things are tough all over

NEW ORLEANS – Bullet-makers are working around the clock, seven days a week, and still can't keep up with the nation's demand for ammunition.

Shooting ranges, gun dealers and bullet manufacturers say they have never seen such shortages. Bullets, especially for handguns, have been scarce for months because gun enthusiasts are stocking up on ammo, in part because they fear President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass antigun legislation — even though nothing specific has been proposed and the president last month signed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks.

Gun sales spiked when it became clear Obama would be elected a year ago and purchases continued to rise in his first few months of office. The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System reported that 6.1 million background checks for gun sales were issued from January to May, an increase of 25.6 percent from the same period the year before.

"That is going to cause an upswing in ammunition sales," said Larry Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association representing about 5,000 members. "Without bullets a gun is just a paper weight."

The shortage for sportsmen is different than the scarcity of ammo for some police forces earlier this year, a dearth fueled by an increase in ammo use by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We are working overtime and still can't keep up with the demand," said Al Russo, spokesman for North Carolina-based Remington Arms Company, which makes bullets for rifles, handguns and shotguns. "We've had to add a fourth shift and go 24-7. It's a phenomenon that I have not seen before in my 30 years in the business."

Americans usually buy about 7 billion rounds of ammunition a year, according to the National Rifle Association. In the past year, that figure has jumped to about 9 billion rounds, said NRA spokeswoman Vickie Cieplak.

Jason Gregory, who manages Gretna Gun Works just outside of New Orleans, has been building his personal supply of ammunition for months. His goal is to have at least 1,000 rounds for each of his 25 weapons.

"I call it the Obama effect," said Gregory, 37, of Terrytown, La. "It always happens when the Democrats get in office. It happened with Clinton and Obama is even stronger for gun control. Ammunition will be the first step, so I'm stocking up while I can."

So far, the new administration nor Congress has not been markedly antigun. Obama has said he respects Second Amendment rights, but favors "common sense" on gun laws. Still, worries about what could happen persist.

Demand has been so heavy at some Walmarts, a limit was imposed on the amount of ammo customers can buy. The cutoff varies according to caliber and store location, but sometimes as little as one box — or 50 bullets — is allowed.

At Barnwood Arms in Ripon, Calif., sales manager Dallas Jett said some of the shortages have leveled off, but 45-caliber rounds are still hard to find.

"We've been in business for 32 years and I've been here for 10 and we've never seen anything like it," Jett said. "Coming out of Christmas everything started to dry up and it was that way all through the spring and summer.

Nationwide, distributors are scrambling to fill orders from retailers.

"We used to be able to order 50 or 60 cases and get them in three or four days easy, it was never an issue," said Vic Grechniw of Florida Ammo Traders, a distributor in Tampa, Fla. "Now you are really lucky if you can get one case a month. It just isn't there because the demand is way up."

A case contains 500 or 1,000 bullets.

At Jefferson Gun Outlet and Range in Metairie just west of New Orleans, owner Mike Mayer is worried individuals are going to start buying by the case.

"If someone wants to shoot on the weekend you have to worry about having the ammunition for them. And I know some people aren't buying to use it at the range, they're taking it home and hoarding it."

With demand, prices have also risen.

"Used to be gold, but now lead is the most expensive metal," said Donald Richards, 37, who was stocking up at the Jefferson store. "And worth every penny."

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no, this isn't scary at all

quesque se?

It may pay to take a closer look at your colleagues - one may be a corporate psychopath with a "dark side" capable of creating a toxic workplace.

Up to one in 10 New Zealand workplaces harboured a psychopathically oriented worker who functioned within normal society yet victimised colleagues and harmed business with their dark side, research had shown.

The Auckland University Business School's Department of Management said its research showed some corporate psychopaths had such dysfunctional personalities they could create toxic workplaces "and could seriously traumatise workers to the point of suicide".

Psychologist and senior lecturer in management Dr Giles Burch said most people with personalities which fitted under the psychopathic umbrella did not commit obvious crime, and were not imprisoned or hospitalised.

