Random Thoughts Thread

[balthazar]

"Tiny chunk" is a red herring.

A Locust (or Spotted Lantern Fly) by itself is a tiny insect, but there's 100s of millions of them (not unlike Gov't programs). 
Every time a person looks at one and says 'Oh, that's insignificant/ can't be all bad; I won't bother killing it', the herd grows exponentially. 

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

"Tiny chunk" is a red herring.

A Locust (or Spotted Lantern Fly) by itself is a tiny insect, but there's 100s of millions of them (not unlike Gov't programs). 
Every time a person looks at one and says 'Oh, that's insignificant/ can't be all bad; I won't bother killing it', the herd grows exponentially. 

Again, 200 purpose built Suburbans to replace the last ones purchased 5 to 8 years and who knows how many 10s of thousand miles ago, used for security and emergency services is not some government program run amuck. It’s not even really wasteful. 
 

They’ve finished their service lives and doing tear down/rebuilds of them like it’s a B52 makes no sense.

[balthazar]

Replacing vehicles that are 4-8 years old by spending $36,000,000 is what makes no sense.

Sorry; I don't accept the Gov't line that the current 'purpose-built' vehicles are too decrepit to perform OR be rebuilt as needed (which has to be a fraction of the fleet at that young age).

Edited September 18, 2021 by balthazar

[oldshurst442]

11 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

That just says come drive me....

 

I feel neglected...

How many Gods I wanna worship?

Well, sometimes, when things go my way, I tend to believe and have faith in one God. The God that is my culture.  

But...sometimes, when things dont go my way, I do either one of two things

1. I stop having faith in my God. 

2. I blame Him for my failures...

But then things turn around and I have faith in him again. 

I know, right?  Blasphemous of me.

So...since Ive been blaspheming all this time, I would want to start believe in multiple Gods. THIS way, no matter how many of them I have pissed off, including the God that says that there is no other and that I shoudlnt worship another,  not ALL of them would be pissed at me. Id have 1 or 2 in my corner.

But this is where I feel neglected...

 

How Many Gods Do You Want to Worship?

   - A Ton of 'Em

Do I Want To Be Reincarnated?

   - No, but I do believe I have a soul. I wont ever sell my soul, but I do believe that my soul will live forever even if my body will not.

OK?...  Do You Prefer Indian or Chinese Take-out?

   - Food is good. All food. But I also LOVE bacon. I eat pork. Have NO issues with it!  Pork on a stick with garlic/yogurt sauce sounds dee-lish. 

 

Maybe You Should Worship These Guys

 

[regfootball]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9982253/Charging-points-electric-cars-preset-turn-NINE-HOURS-day.html

Charging points for electric cars will be preset to turn off for NINE HOURS a day amid fears they will cause blackouts if government hits target for phasing out petrol and diesel

Edited September 18, 2021 by regfootball

[Robert Hall]

8 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

 

 

How Many Gods Do You Want to Worship?

   - A Ton of 'Em

Do I Want To Be Reincarnated?

   - No, but I do believe I have a soul. I wont ever sell my soul, but I do believe that my soul will live forever even if my body will not.

OK?...  Do You Prefer Indian or Chinese Take-out?

   - Food is good. All food. But I also LOVE bacon. I eat pork. Have NO issues with it!  Pork on a stick with garlic/yogurt sauce sounds dee-lish. 

 

I'm a pretty cynical guy, don't really worship anything.   As far as the take out question...that is a tough one..I love both Indian and Chinese, but also Thai and Vietnamese take out.  Hard to beat good Mexican, Korean BBQ, southern American BBQ, or Italian sloppy pasta take out also.    Or a good cheeseburger w/ bacon.   Or southern style biscuits and gravy w/ country ham. 

So much to choose from.  Lots of choice is good. 

[oldshurst442]

The post about the religion chart I made was in jest. With a little truth to it.  But more so, I wanted to show that Ancient Greek polytheism was missing...

I do have faith in God. Im not a bible thumper. I just try to live life being the best human I could possibly be.  Seeing that humans are flawed creatures, I aint perfect...  I could be a selfish asshole at times....

Food.

I LOVE food. 

I eat to live, duh.  But I also live to eat.  My culinary tastes are more in sync to the western world's. European and American mostly. Minus British and Mexican.  Although there are some Mexican foods I enjoy.  

Depending on what kinds of Oriental foods we are talking about, I do enjoy them. But if we are going to be honest about Oriental foods, its the Americanized Oriental foods that I love to eat.  

But my culinary palette is like my music palette. Its wide.  And I am not afraid to taste and eat something that I havent eaten before.  I may have limits though. Insects is where I draw the line. And exotic animals.  

