Random events?

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia">Apophenia</a> is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. You probably know someone like this, someone who can tell if it is going to rain because of the way the birds fly. You may even have a dog who knows that whenever he smells toothpaste, and sees you pick up your car keys, he knows that he is about to go outside to do his "duty".

This skill is also used for recognizing more serious patterns, and in fact, this happened for me yesterday while I was reading the paper. You can duplicate my results by turning to the Nashua (NH) Telegraph, Wednesday December 23, 2009 on page 3, and read the article titled "2 men hold up cinema worker" The story goes on to tell how two suspects allegedly stole the night's receipts at gunpoint from a Cinemagic employee, from between $1,000 and $5,000. The article directly beneath it is titled "Statehouse gun rule stirs anger". It begins with "A mix of pro-gun activists and Republican legislators are protesting..." It sure looks like guns are a real problem here in New Hampshire, doesn't it?

But now I am going to selectively quote, verbatim, and in context, the exact words that show the "patterns or connections in random or meaningless data" and in the process, delete the meaningless data, and delete the arbitrary line that delineates the two articles:

<strong> A supervisor... around 1 a.m.... was walking toward his car... was confronted. Two masked men... brandishing a handgun... demanded the night deposit bag and also took the supervisor's cell phone and keys... Bragdon said people work at the Statehouse late at night and ... need to be able to protect themselves."</strong>

Now I would like someone to tell me how taking away my guns is going to make someone, anyone, safer.

The full articles are <a href="http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/494080-196/merrimack-police-seek-two... and <a href="http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/497474-196/capitol-gun-ban-draws-fir.... Thanks to the Nashua Telegraph, www.nashuatelegraph.com