle]

You know in all the discussions about gun violence and mass murder never once have I seen the Post Office come up? Whatever happened to "going postal"? And will cutting out saturday deliveries effectively reduce "going postal" by 14%.

[narciso]

Ah, we're back to the two Joycesters, Ludwig and Cook, who still manage to get something right.

[matt]

New York has had an epidemic of jumpers in recent months as well. Maybe they should ban bridges. It would be safer for everyone and keep a large percentage of the crazies away from the rest of us.

[Jim Eagle]

OT: This didn't take long. Reclaim America is selling them for $25.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Half of all suicides are non firearms related so somebody is getting the job done without guns around.

The idea that suicidal impulses are transitory is no doubt true but if the implication is that they do not recur, that seems counterfactual.
One failed attempt is often followed by a more "successful" one.
Seems to me there's a very big question whether most pill attempts even amount to actual attempts.

[Jim Eagle]

The World According to Dick Cheney.

Trailer

Worth it.

[Old Lurker]

Who says the reps aren't idiots? Somebody has to be the tax collector for the Welfare State and you can't trust the dems to get it done I guess.

Wash Examiner: "Legislation clearing the way for states to collect sales tax on consumer internet sales -- long off limits -- is picking up steam with the support of Republicans in the Senate and conservative governors. On Thursday, Wyoming Republican Sen. Michael Enzi and Tennessee´s Lamar Alexander are joining Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin to unveil the "Marketplace Fairness Act" which would let states compel online and catalog merchants, no matter where they´re located, to collect sales tax."

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

This story about the Iranians' fake "stealth" fighter is pretty funny until you stop and consider these bumbling sophomoric photoshoppers are running rings around our "leaders" and a majority of us picked our idiots whereas the Iranians have their imbeciles imposed on them.

[daddy]

Good Morning!

Cross posting my comment from a dead thread about Chubby's anger at ineffective GOP attack ads.

the GOP ad "58 trillion dimes" which I just watched at RCP SUCKS bigtime

Chubby,

Donald Trump and Mark levin share your disdain for our Republican ad-makers. Yesterday on Levin's Show Trump gave max crap to Rove for producing a recent ad going after Ashley Judd's run for Senate. Trump.

Trump says the ad makes Ashley Judd look beautiful and simply has her praising the President. His point was that this stupid negative ad was precisely the sort of ad the Dem's would produce as a positive ad in order to make Judd look super attractive and to tie her in with the popularity of Obama amongst Dems. Trump said it was one of the stupidest ads ever and he laid the blame at the feet of Karl Rove.

Here's a HuffPo link to Trumps anger if you care to read it.

In response to the ad, Judd's publicist told The Washington Post that Judd thanked McConnell, Rove and "their negative allies for all the attention."

That last line sez it all.

[Beasts of England]

Matt@1:07 - Obviously they can't eliminate bridges - don't be silly! The only sane solution is to rebuild them all much closer to the water - perhaps six feet above the mean pool. Of course, this 'investment' would stimulate the economy. A two-fer! And adding some water softener to all assault rivers and assault lakes would also mitigate the impact of deceleration, further reducing suicides. Or, if he truly cared about our citizens, he would sign an executive order repealing the racist and unconstitutional laws of gravity. After all, if it only saves the life of one child...

[narciso]

Whose ad, was that, one could screen grab a pic for the many serial killer films she has heen in, or this;

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/ashley-judd-twitter-frenzy-romneys-47-remarks/story?id=17272847

[daddy]

From a link at Insty on Asteroid Near Misses, here's a glance at whats zipping by tomorrow:

Asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass closest on February 15, 2013. As the image above shows, it will pass much closer than the orbit of the moon – closer even that orbiting geosynchronous satellites (22,000 miles). Image via NASA. Read more about the close asteroid flyby here.

[matt]

The same would then hold true with tall buildings as well.

I should e mail Mike Bloomberg and suggest that either every tall building have permanent nets that roll the potential suicidee into escape slides that drop them safely back into the building or that all buildings in New York be no higher than 12'.

