Ember

I don't see anything worrisome there. It looks like Windows detected a domain and used that to identify the network. Even my wired desktops at work do this.

I have not. John Lott doesn't seem like a particularly compelling speaker, and I doubt he would challenge my opinions, so I haven't been eager to read his writings. I definitely have an opinion and I don't think it's likely to change significantly, but I like to think that it's reasonable, at least within the context of my own experiences.

We have enhanced penalties for crimes committed with weapons, which I guess are supposed to discourage the use of weapons in the furtherance of crime. I couldn't say off-hand whether they are effective. Pretty much any rifle is going to cause more damage than most pistols. Rifles tend to have larger, heavier bullets, more powder pushing the bullet, and longer barrels allowing more acceleration of the bullet. The main appeal of handguns is that they can be concealed and are more convenient to carry. Of course, it's not terribly difficult to cut down a rifle or shotgun to a more concealable size. Knock down the barrel and hack off the stock, and you basically have a rifle-caliber handgun or a shotgun pistol. Because it's not generally legal for people to show you that they are armed, the only people you can see are armed are the people who are already operating beyond the legal bounds. It's almost as though only criminals carry guns when carrying a gun is criminalized. A few important disctinctions, I think: Dogs have minds of their own, whereas guns are under the control of those who possess them. I can't make sure that my dog isn't going to bite someone, even though I think it's unlikely; I can be sure that my gun isn't going to pull itself out of my holster and start shooting people. You touched on that when you mentioned that some people "don't know how to interact with [dogs] without being bitten." If someone else is carrying a gun, there's no special way to act around it to not get shot. Unless you want to count not attacking the person carrying it, I guess. As dogs do have minds of their own, they require attention. If my dog comes to work with me, he's going to want me to play with him, he will need food and water, he will need to go outside and do his business. If my gun goes to work with me, it sits on my belt and nobody knows or cares; it doesn't interfere with my work in any way. I don't know about higher quality, Galco has a pretty good reputation and lots of happy customers. A better design, certainly. That holster leaves the front end of the gun completely uncovered, which provides an opportunity for the front sight to catch on the holster while drawing. It also doesn't cover as far back on the gun as I think it should. I get that the pistol maybe isn't fully inserted there, but look at these photos that come up when searching for that holster model: [hide] This one is from the manufacturer's site: This one is from a reseller: Here's another angle of the one you posted: [/hide] The trigger guard isn't completely covered on either gun, and the trigger is almost completely exposed on the second. It doesn't look like the holster is formed to the gun in any of the pictures, so I'm having some trouble imagining there's much friction retention. Even if the leather wasn't initially soft enough to fold like your picture shows, it's probably not a great choice. That said, equipment does wear out and should be checked periodically. I do have a left-handed (in the waistband) kydex holster for the smaller gun that I use when I carry it on my left side, and I don't really have any complaints about it or the leather one shown earlier.

Yeah, I didn't think we were discussing confiscation or barring new purchases. You definitely seemed to have a stance against carrying in cities, while violent crime stats seem to indicate that I'm more likely to want to carry in cities. So, here's a holster I use to carry concealed: [hide][/hide] Notice how there's only a clip to hold it to my belt, and only the tight fit of the leather to hold the gun in the holster? Ideally, nobody would know it was there, but there's not much in place to keep someone from taking it in the event that my shirt rides up or the gun prints through the shirt. Here's my open carry holster: [hide] [/hide] That gun isn't going anywhere unless it's down in the holster when the button behind the shield is pressed toward my body. If the gun is pulled up even slightly, the strap catches on the gun and doesn't disengage. If the button isn't pushed, or isn't pushed in the right direction, the strap doesn't disengage. If the strap is disengaged, but the gun isn't pulled straight out, it usually binds in the holster and doesn't come out. You can see where the belt threads through the plastic in the second picture... much more secure than the other holster. If your cops carry openly, they probably use similar gear. That's not to say that everybody uses appropriate equipment, but most people I know do, and most of the organizations supporting open carry push proper equipment and training.

Gay people make me uncomfortable, especially when they're open about it and I can see displays of affection. It's basically all I focus on. It's not that I think they're going to give me gonoherpasyphilaids, or somehow turn me gay, I've just been so sheltered from it that I can't function as a human being carrying out my responsibilities at work or school. It's really not ideal, which is why they're allowed to ban gay marriage. This sounds like in the environment you grew up in, a foreign "noun" came up in existence and you didn't totally agree with it. For you, its open homosexuality. And while I never thought in a million years I'd have to compare homosexuality to gun law, I'm about to do just that. You carry on with your day with a gun at your waist, and the slightest homophobia in your head and you seem content in this lifestyle choice. I, on the other hand due to my "sheltering" of not being around military folk, but instead LGBT activists have lead me to a lifestyle quite the reciprocal. I am open about how I don't mind seeing two guys make out, and it doesn't jar me in the least. Just to bring this closer to our given parallels, I worked a few lesbian weddings. Seeing two women kiss while I was working gathered some interest from my co workers, but only because its not a commmon sight. It didn't bother me any, and I honestly didn't really think twice of it. Now, if at that same wedding there was a casual fella with a gun strapped around his belt I'd be hard pressed to stare at him - a direct distraction from my work. I'm totally comfortable with homosexuality, but open carry makes me uneasy. This comes from what I'm familiar with. You have the opposite, where carrying a gun is second nature, but seeing "open carry" homosexuality makes you uneasy. So why am I wrong in my belief, but yours is the true answer for us all? It's not, and that's exactly my point. What I wrote there was a reframing of what you had expressed previously; all the logic in a different context. The idea was to show how ridiculous it is to think that your discomfort at the unfamiliar is "why they're allowed to ban open carry."

