Want to reduce school shootings? Get rid of guns.

Malignant narcissism, social cruelty and child abuse have been around forever, but school massacres are a phenomenon of the past 50 years. "It is a simple fact," Fast writes, "that school shootings are impossible without guns that are affordable, available, easy to load and fire, and capable of firing many rounds within a few seconds." "Ceremonial Violence" contains dozens of astonishing stories of irresponsible gun merchants and adult family members who allowed deadly weapons to fall into the hands of disturbed teenagers. Andrew Golden, one of the Jonesboro shooters, had been given two rifles, a shotgun and a crossbow by the age of 11. His grandfather kept 48 rifles in his house, secured only by a cable. Dylan Klebold's parents, in many respects intelligent and concerned about their son's obvious problems, nevertheless gave him a gun, as did Kip Kinkel's father, despite many warning signs that his son was seriously troubled. Teenage school shooters bought ammo through the mail or at gun shows, using friends who were over 18 as fronts. Or they stole guns from their parents, who either left the weapons lying around or stored them insecurely. Some of those parents were murdered with guns they paid for.

While the Columbine massacre was in fact a failed bombing (few of the 77 bombs Klebold and Harris planted throughout the school ever detonated), the number of people killed was nevertheless still higher than those of many other school shootings because the perpetrators had semiautomatic weapons. (Such was also the case at Virginia Tech, where Seung-Hui Cho killed more than twice as many people as Harris and Klebold.) These and other assault rifles, flooding into the U.S. market from overseas manufacturers in the late 20th century, made their wielders exceptionally lethal, despite the fact that the boys were poor shots and the cheap guns tended to jam. Assault weapons have upped the ante considerably.

Today's advice, courtesy of Theresa Brown in the NYT

What can one do? Go home, love your children, try not to bicker, eat well, walk in the rain, feel the sun on your face and laugh loud and often, as much as possible, and especially at yourself. Because the only antidote to death is not poetry, or drama, or miracle drugs, or a roomful of technical expertise and good intentions. The antidote to death is life.

On reflection, this seems like a bad move

coming soon to a boob near you....

Harnessing the untapped power of breast motion. - By Adrienne So - Slate Magazine

from Merriam-Webster’s word of the day, the origin of the word tawdry

In the 7th century, Etheldreda, the queen of Northumbria, renounced her husband and her royal position for the veil of a nun. She was renowned for her saintliness and is traditionally said to have died of a swelling in her throat, which she took as a judgment upon her fondness for wearing necklaces in her youth. Her shrine became a principal site of pilgrimage in England. An annual fair was held in her honor on October 17th, and her name became simplified to St. Audrey. At these fairs various kinds of cheap knickknacks were sold, along with a type of necklace called "St. Audrey's lace," which by the 17th century had become altered to "tawdry lace." Eventually, "tawdry" came to be used to describe anything cheap and gaudy that might be found at these fairs or anywhere else.

Science can't be separated from morality and that's bad news for conservatives.

Homosexuality, polygamy, and incest. - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine

Is college overrated? For some, clearly.

Among high school students who graduated in the bottom 40 percent of their classes, and whose first institutions were four-year colleges, two-thirds had not earned diplomas 8 1/2 years later.