After all, someone could take a running jump and crack their skull if jumping from anything higher.

And we should ban rope and sheets as well, and chairs.

[Beasts of England]

Not to mention those evil self-wrecking automobiles...

[squaredance]

First, you had to know that sooner or later gun ownership would be euqated in one way or another with "mental illness".

There is a lot of talk about "mental illness" here recently, but one should always use this term with caution. So little of Psychiatry is actual science , and very few of its practitioners truly may be called as scientists. It is often just opinion and assumptions backed up by rhetorical posturing and statistics. There are all manner of fuzzy notions here: mood vs. emotion; clinical states vs. treatable conditions, affect, etc. Many of these concepts are far from the preview of science, and indeed the very terms uses to describe them often creep in from ethics and other branches philosophy, and even religion. (Psychiatry has once been called "a secular attempt at recreating the Talmud") There all manner of theoretical positions, a great many of them beyond the tools of science, including empiricism and the ability to falsify.

It can quickly degenerate to psycho babble. Worse, it can become a weird sort of secular, often utilitarian, attempt at defining "morality" and normalcy, and even normative behavior, and worse, normative "mental states". This is beyond the realm of science and facts, and perhaps even objective reality. Totalitarian regimes have often resorted to this to suppress dissent and to coerce behavior. How are such determinations made, and how reliable, or even meaningful, are they in the context of law in a democratic republic that values liberty?

This is particularity true when it comes to such things as so-called "personality disorders".

This is not to say that there is not "mental illness", but it is to say that there are such things as sickness of the soul and bad character, and there are times of good old fashion stress. Above all, we must not let the Left off the hook off either the hideous, absurd and unworkable culture they have foisted on us, and just plain substance abuse. There is such a society in crisis too. There are the wages of sin.

We must be careful to not avoid unpleasant broader truths by hiding behind imprecise notions of "mental illness".

Defining mental illness, when it comes to legal matters and legal standing, needs to be a rigorous as can be, and there needs to be rather tough standards met before we start taking away people's rights. Above all, we need to avoid this notion of second class citizens who do not have their full right due to some manufactured notion of what is "sane" where that notion is defined by the state at the behest of some political faction, section or special interest.

The cant around gun control aptly demonstrates the risk inherent here.

[narciso]

Well they do seem avoid associating the former, and focus on the gun aspect;

http://freebeacon.com/the-menendez-files/

[squaredance]

Second, of course they will tax online shopping, and the GOP will be right out there gorging themselves at the trough along with the Dems.

They must. We are broke. It is tax, tax, tax while the middle class has something left to tax. Better get your share now cause soon it will all just go away. There is no "rebound to the economy"; we are going down. The only way to get a rebound is to undo the political, social, cultural and economic damage 60 years of "Liberalism" has wrought.

The government will not help us there, nor will the "will" of the broader electorate. All of this is new, to a degree, to America, but it is all to drearily familiar out there in the world at large. This can go only one way.

When Obamacare was upheld as a tax by the SCOTUS, you know that there is notion left but tax farming.

This one is particularly absurd. What valid reason is there at all for sales tax in a state where the firm is not located? Telecommunications is a valid infrastructure expense for a State? Nonsense? It is nothing but theft.

It is absurd as carbon tax, but this makes no difference at all. You got some money? It is ours.

The GOP is destroying themselves as a national party. Even without vote fraud, they are toast in '14. The RINOs have won out, and all they are about are there "careers".

[Chubby]

((There is a lot of talk about "mental illness" here recently,...))

I'd like to see a revival of the term "moral idiocy" which is the real problem that causes people to commit violent crimes even as they are capable of communicating, traveling, dressing and feeding themselves, not to mention read, write, drive a vehicle and accurately aim a gun to commit violent crimes. The only thing that separates a person who does all of the above and uses a gun responsibly from the person who doesn't is moral law, whether one is conscious of that or not. The bottom line is that the responsible individual is contrained by the moral law "thou shalt no murder" while the other isn't.