They functioned within normal society, often with apparent success and the respect of their bosses, he said in a statement.

"However, psychopaths are generally highly destructive and manipulative individuals with dark sides who have no remorse for their actions, which can result in a range of serious issues for organisation and the people within them.


"We all come across people at work from time to time who are difficult, devious and troublesome," he said.

"They are typically only interested in power, control, domination and subjugation, and it is believed that female psychopaths are more dangerous than males as they are more socially skilful in their manipulation.

"Victims of corporate psychopaths can experience intense and sometimes prolonged symptoms as a result of the glib deception.

"Insomnia, intense self-doubt and mild depression are very common, and in more severe cases chronic anxiety, depression, despair and even suicidal ideation can result from the destruction of jobs, careers, joint ventures or businesses."

International research had showed unrelenting stress from a toxic workplace caused anxiety and clinical depression in 30 per cent of female and 20 per cent of male targets, Dr Burch said.

The damage by a corporate psychopath was not limited to the primary victims but also affected colleagues, families and friends.

Psychopathic behaviour covered a wide spectrum - from the devious, manipulative and bullying behaviour of an employee who was a high achiever and very sought after by management, to the compulsive violence of a hardened criminal.

The damage caused by psychopaths was potentially huge and impacted a business as a whole, individual staff, customers, suppliers and joint venture partners.

Genetic tendencies of a psychopath such as glibness or superficial charm, a grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, cunning and manipulative behaviour, lack of remorse, guilt or empathy, a sense of impulsive non-conformism, sensation-seeking, egocentrism, disloyalty and narcissism, could take a huge toll on other employees, Dr Burch said.

They could hide their tendencies and were often promoted to senior positions with power, the research showed.

They could be difficult to remove from businesses and were likely to become highly abusive and litigious when threatened with job termination.

- NZPA

and the sad thing is that most of these are managers

the qyeston is, am i a psychopath?

how can you tell?

Men lie twice as often as women, fibbing an average six times a day to their partners, boss and work colleagues, while women told just three, according to a new study.

Common porkies told by men included "This will be my last pint," and perennial favourite "No, your bum doesn't look big in that."

According to overseas reports, the poll of 2000 people in Britain revealed the most common lie was the same for both sexes: "Nothing's wrong, I'm fine".

But Victoria University senior lecturer in psychology Marc Wilson said you can't always trust how much a liar says they lie. Women were less likely to admit to it than men, he said.

His online study of 4000 New Zealanders, showed women told more white lies.

"Men are happier to admit they engage in self-promotion, lying to make themselves look better," Wilson said.

And there's no reason to feel bad about stretching the truth, lies serve an important purpose.

"It's a social lubricant because it helps smooth over some of the cracks in our every-day interactions," he said.

Men lied about missing phone calls and being stuck in traffic, while women were more likely to be evasive about their spending habits. Both sexes were prone to playing down how much they'd had to drink.

But we're not really fooling anyone: four fifths of those polled said they could tell when their partner fibbed.

And more than half admitted to being caught stretching the truth.

And think again the next time a colleague says it's "nice to see you" - it was the most popular workplace porkie.

TOP 10 LIES

Men

1. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine
2. This will be my last pint
3. No, your bum doesn't look big in that
4. I had no signal
5. My battery died
6. Sorry, I missed your call
7. I didn't have that much to drink
8. I'm on my way
9. It wasn't that expensive
10. I'm stuck in traffic

Women

1. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine
2. Oh, this isn't new, I've had it ages
3. It wasn't that expensive
4. It was in the sale
5. I'm on my way
6. I don't know where it is, I haven't touched it
7. I didn't have that much to drink
8. I've got a headache
9. No, I didn't throw it away
10. Sorry, I missed your call

online study. it must be accurate.

missing the point

from the herald

A

New Zealander has been crowned Australia's fastest reader after she became one of the first people in the world to read Dan Brown's eagerly awaited novel The Lost Symbol.

Carly Palmer, originally from St Heliers but living in Sydney for the past five months, churned through Brown's 509-page book in two hours and 34 minutes.

