JohnRich

And dragging the rig across the ground during packing, hundreds of times, can wear down the exposed stitching, so that it doesn't take much force to break it the rest of the way thru...

Think of it more as burning *ideas* and you'll find more agreement in the analogy.

Yeah, it's kind of like burning witches at the stake. Well, the women being burned aren't really witches, nor are they really responsible for the things for which they are blamed. But what the heck, it makes everyone feel so much better to do it. BURN THE WITCHES! BURN THE GUNS!

I presume you're referring to this news story? http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/232923-obama-makes-election-year-change-in-immigration-policy What the heck do we need Congress for when we have King Obama to make all our laws for us?

News:Stop-and-Frisks Have Done Little to Reduce Shootings, NYPD Data Show "The skyrocketing numbers of NYPD stop-and-frisks had little impact on the number of people shot in New York City or on gun violence in general during Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, a DNAinfo.com New York analysis of crime data has found. "While the NYPD was stopping and frisking a record 685,724 people last year, 1,821 people were victims of gunfire, according to NYPD and city statistics. That's virtually the same number as in 2002, Bloomberg's first year in office, when 1,892 people were shot, but just 97,296 people were frisked. "The year before, there were 1,845 shootings with a similar number of frisks. "If you have a flat-line situation with shootings, and the stops are this high, you are throwing everyone up against the wall and you are losing the community, then you have to reassess," a former top NYPD official told "On the Inside." "We are not a militia, but a police organization serving a community," the ex-cop continued. "We don’t want to be seen as an occupying army... "Full story: DNS Info Bloomberg runs amok. But never fear, his campaign against soda and popcorn will finally make everyone safe.

News:Australian Olympic swimmers in hot water after gun photo "Two Australian Olympic swimmers who posted pictures on Facebook of themselves brandishing weapons have been ordered to take them down by the country's swimming authorities. "The image, taken in a gun shop in Santa Clara, California, showed Nick D'Arcy with two pistols standing next to Kenrick Monk who is holding two shotguns across his chest, according to a Friday report in Australia's Herald Sun. The swimmers were training in the U.S. ahead of the Olympic Games in London later this year. "Swimming Australia said in a statement that it does not condone "the posting of inappropriate content on Facebook, Twitter or any social media platform.""Full story: CNN

News:100,000 illegal guns seized across China "IN A COORDINATED operation yesterday, police officers in China seized over 100,000 illegal guns... and a range of other illegal weapons in 150 cities across the country. "The weapons are being destroyed at special depots and collection points in an ongoing operation Chinese officials say is helping to seriously cut the country’s gun crime..."Full story: TheJournal.ie I'm happy to see that the Chinese have placed guards around the piles of confiscated weapons, so that the evil guns can't sneak away and do more mayhem. Now, finally, China will be safe from gun and knife violence. It can now become the home of the free, where everyone lives in perfect harmony with one another and their government. No longer will innocent citizens be threatened by thugs with guns and knives. Long live the spirit of Chairman Mao!

So then you agree that Councillor Vaughan's suggestion is useless and stupid. It's also an impossibility, so it's also pointless. And in the process of trying to achieve it, it would take guns away from a lot of good guys who aren't the problem. Punishing the innocent because of what criminals do, is an injustice. That's like saying that drunk driving is a "car problem", or that burglary is a "crowbar problem". You shouldn't blame the objects for the crimes for which they are used. Those crimes are committed by people, not inanimate objects. Thus, there is no "gun problem" - there is only a criminal problem.

That might be kind of fun actually, in a car you don't mind being scratched. speaking from experience driving from Barstow to Vegas it definitely is... I only wish I'd had my GoPro on the dash when it happened. We call those scratches here "Texas pin stripes", as they are quite comon on ranch vehicles that drive through brush.

See the previously existing thread for all the standard and predictable political responses to this news item. No need to repeat them all again here.