[Sue]

Two weeks ago my brother and sis in law were on the carnival ship that is broke down. It had trouble then too. They didn't get to go to Cozumel because of engine troubles.

[squaredance]

Goodnes did anyone see this:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-14/heinz-confirms-it-will-be-acquired-buffett-28-billion-transaction-7250share

(the comments are hilarious)

Buffet is buying up Heinz, and at a premium too. Kerry is cashing out big Time. (just in time?)

[sailor]

I have been on three cruises in my life. I would never, never, cruise on Carnival. Always considered the lowest end of the cruise ships. I guess you get what you pay for, Sue.

[squaredance]

Chubby: Exactly.

[squaredance]

preview of science= PURVIEW of science

(darn spell checker)

[GeoffB]

squaredance,
What's funny is that while this crowd loves to assume that owning guns, believing in God, voting Republican and any number of other things are indicative of mental illness, now that violent rampages are being associated with actual mental illness, suddenly they're very worried about unfair stigmatization. This is the one place they are right.

And you, too, are quite right to worry about the use or abuse of the label of "mentally ill" to restrict rights or determine how people are treated in society. It's interesting, though, to see this meme come back to bite them.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Marty Peretz regrets that TNR has been turned into an Obama cheerleading rag by Chris Hughes.
Cue world's smallest violin.

[Chubby]

Squaredance, I have been very impressed by many of your posts, (have even printed some of them out), so I take your agreement with my pov as a high praise indeed.

[centralcal]

So....Senate will vote on cloture today at 4:15 pm. Wanna bet how that turns out?

Megyn Kelley is preggers for the 3rd time.

Lautenberg retires and Booker gets a valentine.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Anyone who has been in the presence of a person with a true personality disorder recognizes at once a great deal of evil and moral depravity, but there is also something seriously wrong with the functioning of their minds and their perceptions of themselves and others.

Mental illness does not preclude evil. They are not legally insane because they know the difference between right and wrong and invariably choose the wrong, but to deny they are mentally ill seems to me about as wrong as one can be.

[squaredance]

Well thanks Chubby, but I merely write what I think at the moment--off the cuff, so to speak. Certainly, I would not think my opinions superior to yours. I often agree with you.

[Thomas Collins]

"What valid reason is there at all for sales tax in a state where the firm is not located?"

The asserted reason is that the buyer avoids state use taxes. The out of state firm avoids a use tax collection obligation because it doesn't have a presence in the purchaser's state. The buyer is typically liable for a state use tax, but buyers rarely if ever pay the use tax. It's similar to a Massachusetts resident going to New Hampshire to buy a computer, bringing the computer home with him, and not paying the use tax.

It's politically easier to impose use tax collection liability on the seller. The state saves the trouble of going into people's homes to audit consumer purchases.

But it ultimately comes back to sheep type behavior of the populace. Politicians are elected and re-elected who view high taxes as their Gaia given right. As long as these types keep getting elected, any manner of operation that avoids taxes (other than a pure underground economy operation) will eventually be closed off.

[sailor]

cc, Repubs will fold, and Hagel will sail through.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Daddy,

Any idea what side of the planet the Asteroid is going to pass by. They say it could really screw up communications if it takes out a few satellites.

[marlene]

Jane,are you listening to Howie Carr? He is discusssing the decision by the Bangor Daily News to request data from Maine law enforcement agencies regarding concealed weapons permits in Maine. The statement in the BDN..."we intend to use this information,along with other information sets we are gathering,to analyze possible correlations relevant to our reporting projects." (re:domestic violence,sexual assault and drug abuse).
They assure their readers that the publication of information as was done by the paper in NY is irresponsible and they won't publish info.
As Howie said,they've opened a hornet's nest.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--It's politically easier to impose use tax collection liability on the seller.--

Agreed TC, but how do they propose getting around the SCOTUS decision affirming that states cannot tax entities without a physical presence in their state?
The right decision from SCOTUS would be, "you don't like collecting use taxes yourself? Tough, that's your constitutional remedy".

