Guns don't kill people, but magic missle might...

This article astounds me: School shooter did not think that shooting someone would kill them

In 1997 Evan Ramsay (then 16 years old) took a twelve-gauge shotgun to school and went on a shooting spree, killing a fellow classmate and the school principal. He is now serving a 210 year jail sentence. In a recent interview with ABC News he admits the following:

"I honestly believed that if you shoot somebody, that they would get back up."

It's hard to accept, he admits, but Ramsey said his naivete left him unable to grasp that firing a gun in the real world is different from firing one in a video game: "I didn't realize that you shoot somebody, they die."

I'm sorry, but at 16 I knew already that if someone shoots you with a gun, depending on where you're shot, you could die. I watched plenty of movies, and paid attention in school to figure this out. Really, it's not to figure out, especially when you're already 16 years old and in high school! I also love the fact that this is, of course, blamed by video games. Video game violence is the new scapegoat, so rock music can have a break.

What I want to know is how his parents, or the school system, failed to help educate him about the difference between fantasy (video games, movies, etc) and reality. And that, yes, guns can kill you. I really have a hard time believing that someone at that age can be so naive. But if I'm wrong... yet another reason for me to fear for the future of humanity.

And the early adopters cry out in anguish...

Yesterday Steve Jobs announced at WWDC the new iPhone 3G. Now I’m not surprised about Apple coming out with a second generation iPhone. It was expected by just about everybody. However, what surprised me was the new price point: $199 for a 8gig and $299 for a 16gig. A far cry from the $599 price point for the original 4gig model.

With the 3G there comes some frills and some hardware improvements. The audio is said to have been improved, along with battery life and talk time. The fact that the phone is 3G capable now means quicker download speeds can now be reached, even bragging that it could beat the speeds of the Nokia N95 and the Treo 750. The iPhone will also have updated software that will be compatible with the Microsoft exchange server, so I sense seeing more of these in the Financial District here in NYC.

On the frills side is built in GPS, which shows a moving dot on Google maps to show your location, as well as the iPhone now coming in white as well as black (for the 16gig model).

I’m sure at least some of the early adopters are none too happy about buying so soon, but I’m sure there are some who are still pleased that they did. Me? I’m glad I’m waiting. Not only did I figure version 2.0 of the iPhone would be a good improvement, but I also don’t like AT&T. I’ve had bad experiences with their “customer service” in the past, but I have been told that it is improved.

The iPhone 3G will be released July 11^th. Maybe sometime in the future I will get one and cope with AT&T…

For more information and the official press release, check out Gizmodo’s page here.