Comics

New comics have been purchased and will be delivered hopefully next week. I was asked why I still used a comic book store in London when I've been living in Toronto since 2001. The short answer is that I started collected comics when I was eleven and my first comic book store was one called 'Bid Time Return' on Queen Street in downtown London. The owners latter split as partners, and opened up two locations called L.A Mood's downtown and in the mall closest to me. My original membership number was #11, which shows just how soon I followed them. The mall location eventually closed, but the main store has been going strong despite better funded opposition since 1989.

Maybe it's a bit silly, but collected comics from the same people for the last 25 years has a nice feel to it.

Anyhow, I just revamped my pull list for the following:
All New X-Men
Uncanny X-Men
Uncanny X-Force
Wolverine and the X-Men
X-Factor
X-Men
X-Men Legacy
Age of Ultron

The Stupidity of the Gun Culture

So, there's a meme floating around by various right-wing mouthpieces who have claimed to have 'debunked' the idea that guns have any contribution on crime and homicide rates by comparing American states and Canadian provinces one to one and dancing around every time a state with lax gun laws shows a lower per capita rate than any Canadian provinces. Of course, the numbers overall numbers actually show a very different tale.

% of Homicides committed by firearms:
Canada: 32%
United States: 67.5%

Firearm Homicide rate per 100,000:
Canada: 0.51
United States: 3.21

Non-Firearm Homicide rate per 100,000:
Canada: 1.30
United States: 1.54

Overall Homicide rate per 100,000:
Canada: 1.81
United States: 4.75

In short, you're over six times more likely to be the victim of a firearm related homicide if you live in the United States. You're slightly more likely to be killed by other means if you live in the United States. In general, you are almost three times more likely to be the victim of violent homicide if you live in the United States, and the bulk of the difference is made up by firearm related crimes.

( The Damning Stats (If You're an Idiot) )