Her prize for beating 26 others in a competition: a $500 collection of books and transtasman bragging rights.

"We were told it would take about four hours to read the book. I guess I was lucky there were no real speed readers among them," said Miss Palmer.

The 23-year-old administrative assistant said the hype surrounding its release - a million copies were sold in the United States, Canada and Britain on the first day of sales on Tuesday - was justified.

The new tome was "definitely a better read" than Brown's controversial The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 44 languages since it was first published in 2003.

i know that reading dan brown is something that you'd like to get over with as quickly as possible, but still...

isn't reading a new book one of the great pleasures in life? something you want to savour?

i've got the new reginald hill and as soon as i finish my internet stuff today, i will be taking it into the garden and slowly drifting through a couple of hundred pages.

i can think of no better way to spend a sunny sunday afternoon

ha

Book titles, if they were written today:

Then: Romeo and Juliet.

Now: The Teen Sex and Suicide Epidemic: How to protect yourself and your family.

Then: The Da Vinci Code

Now: Jesus Christ: An International Man of Mystery.

Then: The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Now: Shed Your Skin!: How I gave up junk food and released the butterfly within.

Then: The Gospel of Matthew.

Now: 40 Days and a Mule: How one man quit his job and became the boss.

Then: A Clockwork Orange.

Now: Hooliganz: Ultra violence and the media.

definately maybe

i watched this because it was recommended-i had planned to give it a miss because of the oasis reference.

its basically a fairly bog-standard rom com. nothing spectacular, but a pleasant enough way to waste a couple of hours on a post dialysis sunday

know your place

Child Youth and Family staff at a regional office have been told they are Social Development Minister Paula Bennett's servants who should not trouble their master with concerns about their work.

In an email dated August 13, supplied to NZPA by Labour Party deputy leader Annette King, Kaitaia CYF staff were told to show respect to the minister when she visited the next day.

"It is not appropriate for staff to pour their hearts and souls out to the minister," a manager wrote. "This is a formal visit and she is not your 'friend'. It's a bit like the relationship between a servant and a master, ie the servant knows their place. She should not be presented with the woes of the office, or lack of resources, or anything like that."

However, the email said it was okay to state there were challenges that could be managed.

whoa, upstairs downstairs flashback.

who'd be a public servant these days, eh? considered as paper pushing bureaucrats by the public, considered as a resource that can be fired without affecting the unemployment stats by governement and as serfs by their managers.

i also liked the little bit of management speak at the end. yes, we all know that there are no problems, only opportunities, or in this case challenges.

now, if it's all right with you, i'm going to have something to eat. i'll be back at my desk early tomorrow. i promise, master

just missed

a person at work today managed to get a screen shot of her computer showing:


09.09.09am 09/09/09

me, i was two seonds out

apparently all registry offices have been booked up today with chinese couples getting married. i saw two wedding parties getting photos taken at lunchtime, and another group heading up mt eden on my way home. (aparently nine means happiness or something)

honesty is subjective?

Dishonesty is not the clear-cut concept the criminal courts assume because it can vary from person to person and situation to situation, according to one of the biggest-ever surveys of public attitudes to deceitful behaviour.

Women are more likely than men to categorise some behaviour as dishonest, although men are more likely than women to convict someone of a dishonest crime in a court of law, the study found.

Older people more readily judge someone as being dishonest than younger people, although the situation is reversed for certain youth-oriented offences such as cheating in exams or prying in someone else's email account.

The online study analysed the attitude of some 15,000 participants to 50 different scenarios in 10 categories that involved varying degrees of dishonest behaviour, from claiming for an expensive insurance fraud to eating grapes in a supermarket without paying for them.

The research was carried out by two academic criminologists who wanted to test a central thesis of what constitutes dishonesty in law, namely that dishonesty as a state of mind is based legally upon the "ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people".

"The law is based on an assumption that the majority in society hold the same views about what conduct is dishonest," said Stefan Fafinski, a criminal lawyer at Brunel University, who carried out the study.

"Our research challenges that assumption. We found a great deal of disagreement, even upon very basic situations," Dr Fafinski said.

