Chris
Of course I should have added that it isn't clear whose memory is flawed- could 
just as likely be mine. :) So I did a *little* checking online and found one 
direct reference to a loaded weapon (a glock at a rally and the wearer was 
quoted as saying it was loaded though I didn't find anything but that 
second-hand report) and I did find one AR carrying spectator. The reporter 
stated it was loaded (I didn't see any evidence that it was or wasn't- the 
memory that it was strapped to his back was correct, btw). I'm not sure where 
the determination of it being an AR-15 came from (or if it was just the term 
the reporter knew). From the grainy footage and my own limited knowledge I 
couldn't tell which variant of an AR it was but it seemed to be that type of 
gun.
Tim
_______________________________
Timothy O. Shearon, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology
The College of Idaho
Caldwell, ID 83605
email: [email protected]

teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and 
systems

"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." Dorothy Parker
________________________________________
From: Shearon, Tim [[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 4:08 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: RE: [tips] Ever Worry About Your Letters of Recommendation?

Chris
I completely agree with your assessment of the base-rates of such events and 
with the reason why some folks felt it necessary to bring weapons to rallies in 
an attempt to provoke the secret service (which, I might add, borders on 
stupidity on several fronts). I would question the memory of anyone attending 
those rallies with "loaded automatic weapons". I don't have such a memory. My 
memory is of people attending with handguns (holstered- is my memory) and with 
some long arms displayed- also I do remember more than once seeing an AR type 
rifle. But it isn't possible to tell that they are loaded or not without 
specifically checking the chamber (thus the rule of assuming they are when 
handling them). It isn't possible either to look at an AR style weapon and 
easily tell if it is automatic or semi-automatic. I realize that I might be 
picking nits to some folks but the phrasing of some of those things is quite 
important for political reasons on either side of the gun issue.
Tim
_______________________________
Timothy O. Shearon, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology
The College of Idaho
Caldwell, ID 83605
email: [email protected]

teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and 
systems

"You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." Dorothy Parker
________________________________________
From: Christopher Green [[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 8:24 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: Re: [tips] Ever Worry About Your Letters of Recommendation?

On 2012-08-11, at 7:53 AM, Michael Palij wrote:

But why should we be concerned about such issues, right?  These
events (i.e., mass murders by graduate students) are rare events,
so we can treat the probability of any our students potentially being
a criminal or a mass murders as essentially zero, right?

To be statistically serious for a moment, it is an event that has such a low 
base rate that one would almost certainly commit a false positive were one to 
go out on a limb and predict such a thing, no matter how bizarrely a student 
(or any other human was acting (short of walking into a crowded building with 
loaded guns -- and even then, remember the guys during the last presidential 
election campaign who attended Obama rallies with loaded automatic weapons 
strapped to their backs with the aim not of killing, but of provoking the 
secret service into action in order to somehow "prove" that Obama's ultimate 
aims was to confiscate everyone's fire arms?)

Chris
---
Christopher D. Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Canada

[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
http://www.yorku.ca/christo/
==========================




---

You are currently subscribed to tips as: 
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>.

To unsubscribe click here: 
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b177a&n=T&l=tips&o=19657

(It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken)

or send a blank email to 
leave-19657-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-19657-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edu>








---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected].
To unsubscribe click here: 
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b177a&n=T&l=tips&o=19668
or send a blank email to 
leave-19668-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edu

---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected].
To unsubscribe click here: 
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=19671
or send a blank email to 
leave-19671-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu

Reply via email to