Ive tried snails and frogs and horsemeat and game meat such as dear and moose.  And Ill kindly decline to eat those again.  And because of that experience, I wont eat shark.  Why would I eat shark when there are a ton of other classic fish around to eat?  Greek seafood cuisine has all kinds of fish to eat with all kinds of different ways of cooking them, I dont see the need for me to try shark...  Im sure its good and tasty, but I dont feel the need to experience it.    Ill stick to fried calamari and grilled octopus both drowned in lemon with ouzo on the rocks as an aperitif on a beautiful picture perfect sandy Greek beach in July thank-you very much.  

Speaking of which, the background is just as important as the food itself.  

Sipping wine on the French Riviera or eating a cheeseburger and fries in my hot rod muscle car cruising the Pacific Coast highway or Woodward avenue or having a hotdog at Fenway or Wrigley Field is just an important experience for me. 

Aint life beautiful?  (If we could experience those senses?)  

 

EDIT:

I wont eat game meat because game meat tastes too much like grass. I love my greens. I eat lots and lots of greens. Spinaches and brocolli and cauliflower and...  All done the same way. Boiled and soaked with olive oil and lemon juice.

I wont eat snails because...icky.   And honestly, all you taste is the way they are prepared, with lots and lots of garlic.  If one has to prep up food with that much spice, you arent really tasting the food, right?  I mean, Im Greek. Garlic is a staple. But I wanna taste the snail. If I wanted to taste garlic, well, there is skordalia, there is tzatziki sauce...

I wont eat frogs again, because it literally tastes and feels like chicken. Ill just eat the damn chicken...   Why eat frog?

Sharks and other exotic animals.  Well, these animals are not really human food. Well, not where I come from at least.  If in your culture, you eat shark or baby seals, great for you. My culture does not eat that. So I wont.  No need to.  Alligator and snake falls into this category.

Just to be clear though. Greek cuisine involves all kinds of other animals. Im accustomed to that.    

Im glad this post turned out to be less long than usual. 

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by oldshurst442

[Robert Hall]

Maybe I can eventually come take a culinary tour of Montreal.  I’m sure I’d love it.  

[oldshurst442]

15 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Again, 200 purpose built Suburbans to replace the last ones purchased 5 to 8 years and who knows how many 10s of thousand miles ago, used for security and emergency services is not some government program run amuck. It’s not even really wasteful. 
 

They’ve finished their service lives and doing tear down/rebuilds of them like it’s a B52 makes no sense.

Ive heard that the B52 will continue on serving for another 20-30 years...

THAT...is INSANE! 

THAT...will be very near to a 100 year continuous service life of this aircraft with the LAST one built in 1962. Making these aircraft being serviced and overhauled a literal THOUSANDS of times. 

IN-FREAKIN-SANE! 

Which leads into this bolded statement that seems to have flown passed people's heads. 

19 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Watch it.  Who are you to determine what is needed or not? 
 

Again, I’ve learned a lot about reliability requirements since working for the government. Having things not work during emergencies is a no go and I have to plan for it.

 

When people's lives are at stake, no matter in what context we are referring to, we really dont want the very equipment designed to save lives, to fail and ultimately these equipments BECOME the very thing that ends up killing them...

There comes a time when the equipment becomes a liability and NEEDS to be replaced regardless of age or the cost.   Human lives SHOULD NOT have a COST attached... 

PS: The more you overhaul, multiplied by age, the LESS effective it becomes and more of a liability. 

You saw it with Boeing and the MAX 737.

SHYTE...(sorry for the political reference), but we STILL see it with the Covid response both in the US AND in Canada...

Seeing these 'Burbans are destined to protect political leaders both foreign AND domestic, a fail COULD literally mean....WAR. 

Yeah...its THAT serious. 

Not only losing life being a huge negative, but implications of conspiracy theories going wild, WAR may become a result...

I seriously cant believe that nobody could see that.  

[balthazar]

I worship the Twin Gods of Chrome & Horsepower.

[oldshurst442]

36 minutes ago, balthazar said:

I worship the Twin Gods of Chrome & Horsepower.

Although not twins, but uncle and nephew.

May I interest you in:

Hephaestus 

Greek god of metallurgy, blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, fire.

(seems to fit you nicely...)

Poseidon

Greek God of the Sea and Horses

 

If I ever build a hot rod, whether it be a '33 Ford Roadster or a '57 Chevy, I will have the classic hot rod motif images on it. But it will have a twist. Instead of THE classic hot rod images  the motif will be Ancient Greek stuff on it.  The Parthenon. Famous statues of 1 or 2 Greek Gods. Im thinking Athena and Poseidon.  A Trireme. A Spartan shield and helmet.  An Owl maybe.  Yeah the flames will be there too. But even the flames will be Greek in nature.  

