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Sorry that I have been so scarce...

There's been a mean illness going around these parts as well. Glad to know you're "okay"- but wish the best in getting past the sickness!

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How to stop mass shootings.

The biggest problem with "stop access to guns" is that guns are already around. Guns are already so common that it's too late. All stopping access to them will do is make the black market thrive.

The Heroin point isn't relevant at all? Heroin physically only hurts the user. And un-regulated use of the drug has no benefit. Guns are meant for self-defense. Good people need legal access to guns in order to defend themselves from the bad people that will have guns regardless. Like Big Al said- why aren't there ever shootings in a gun range? Because everybody there is armed and the shooter wouldn't get 2 rounds off before he was dead himself.

Almost every shooting takes place in an area where guns aren't allowed. Wonder why? Because the shooter knows he's going to be able to get really far before he's stopped. That problem will only be multiplied if nobody is "allowed" to have a gun.

Raising the age to 21 might reduce school shootings. It won't stop them entirely though. Not even close. And even then- that only reduces school shootings from students.

The kid in this case had a LONG history of problems. Run ins with the cops, racial slurs, violent threats, you name it. The gun was just the tool he used. It could have been a knife or a bomb just as easily. He didn't need restricted access to a gun. He needed help. I think, like Sherlock mentioned in his post, that this kid should have had his name entered in a restricted directory of individuals not allowed to purchase guns. I honestly don't believe that would have done anything other than delay the inevitable though. If somebody has made up their mind to do something like this- removing guns from their reach is just slowing them down, but they will persist and they will figure out a way to get what they want.

Also, not that it has anything to do with this case at all- a year's worth of healthcare for a healthy individual is cheaper than the gun he used- and it's MUCH easier to enroll in healthcare than to buy a large semi-automatic rifle.

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Becoming afraid to live?

The master has failed more times than the beginner has ever tried.

If you stop trying, you'll never succeed. It sounds like you're a genuine person who has the desire to be kind. Sometimes people (especially in groups) can be cruel and mean, and sometimes they don't even realize they are doing so. But you can't let the actions of a few alter your life.

If you become sour and angry at the world- what does that accomplish? Now you have 0% chance of happiness and you're mad all the time rather than fighting for happiness and occasionally getting some ups and downs.

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How to stop mass shootings.

Nix wrote:
Well then the mass shootings continue. I hope its never gonna be your kid.

I hope so too. But if my kid is ever in that kind of situation, I hope an armed law abiding citizen is nearby to protect them.

A spree-killer is going to do it one way or another. He might buy a $7 machete from Wal Mart- which I think you can legally buy once you're 14- and he's going to do the same thing. Sure, the damage is going to be a little less and take a little longer, but the loss is the same for the victims and their families. It wasn't the gun that did the damage, is was the mentally unstable human that managed to get his hands on a gun. I'd be willing to bet that if he had no way to get a gun, he would have gone on a stabbing spree instead. Would that make it any better?

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How to stop mass shootings.

The problem is that bad guys don’t obey laws.

Making it unlawful to carry a gun only stops the good guys, which makes the good guys sitting ducks for the bad guy that broke the law to get a gun in the first place.

Weed is illegal in most places- but it’s quite easy to come by.
Alcohol is illegal for minors, but other than well behaved teens that wouldn’t touch it if it were legal anyway, I don’t know anybody that didn’t have alcohol before they were 21. Cigarettes same thing.

Laws only stop law-abiding citizens.

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Questions for guys - Are you happier being with your wife/gf or your group of bros??

Back in the original Help days, we (maybe just the new people?) referred to anybody with an hourglass (signifying 1 year at Help) as an "ancient"- and it was more of an "all-powerful god-like creature" type of reference. They were looked up to like super heroes!

... But most of them are old now too- so 🤷‍♂️

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Questions for guys - Are you happier being with your wife/gf or your group of bros??

He quoted Ralph, who said some “naughty” things. 😂

Sherlock joined after the first wave of “ancients”. I keep meaning to add him to the group but forget. 😅

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Man.

J.N-Bucking wrote:
Sounds like a pretty good life.

I counted up, by the time I was in my late 20s I had lived in 36 places.

That’s epic!
I’m mid-twenties and have lived in 22 different houses.... All within 50 miles of each other. 😂

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Principles of Adult Behavior

Great post! 👍

Many of these are reminders that everybody should read on a daily basis.

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So we have to come to a decision… Helptogo is being shut down, and they have offered us to buy the domain, and more importantly the info (as helptogo does still have all the old posts from the

Yͤͭͥ̇eti. wrote:
So you're running a left join to merge the guest id in a new table?
Any clue where the orphan data may have originated - perhaps wiped / temp users or somesuch? Or if we're talking millions, the old site's posts?

Essentially, yes. But because of the conflicting columns, I’m having to iterate through each one in a loop in order to convert it properly, since the join doesn’t have anything to connect to, in most cases.

And yeah- most of the data is imported data from the original Help. For some reason or another, a LOT of information was lost in that import. 80% of the posts have a “0” user_id, but they DO store the username of the poster, which is convenient AND the only indication if the post was left anonymously instead of having a boolean that tracks that. (That gets super awkward in that time period where everybody changed their name to some form of “Anony” or “Anonymous”) Other posts connect properly and may have a user id, but that user doesn’t exist in the database- so I’m attempting to then create a placeholder user from that information that tracks any and all info available.

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