[centralcal]

Agree, sailor.

[GUS]

Gun control
Sebelius
HHS.

discuss.

[squaredance]

Well, I assume that what you mean by "use tax" is merely "sales tax". ("Use tax", BTW, sounds like a rather dangerous notion to me. Sounds like they could tax me for every sip of coffee I take.)

Legitimately, a sales tax can only be justified by some sort of cost of that use on the state, or perhaps, and only perhaps, justified by some state wide project which the electorate of that state as agreed apon for the so-called "common good".

They might as well start charging those out of state brick and mortar retailers tax as well, if I understand your logic. While we are at it, should not every state start charging retailers in every other state some sort of tax?

No, the online tax is bogus. Local logistics firms pay local taxes, sales and otherwise. Online firm pay taxes of telecommunication services. Online companies pay taxes in the state that they are located in.

It is pure theft. The notion of cross border taxation is absurd, and, once starte, it will never end.

[Thomas Collins]

Ignatz, see LUN for an article on the taxation of interent sales. The article includes a discussion of how Congress can override the physical presence cases, because those cases were based on the dormant Commerce Clause, not the due process clause. The article also mentions taxpayers' low compliance with use taxes.

[jimmyk]

Legitimately, a sales tax can only be justified by some sort of cost of that use on the state

I presume a state can try to tax whatever or whoever it wants to tax within the boundaries of the state (no "justification" needed), but the practical limit is their ability to collect on it.

Which is just an excuse for one of my favorite Shakespeare quotes:

Glendower:
I can call spirits from the vasty deep.

Hotspur:
Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?

[Thomas Collins]

Squaredance, the sales and use taxes complement each other. Typically, a state imposes a sales tax on a sale at retail within the state. If the sale at retail is taxed, you are not also required to pay the use tax.

Now, let's say you go to a state that imposes no sales taxes and bring your purchased goods back to your home state. There is no retail sale in your home state to tax. However, if your home state does tax sales at retail, it probably also taxes your use of the out-of-state purchased goods within your home state. So you are supposed to fill out the applicable use tax form and pay your use tax even if you bought the goods out of state.

Yes, states literally try to get you coming and going (or, in this case, going [out of state] and coming [back to your home state]).

[centralcal]

Johanns and Cochran - first two R ayes on cloture for Hagel. Only need 3 more R votes.

[Porchlight]

but the practical limit is their ability to collect on it.

True jimmyk, but the mere fact of the tax affects behavior. Spending ever more time and resources on tax avoidance means ever less time and resources spent on expansion, productivity etc. True at the corporate and individual level.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Don't they have Collins, Graham and McCain?

[centralcal]

Now, Murkowski and Collins. Only 1 more R vote needed.

[centralcal]

Probably will end up that way, Jane - but not yet.

[Porchlight]

OT
BREAKING: Obama made no phone calls on night of Benghazi attack, White House says

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/14/white-house-no-phone-calls-benghazi/

Linked via Drudge

I call weasel words. Someone else made phone calls and someone else ordered the stand down or words equivalent.

[narciso]

I think I read Hillary made the calls, I know they didn't contact Magarief because he didn't
go with the talking points.

[Porchlight]

So his staff gave him updates but he didn't talk to anyone. Presidential. Convenient.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Thanks for the link TC.
Quill looks like the all too typical how-many-angels-will-fit-on-a-judge's-pin-head jurisprudence that buries us in unnecessary legalistic Scholasticism.

[Porchlight]

Ace reporting cloture vote will fail:

http://minx.cc/?post=337552

It's Ace, so don't get too excited.

[centralcal]

Only 58 votes for cloture, 40 against and 1 vote present - if I heard right.

[centralcal]

Cloture failed and multiple sources on Twitter have the same vote tallies I posted.

[Porchlight]

Looks like a done deal - cloture fails. Wow. I sure am terrible at the prediction business.

[Porchlight]

Good show centralcal!

Hagel twists in the wind some more. How enjoyable.