 

Disclaimer:  I am not trying to convert you or anything. But seeing as how I was (jokingly) flirting with the idea of becoming a TV evangelist awhile back, maybe now I could seriously see my next career come to fruition. That is to start my own church and be on TV.  I would  try to heal people in the name of Mount Olympus. Care to send a donation my way?  For the greater good of seeing the my project hot rod car be realized? 

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by oldshurst442

[balthazar]

You donate to the Save The Buick Fund, and I’ll donate to your cause.

[oldshurst442]

11 minutes ago, balthazar said:

You donate to the Save The Buick Fund, and I’ll donate to your cause.

 

 

[G. David Felt]

On 9/15/2021 at 11:19 AM, David said:

GM Defense has won a $36.4 million dollar Defense contract to build Heavy-Duty Suburbans for the U.S. Government Agencies.

GM Defense Awarded $36.4 Million Development Contract to Build Heavy-Duty Surburbans for U.S. Government Agencies

These SUVs will while using many commercial-off-the-shelf parts from the body, exterior, propulsion, interior and brakes will get a purpose-built HD Suburban new and unique body-on-frame  chassis and suspension, designed to specifically support increased government performance requirements with higher payload capacity and heavier vehicle gross weight.

GM currently will build 10 HD Suburbans per year under this R&D development contract that expires in May 2023, this contract is expected to be replaced by one building 200 HD Suburbans per year for 9 years following the completion of this R&D contract with the first delivery of the modern R&D HD Suburban expected Spring 2022.

The 20 total R&D HD Suburbans give an average cost of $1,820,000 per vehicle including the R&D cost for the specific requirements of the new chassis and suspension.

This contract makes me wonder if we will see the return of an HD suburban to Chevrolet and GMC lots in the near future. I wonder what the towing and weight capacity will be for these new HD Suburbans which were last built in 2017 for fleet and governments and was discontinued then.

Chevy Suburban HD Heavy-Duty SUV Discontinued Vehicle | GM Fleet

Clearly one can tell the differences of the last 2500 HD suburban that was built for Police, fleets and especially the government as seen in the picture above. 2017 was the last year this was available. Guess the Government needs a bunch more to replace these now.

For those that might be wondering what powered these HD Suburbans, it was the 6L V8 that you could only get in certain Chevrolet Suburban 1500 trims. On top of this, the FBI and Secret Service are the largest users of these vehicles and they usually have additional lighting and armor plating including bullet proof glass as to the need for a beefier chassis and suspension.

Makes one wonder which V8 will end up in these new HD Suburbans?

The Chevy Suburban HD Is the Most Subtle Intimidating Car in the World - Autotrader

 

$36.4 Million for these HD Suburbans is barely a rounding error of mention or even noticed compared to the billions wasted in our military such as the storage of thousands of unwanted tanks in the high desert in California.

It is an interesting topic on how the U.S. government spends money.

[G. David Felt]

Intersting reads on the life of suburbans and based on the pictures on how much they get repurposed and cut up and changed, I can see by year 5 a suburban has run it's life based on Secrete Service life, FBI, Military, etc. WOW, they are used in ways non of us would ever think.

Look Inside The Secret Service's Command SUVs That Are Being Converted For Special Ops Use (thedrive.com)

Life is not easy or paid well for being a Secret Service agent, you truly love what you do.

What Is It Like To Be An Agent Of The U.S. Secret Service? (forbes.com)

Very interesting story done on the Presidential Motorcade and the large amount of SUV (Suburbans) in active duty, reserved and in service that seems to confirm that you need 3 times what is used to ensure the protection of the president.

The Fascinating Anatomy of the Presidential Motorcade | The Drive

 

[balthazar]

Starting salaries between $44K & $75K plus another possible 25% IS being paid well, David.

[G. David Felt]

13 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Starting salaries between $44K & $75K plus another possible 25% IS being paid well, David.

Will agree to disagree. There is a reason the government does not get the best and brightest and salary is one of them when you can get double that in the private sector.

[balthazar]

$75K is DOUBLE the median income. You can disagree all day and night, but that's a good salary for an individual.

There are all sorts of jobs one can get that's higher than X salary, but that wasn't the point.
 

[oldshurst442]

On 6/3/2021 at 10:11 AM, ykX said:

If you reread my post you will see that I stated that I used to love hockey but NHL turned me off it. Never said that I was into NHL.

I grew up in Europe watching European hockey and it was so much cleaner and better than NHL.

 

I know you dont post in here anymore.  Whatever.  

Id like to show you one more time about your envy of European hockey and how false your opinion of it versus the NHL  might be...  

 

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/european-hockey-game-called-off-in-second-period-due-to-excessive-violence-230955194.html

I came across this yahoo sports article 3-4 days ago. It disappeared. I forgot about it. I did want to post it to you then.