The study found 31 per cent of people thought it dishonest for someone to keep money found in the street, yet only 8 per cent would convict someone of theft for doing that if they were prosecuted.

Nearly two thirds of people said they had taken stationery home from work, but 82 per cent thought it dishonest, according to the study, released at the British Science Festival at Surrey University, Guildford.

Big discrepancies were found between online crime and physical crime.

Nearly 97 per cent of participants said taking a DVD from a shop was dishonest, yet only 58 per cent thought it dishonest to download pirated music, and 49 per cent said it was dishonest to buy a pirate DVD.

Only 43 per cent of people called it dishonest for a carer to try to persuade an elderly person to change their will in their favour (twice as many thought it dishonest to wear a dress before returning it to the shop). Only 21 per cent would convict a carer of such an offence.

Some 98 per cent of women considered it dishonest for a man to conduct an online romance behind his wife's back, but only 74 per cent of men agreed.

"Women are more likely to categorise a person's conduct as dishonest but less likely to convict that person of the offence," said Dr Emily Finch, a criminologist at Brunel University.

"Female participants are more likely to excuse conduct by reference to the circumstances or character of the person involved."

- INDEPENDENT

interesting. its like one of those irregular verbs

i am pragmatic
you are immoral
he is a criminal

hmm

from the herald

Every time Health Minister Tony Ryall and Education Minister Anne Tolley use the term "nanny state" to justify their new food policies, many public health researchers wince.

They know the two words masterfully tap into the ideology that the state should stay out of matters like food consumption.

So much so that public health workers and researchers have felt virtually powerless to respond.

Until yesterday.

Now they are planning a counterattack against the use of the terms "nanny state", "bureaucracy", "political correctness", "health nazi" and others by politicians and the food, tobacco and alcoholindustries.

Dr George Thomson and colleagues from Otago University at Wellington searched the English language media internationally and their findings included a sharp increase in the use of "nanny state" after 2002.

In relation to obesity, tobacco and alcohol in New Zealand, its use peaked last year at 120 references per 100,000 articles.

Big rises in the use of "nanny state" and "bureaucracy" coincided with the proposal to make bars smoke-free and Parliament's obesity inquiry.

"When industries think their profits are at risk, they negatively frame the efforts of government to protect people from an industry's activities," Dr Thomson said.

"There's a need to reframe public health activity as stewardship that protects people. We need to emphasise the advantages of the strong state, the state that protects," he told the conference. But the public health community, delving into alien territory, acknowledges it needs some help from the country's top advertising brains in coming up with catchy counter-phrases.

Professor Boyd Swinburn, of Deakin University in Melbourne, promotes the term "ninny state", which he picked up from an Australian conference audience.

Dr Thomson said "ninny state" was used to describe some current public health policies that were "stupid, weak and not protecting people".

He also promoted the slogan "end corporate welfare", which he said was a hit at industries that benefited financially from inadequate controls on their products.

the ideology here is the question of who has responsiibity for looking afetr themselves. in the case of restrictions, the question is often pitched as removing choice from consumers in their own best interests. this tends to rub people up the wrong way.

the problem is that consumer choice means that people will often do the wrong or stupid thing, even though they know that its wrong or stupid (i speak as a smoker).
this leads to the problem 9according to pro-large state people) that the people who do these stupid things will then turn to the state for assistance with health problems. the most common exxample given these days is letting junk food into schools leading to greater costs in dealing with obesity and diabetes.

i will be interested to see how they manage this campaign, but i suspect that deleivering a message of "you need to be protected from yourself" will be a hard sell.

still railing against the corporate sector may have some results

ouch

took 3.6 litres/kilos off last night, leaving me .9 under my target weight
nurse tech was worried as my systolic blood pressure dropped under 100 during the session. i am finding, though, that it always does. it seems to stabalise between 90-100, and rose to 123 once the needles were out
came off fine, but got bad cramps in both my legs a couple of hours later.
what i've learnt:

1) leg cramps are more powerful than sleeping pills
b) obscene language does not sound nearly as powerful if it is whimpered