Generally, but there are certainly times I've been glad to have one. It doesn't matter what you find dearer, because you're not the one in control when it really comes down to it. A person who threatens your life to demand your wallet isn't threatening your wallet; they're threatening your life. I believe that these people might disagree with your line of thinking: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/robber-kills-hiker-in-remote-northern-california/ http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/st-louis-robbery-victim-hands-over-cash-is-shot-anyway/article_8d865a60-f691-5bf1-b668-920b203ff961.html http://www.kmov.com/story/30966796/man-48-shot-after-telling-would-be-armed-robber-he-had-no-money http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/mayor-police-pledge-more-officers-near-busch-stadium-after-shooting/article_300320e5-a575-537d-8a5b-c899beff6cbd.html http://wtvr.com/2014/11/03/richmond-man-shot-nearly-killed-after-handing-over-2-50-to-robber/ How did these victims behave improperly? What might you have done differently in a similar situation? Who says anything about forcing anyone to carry? Within the US, concealed carry is permitted (at least in theory) in every state. The "open carry debate" has more to do with whether a person who carries a gun should be forced to hide it than whether they should have it, and is not remotely about allowing everyone to carry a gun, never mind forcing anyone. I'm saying that anyone who cares for self-defense should not be denied the means to it. You have no interest in defending yourself, so what use is a tool for that purpose? As far as being a "higher target," I'd be interested to see any data whatsoever to support that. It's a claim I've heard, but I've yet to see a shred of evidence in support of it. Police universally open carry, why aren't they being targeted first when they happen to be at a 7/11 when someone tries to rob it? Why do I hear more about cops stopping crime or catching criminals than I do about them being taken out for posing a threat to criminals? I wish that we could just magically conjure everything we might need or want in life and spend time doing what we truly love instead of having a need to work for money to buy those needs. It's a nice fantasy, probably largely because it's a fantasy. Guns are tools that have been around hundreds of years, and I'm having some difficulty imagining what the world might look like without them. Even modern guns aren't particularly complex devices, so the genie isn't going back in the bottle.

I wonder how he got the police-issued pistol. I wonder whether the assailant was properly licensed to carry. I wonder whether the assailant would have (or did) observed laws prohibiting him from carrying the police-issued pistol. Let me make sure I've got this straight: the general populace should be disarmed, because they might have to defend themselves against an attacker who has a gun that was probably stolen from the police? The reality is that (assuming you're in philly) you are in a holdout jurisdiction, and that none of the other places that have relaxed restrictions on carrying firearms have seen what you describe, even though opposition to relaxed restrictions nearly universally made the same claim you do. They were wrong, and so are you.

"This guy has a gun. Maybe he would defend himself if I were to try threatening him. I could get hurt over the $100 in the drawer. Fsck this, I'll go hit some other place." What you're describing simply doesn't happen. Or if it does, I can't seem to find any reference. There's a deterrent effect, which I touched above and has been documented. I've been openly carrying for years, and the only people who have targeted me for it are police officers who think it's okay to harass/intimidate people they disagree with politically. I carry for self-defense, but I carry openly so that people who might not otherwise can see that a holstered pistol isn't a harbinger of violence. I guess my wife has a small penis then? Do you actually have a point, or are you just expressing a fixation on penises? I'll just be over here, in the real world, where it's unlikely (but possible) that I'll need to defend myself.

Without going into too much detail, that's a plural non-zero number, and it's more than I can count on one hand if you include the defense of others. I haven't had to shoot anyone, although I have complied with attackers in order to avoid escalating to that point. I've also had people approach me shouting across a parking lot to ask whether I had a quarter or a lighter, then turning around and muttering when they realize that the thing hanging from my belt is a holstered pistol. I can't tell you that they would have otherwise, but I can tell you that they did me no harm. My social circle includes police, military veterans, and security guards, as well as some people who have done less-than-legal things to make a buck. So yes, I do know people who have used guns in self-defense. I also know people who have had their houses and cars turned into swiss cheese by the minions of what passes around here for a drug lord while their toddlers were trying to sleep. I certainly can't fault them for shooting back. Carrying a gun for self-defense makes sense anywhere you might need to defend yourself, particularly against superior numbers or stronger attackers. Basically, anywhere. If you don't need it, which is most of the time, it sits on your belt and isn't an issue. If you are unfortunate enough to be in a position where it might be useful, well, at least it's an option. Warning shots are stupid, and anyone who uses them is stupid. If you want to make a big noise, use the bullhorn. If it's dangerous enough to pull a gun, don't take it off the threat and send a bullet arcing through the sky just to make some noise.