[sailor]

Well, my prediction failed also, porch. But, I am very happy with the result. Maybe, just maybe, there are some Repubs with some balls.

[centralcal]

Orrin Hatch was the "present" vote. Profile in courage.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

He called Netanyahu so that that's not true.

COngrats Repubs for actually doing something right for a change.

[Porchlight]

Hear hear. Will have a margarita later to celebrate this rare event.

[Chubby]

despite all the scary stuff that the Republicans raised about, they still basically think he's ok for the job...

[Old Lurker]

For now, Jane, for now.

[Chubby]

raised about Hagel

[centralcal]

Also - another huge eyeroll, since HE was quoted as saying cloture would fail......

Chad Pergram ‏@ChadPergram

Sen David Vitter (R-LA) missed the cloture vote for Hagel.

Dear Lord, we have some real winners on our team, don't we?

[daddy]

Ughh. On FOX Business there is a ticker headline that says GAO: Dept of Interior may not be collecting enough Oil/Gas Revenue

Up here we have been in a battle for years trying to reduce taxes on the Oil/Gas companies in order to make it more financially sensible for them to do more drilling up here.

So that GAO report tells me that the Govt will raise Oil/Gas taxes, which will raise the cost of our Oil and Gas, and the Industry will find it even more expensive and difficult to drill in the US. Pretty soon the only guys drilling up here may be the Russians (see my link from yesterday on their stealing our advanced drilling technology), while all our Oil companies will be bailing out to foreign locations where they don't have to deal with the expense and nuttiness of dealing with the Feds and the EPA.

[narciso]

Vitter, that was the one in the madam's date book, right, as Raylan said the other night 'you got some real winners there'

[jimmyk]

the mere fact of the tax affects behavior.

For sure--I wasn't suggesting a use tax is a good thing, just questioning the relevance of whether a tax is "justified." I'm as anti-tax as anyone, but historically what's been taxed is based on what is most easily verifiable and collectible. Imports, because they have to cross a border, property because of the need for title, etc.

Some states have "use" taxes on things like automobiles, because you have to register them. What prevents "use" taxes more broadly is the difficulty of collecting them, not justification per se. Though of course if people feel taxes are unjustified they will vote the bums out of office. Or at least that used to happen until the pols figured out that they can just tax a minority of the voters.

[narciso]

I know you said it first, central, but 'facepalm with an Old one' plus 'Justified' is a solid base of reference.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

OT: Are any of you watching "Americans". OMG!

[centralcal]

What he heck is "Americans," Jane? I thought you were watching The Five!

[AliceH]

O/T: Finally went to the gun range today. Awesome! I loved the noise and the smell and, oh yeah - I fired 33 of 35 shots (Buck Mark) in the center ring at 7 yards. (The other two were my first two shots - ever - and were just outside the center ring). Had to stop due to extended adrenaline overload... but I'll be back.

Hooked!

[Porchlight]

Gotcha, jimmyk.

[Janet]

Vitter, that was the one in the madam's date book, right,

Yeah. I remember him & some guy at State I think. Who else was in the book?...we never knew. That was a sketchy story too.
Release a few Republican names & then move along....move along....
It's not like it was as news worthy as a water bottle.

[narciso]

It's a show about a KGB sleeper agent couple in the early 1980s. it's written by a former CIA officer, who's a relative of Jacob Weisberg,

[henry]

Alice, get a bigger magazine! ; )

[centralcal]

Thanks, narciso. I assume the show isn't on right now, correct?

Way to go, Alice!

[AliceH]

Heh, henry.

It's a 10-round magazine. I only have the one - 3 more on order ("expect delays"...). Since I needed to practice all the basics of loading/chambering, shooting, ejecting etc., I only did 5 rounds at a time.

[Dave (in MA)]

OT: Are any of you watching "Americans". OMG!

It's pretty good.

It's a show about a KGB sleeper agent couple in the early 1980s.

In the last episode I could have sworn that I saw a 21st century car go by. I would have rewound if I had the DVR going.