News:Adam Vaughan calls for Toronto bullet ban "A downtown councillor wants the city to ban guns and ammunition in Toronto because he’s tired of gun violence. “There’s no rational reason to own a gun in the city. Gophers aren’t chewing up our fields, we have no black bears going through our garbage bins and the raccoons aren’t dangerous enough,” said Councillor Adam Vaughan in an interview. “I appreciate that people like them as a sporting hobby. I appreciate that people like their guns and love their activities, but those are emotional arguments. And I’m sorry, the risks that are presented from the stores, the selling and the possession of weapons in this city is presenting too big a problem.” "Mr. Vaughan said hunters and collectors should find a place outside Toronto to store their weapons. He would also like to see a ban on materials used to make handmade bullets such as casings, gunpowder and primers."Full story: National Post

I wonder what bank fees might appear on your first statement...

That was excellent! Thank you for sharing that link. One of the surprises in the movie for me was when the giant white "engineer" met up with the earthlings. I figured he would become an ally of the humans, and join with them to fight against the deadly creatures. After all, the earthlings were his race's creation and shared his DNA. But instead he turned against them and tried to kill them just like all the other beings on the planet. And that blog explains why that was. So that doesn't speak very well for the fate of our heroine who escaped in the hijacked alien spaceship, to follow the engineers and find out where they came from.

That might be kind of fun actually, in a car you don't mind being scratched. Hi Boinky, what'chu been up to?

News:Colorado Supreme Court affirms that CU students with permits can carry concealed guns on campus "In a victory for gun-rights advocates, the Colorado Supreme Court today struck down the University of Colorado's campus gun ban, saying the CU Board of Regents overstepped its authority in blocking students from carrying licensed concealed weapons."Full story: Denver Post So, University Presidents can't just act like a King and unilaterally decide to ban guns on their college campus. Gosh.

No difference. The blast came from the shotgun, and could not have occured without the person holding the shotgun. What none of those quotes bother to mention is that there had to be a PERSON operating the shotgun who initiated the blast. And that's the point of it being brought up in this thread. They're talking about these deaths as if the shotgun or "shotgun blast" was solely responsible for it. In some cases there was a police officer behind the shotgun, and the papers seem to want to refrain from accusing a police officer of murder, so they blame only the shotgun for the death. In other cases, the shooter is unknown, so once again they blame the shotgun. This is bad reporting. The simple fact is that in all cases SOMEONE was operating that shotgun, and they should be mentioned in the same sentence. For example: Headline: "Danziger Bridge shooting victim killed by shotgun blast to back of the head" The truth: "Danziger Bridge shooting victim killed by policeman with a shotgun blast to back of the head" Headline: "Gabe Ben-Meir was killed by a shotgun blast to his head" The truth: "Robber with shotgun killed Gabe Ben-Meir with blast to his head" Headline: "Shotgun blast killed man in Oriole Park, police say" The truth: "Unknown male suspect killed man in Oriole Park with shotgun blast, police say By isolating the guilt to only the tool, and not the person holding the tool, they are demonizing firearms to the eyes of the public, instead of properly placing the blame where it belongs - on the criminal who was operating the gun. And then we wonder why some people think all guns are bad. How about if we report low hook turn fatalities with a headline like; "Skydiver killed when parachute makes low turn near ground". Doesn't everyone already hate it when the media reports "Parachute failed to open", which implies that the jumper did everything properly but the parachute equipment failed? When in fact the case is usually that the jumper never even initiated parachute deployment. This gun stuff, above, is just more of the ignorant and deceitful media reporting that we see all the time with skydiving accidents.