Good on you, even if it does seem that you're implying that anyone who owns a gun might be dangerous to you. That says more about you than it does about guns in general or open carry in particular. Are you of the belief that it is never appropriate to end human life? That it's morally superior to be a victim whose attacker got away (and maybe eventually caught, tried, and even convicted) than to be a would-be victim who stopped a threat? Are you incapable of finding yourself in a situation where lethal force might be appropriate, or even necessary to your continued survival? Bullets don't care what they're launched at. Human, dog, cardboard silhouettes, injured deer after a deer-car crash, it's all the same to the bullet. The gun doesn't seem to care either. Gay people make me uncomfortable, especially when they're open about it and I can see displays of affection. It's basically all I focus on. It's not that I think they're going to give me gonoherpasyphilaids, or somehow turn me gay, I've just been so sheltered from it that I can't function as a human being carrying out my responsibilities at work or school. It's really not ideal, which is why they're allowed to ban gay marriage. Most states allow open carry, more than a few without a license. Over the course of the past five years or so, I've carried openly in Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Indianapolis, and lots of smaller places in between. The only problem I've had is with cops who don't know the law, or who know the law and either don't care or don't expect me to. I live in a smaller city of about 30k people, and am regularly thanked by random people on the street and in stores for carrying. There was some dissent when my state relaxed restrictions on concealed carry; it sounded a lot like you, and it was demonstrably wrong.

Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy-bouncy?

Much warmer than 18c, and I'm uncomfortable. I can always put more clothes on to counter the cold, but I can't always strip in response to heat... and it doesn't always help when I can. Also, cold weather means that I can wear heavier shirts or even jackets, which makes keeping a pistol concealed on my person so much easier.

It looks like this is listed in the old locations table as Outside Monastery.

My truck died again Friday. I let my nephew run it out to the store, and it wouldn't start when it came time to leave. I had it towed to the shop, and they'll get to it today. If it comes out working, my wife and I may just give it to my nephew. We bought a 2008 Mazda3 with 80k miles. It's a charcoal hatchback with a standard transmission and a naturally aspirated 2.3l engine. So far, my only complaints are a lack of cruise control, which isn't a big deal, and that the trip computer is still in metric mode. (Canadian car)

The tree spirit in Lost City is level 63, not level 90 as the bestiary indicates. The quest guide also describes the tree spirit inaccurately. Screenshot courtesy of Vonric:

I caught someone breaking into the vacant house next door and called it in... they had used a wooden stool to knock out a basement window at the back of the house, through which they gained entry. Cops showed up as the intruders were walking out the front door, which they locked behind them. With a 911 call, my statement, the stool lying next to a broken window, and two people matching given descriptions, nobody got a free car ride. I'm a little confused, slightly concerned about retaliation, and kind of curious what the police report will look like.

I'm rolling around in a 1997 Mountaineer now, so I'm getting about 12-16mpg depending on how much highway I see. It's not exactly a fuel-saver, but it's not like it would be worse than I have now. The biggest factor against it is that it's probably had the piss beaten out of it, followed by it still having the police rear seat, cage, holes where the lights were, etc. I guess the spotlights and bull bars are kind of cool, but I don't know when I would use them. It's also an automatic, but I feel like I can live with that. It's a big, heavy, comfortable sedan that should ride well and do most of what I expect a car to do.

I am trying to convince myself that I don't want to buy a retired 2007 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.

Once you have internet access, you can start posting here again. We miss you.

There's a breaker box in my apartment but it's bolted shut. I could remove and replace the outlet myself but I can't do that with the electricity still on. Well, you probably could. Don't [bleep] up, and you'll be just fine.

Because it keeps us from being "a shit hole with on of the highest crime rates around."

Not an intrusion at all, although I think my lack of finesse and patience is more to blame than the durability of the phone. I have ordered another, which is set to arrive tomorrow, and a few protective cases of various styles. I will probably try to repair the original phone eventually, and may try to sell it (with full disclosure) if successful.

I bought this phone, then broke the screen. I ordered and installed a replacement screen, but the double-sided tape didn't hold, so I had to take it apart again. The second time around, I broke the antenna connector off the main board, and turned the phone into a small wifi tablet. I haven't had to solder anything this fine before, and am not confident in my ability to do so.

I had an orange Focus ST a few years back when i lived in South Africa. Was one of my favorite cars i've ever owned. Did it have bucket seats? If so, i kinda agree i wasn't a fan of them either. Kinda made me feel like i was sitting on the floor. It had bucket seats that kind of wrap around. The seats are narrow enough that she can't put her hips between the wings, which throws off her sitting posture and strains her back.

I stopped at a Ford dealer to see about taking a Fiesta ST for a test drive... they didn't have any in stock, but they did have a Focus ST and some non-ST Fiestas. I really liked the Focus ST, but my wife didn't like the seats. Seats are pretty important, so I'm not sure that it would work... especially since we had been talking about giving her the new car and me driving the Buick.