[narciso]

They run it on Wednesday nights.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

I think it is a great show. I'm trying to watch less news so I'm a newbie at this.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

The '80's. I thought it was the '50's?

[daddy]

It's a show about a KGB sleeper agent couple in the early 1980s.

Haven't we had enuff shows about the Clintons?

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Hope your form was above reproach, Alice. :)

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Sleeper agents are ones who do not openly espouse left wing agitprop, Daddy.
Leaves out both WH couples sandwiching the Bushes.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

The Whole Foods guy explodes a few more "Coexist" commies' heads by saying global warming aint no big thang.
Where will the Birkenstock Brigades shop?

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Eurozone economy unexpectedly shrinks more than expected.
Now the obstructionist Republicans in the House are even dragging down Europe by not raising the Koch brothers taxes.
We'll have to wait for Pauly Peanuts and J Bradford Delong Esq to explain the mechanism for us.

[marlene]

Gov.Lepage displayed his concealed carry permit on his twitter account today."If newspapers want to know who has a concealed weapons permit,they should know I do."
Ha,he is awesome!

[Beasts of England]

Jane - Don't worry - it won't take out a few satellites. You have my word.

[marlene]

Good for you,Alice!

[AliceH]

--Hope your form was above reproach, Alice.--

I got no complaints. (BaDum tish!)

[AliceH]

Thanks, CC and marlene!

[daddy]

My new Hero!

[squaredance]

Is there any chance it could hit Harvard?

Just askin'.

[henry]

Is there any chance it could hit Harvard?

No Lux to home in on, they will remain blind to Veritas as usual.

[daddy]

Bah, to ducks with 16 inch peckers and 75 Mile Per hour you know whats.

Bah, to dual johnsoned Killer Whales.

Bah, to JiB's Green Sea Turtles and their "Louisville Slugger."

This VALENTINES DAY I write to celebrate the greatest invention since sliced Bread---The Sea Slug's "Disposable Penis!"

From the BBC: "Chromodoris Reticulata: A sea slug that is able to detach, re-grow and then re-use its penis has surprised scientists.

The Japanese team observed sea slugs that they had collected from shallow coral reefs around Japan. They saw the animals mate 31 times.

The act took between a few seconds and a few minutes, after which the creatures would push away and shed their penises, leaving them on the floor of the tank."

Apparently "Orb weaving spiders are known to lose their male organs after sex, as does a sea creature called the periwinkle", but they can't grow their tallywhackers back, but "Chromodoris reticulata is the first creature known that can re-grow its appendage", and use it all over again!

No comments yet from John and Lorena Bobbitt:)

[matt]

Jane;

The asteroid is supposed to pass approximately 17,000 miles from our planet. That's sort of a dead zone for space hardware as I recall. Most satellites are I believe in the 100 - 400 mile altitude range. Not sure what may be out further or why.

[narciso]

First ducks, now sea slugs, it's getting to be a disturbing preoccupation,

[matt]

what really amazes me about nudibranches, daddy, is that there are so damn many varieties of them that have yet to be identified. It seems that every time they go diving on one of those expeditions in PNG or Burma or elsewhere they find another hundred or so.

I'm convinced there are some medical discoveries yet to be made from this bioresource.

same thing recently with Antarctica, one expedition and hundreds of new species. Our planet is incredibly diverse and it is the ultimate hubris to think that we know more than we actually do, which is of course, Democratic Party Policy.

[narciso]

I think those who are a fixed position, are the one who at 22,000 miles out.

[Rob Crawford]

Is there any chance it could hit Harvard?

Well, I've read that it's no threat to civilization, so, yeah, there's a chance.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Not sure what may be out further or why.

Posted by: matt | February 14, 2013 at 06:30 PM--

Geostationary ones orbit at 22-23,000 miles.

[matt]

sea slugs iz different, narciso. They is really ugly, but delicious.

My famous photo of sea slug soup LUN. Actually, I think that was a sea cucumber, but who's checking?