You're just making this up. "Danziger Bridge shooting victim killed by shotgun blast to back of the head, shot several other times, pathologist says" http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/07/danziger_bridge_shooting_victi_2.html "Gabe Ben-Meir was killed by a shotgun blast to his head" http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-12/justice/california.shotgun.robberies_1_shotgun-robber-shotgun-blast-mtv?_s=PM:CRIME "Shotgun blast killed man in Oriole Park, police say" http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/05/10/toronto-oriole-park-homicide-investigation.html ""Jane Doe" in Tennessee Was Killed by a Shotgun Blast to the Head While Helping Rob a House" http://www.truecrimereport.com/2009/12/jane_doe_in_tennessee_was_kill.php "Teenager was killed by a shotgun blast Monday night in Northeast El Paso" http://pillsbottlesneedles.blogspot.com/2009/11/teenager-was-killed-by-shotgun-blast.html "One protester was killed by a shotgun blast Friday as police forces attempted to disperse a crowd" http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/demonstrator-killed-police-protests-outside-interior-ministry It would appear that shotguns are running amok all over the world, creating mayhem whereever they go. Gun owners: Do you know where YOUR shotgun is?

But... but... the media tells us that taking the law into our own hands is wrong. That standing our ground against criminals is wrong. Obviously what this man should have done instead is to run away and call 9-1-1, to let the authorities handle the situation, rather than confronting the man himself. And now look what we've got - a dead human being, because this man refused to do the right thing and run away. Shame on him for not following media advice.

It makes me wonder if those kind of war experiences play a big role in making men into something far different as they age in life. Ed survived a hellish few minutes of combat, including killing the enemy in hand-to-hand fighting, but went on to become the kind, gentle, quiet man that we all knew as skydivers. Dan Potts had similar experiences in Vietnam as a Navy SEAL, but as a skydiver was a humble, peaceful, quiet guy. "Hutch" was a POW in Vietnam, but escaped, and went on also to lead a quiet, humble life. I think those kinds of horrible experiences can do a lot to shape a man into the fine examples which we all respect and admire. We should strive to get to that same place on our own, preferably without having that hellish experience to force us to examine the best way to live. Ed, Dan and Hutch are all stellar examples of that kind of life.

Pears, no. Apples, if I have a knife handy, yes. Mostly because bits of apple skin get stuck between my teeth, and I may not have floss handy. Like when I'm out hiking or canoeing and an apple makes a good lunch item, and I always have a pocket knife on me, but not floss.

That's what I was figuring. The waterfall looked like that famous falls somewhere in Africa, and Africa is considered the source of human life on earth, so that fit. I was just wondering why he would voluntarily drink that goo that would do that to him. And the diamond-shaped space ship was entirely different from the horseshoe-shaped ones shown later, which made me wonder if it was the same beings. So that inconsistency led me in another direction. My other thought was that this was still the planet where the biological weapons creatures were created, and the spaceship was the giant white men fleeing after their experiments got loose and started killing everyone. And that one poor sap got left behind by accident, so he committed suicide rather than suffer the fate of being killed by the weapons creatures. Charlize Theron is still looking mighty fine. "10 minutes, my room." Lucky bastard! Squeak: Thanks for those links - I should have done that reading before going to the movie.

Warning: If you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to have plot elements spoiled for you, then read no farther. Time to brainstorm to figure some of that stuff out. In the beginning of the moie, they show one of those giant white men on the edge of a waterfall. A spaceship is departing. The man picks up a small container of something and swallows it. He disintegrates into dust which is swept away over the falls. What the hell was that all about? It didn't make sense when they first showed it, because there wasn't any other context yet. But even upon reflection after seeing the rest of the movie, I'm still not sure what that was supposed to mean. It's bugging me. Someone give me a clue.

Maybe she was having an affair and she really didn't want Charlie to get off the MTA train.

When you get one, please pass it on to Obamer also, because he needs to know what that thingamajig is on the furnace that he claims will save the economy.

News:FBI Releases Preliminary Annual Crime Statistics for 2011 "According to the FBI’s Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report released today, the nation experienced a 4.0 percent decrease in the number of violent crimes and a 0.8 percent decline in the number of property crimes in 2011 when compared with data from 2010..."Full story: FBI That makes it down about 45% over the last 20 years. Despite the spread of gun carry laws, the expiration of the assault weapon ban, and many other doomsday trends by the gun-o-phobes. I guess they were wrong...