Low and behold, it came back. Im not gonna waste my chance again... 

A little petty of me?

Why YES it is!!!

Enjoy where ever you are.  

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by oldshurst442

[balthazar]

More Old Auto Recycling : 
 

[balthazar]

[surreal1272]

13 hours ago, balthazar said:

$75K is DOUBLE the median income. You can disagree all day and night, but that's a good salary for an individual.

There are all sorts of jobs one can get that's higher than X salary, but that wasn't the point.
 

And that is BELOW the median household income of DC, where almost all of those agents work. Not exactly top pay scale work in the beltway area. Just skip the part where an agents pay is not equal to the level of danger they potentially face everyday. 
 

 

 

On 9/17/2021 at 8:09 PM, balthazar said:

Replacing vehicles that are 4-8 years old by spending $36,000,000 is what makes no sense.

Again, by the time those vehicles are actually replaced, they will be more than a decade old. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by surreal1272

[surreal1272]

On a lighter note, yes please…

 

[Robert Hall]

Going to the beach today, got the folding chairs etc loaded in the Jeep.   Maybe I need one of these "surf wagons":

[G. David Felt]

16 hours ago, balthazar said:

$75K is DOUBLE the median income. You can disagree all day and night, but that's a good salary for an individual.

There are all sorts of jobs one can get that's higher than X salary, but that wasn't the point.
 

The point is that for the level of work and when one adds in danger, the pay should represent the quality of the job and I have no Idea where you got your median income as MAYBE in some southern un-educated state like Kentucky you get that median income, but not here in Washington State and as @surreal1272 pointed out not in DC.

Median Household Income By State 2021 (worldpopulationreview.com)

Washington State is 8th in the nation for income at almost $77K a year to live here.

Heck even your own state of New Jersey is almost $86K a year.

As @Robert Hall pointed out, $44K to $75K is a starting wage depending on job, skill and education needed. I see Union Plumbers and Electrician Apprentices start here at $45K a year in Washington state and once they finish their 4 year apprentice, they are earning on average $85K a year.

Again hard to have the best and brightest in DC especially the Secret Service when the pay is low and based on the stories I posted about the Secret Service, quality of life sucks as do the marriages with one of the highest divorce rates in the government sector.

[balthazar]

4 hours ago, surreal1272 said:

And that is BELOW the median household income of DC

That's household, not individual.

[balthazar]

1 hour ago, David said:

for the level of work and when one adds in danger

Read your own link; MOST Secret Service employees are NOT on protective duty. 

As for danger, there are currently 3,200 SS employees. Total historical line-of-duty deaths is 26, the first one in 1902.
Of those 26, only 9 were by either gunfire or terrorist attack. On-the-job heart attacks actually numbers higher that either (6).
Last agent shot was 41 years ago.

While it has the potential to be dangerous, it doesn't prove to be.

[balthazar]

[daves87rs]

While it’s nice with the income in DC, the cost of living down there is nuts! Everything is pricey! 

Now that same income down in certain parts of the south? You’d be living quite well……

[surreal1272]

Caught a glimpse of this across from my shop today. Something about that baby metallic blue color just belongs on just about ANYthing Cadillac. Not sure on the year but I'm guessing a 67-68 year model. I'm sure @balthazar knows better than I do on this one. Regardless of the year though, just a super sharp ride.

17 hours ago, balthazar said:

That's household, not individual.

And in either situation, starting at $45K for THAT job is not enough when DC median income (on either scale) is 30% HIGHER than national average. I am honestly baffled that this has to be explained. The amount of money made is relatively to the overall cost of living where you live. $45K will go a lot further in the middle nowhere Kansas but not so much anywhere in or even around the beltway. It's not even close honestly. Those guys should be making considerably more given the nature of the job alone, screw where they live. That's my end point here.

[surreal1272]

16 hours ago, balthazar said:

And mark my words. Someone, somewhere, is going to at least TRY that and it'll likely start somewhere in NC lol. We do have a history of playing around with different fuels for our cars.

17 hours ago, balthazar said:

Read your own link; MOST Secret Service employees are NOT on protective duty. 

As for danger, there are currently 3,200 SS employees. Total historical line-of-duty deaths is 26, the first one in 1902.
Of those 26, only 9 were by either gunfire or terrorist attack. On-the-job heart attacks actually numbers higher that either (6).
Last agent shot was 41 years ago.

While it has the potential to be dangerous, it doesn't prove to be.

In this case though, the lack of frequency doesn't take away the dangerous nature of the job. Things change in an instant and I'm once is more than enough for most folks charged with those duties.

[balthazar]

‘67-68 Caddys are the same body shell; the fine grille texture here ID’s as a ‘68.

[G. David Felt]

Since I started writing / reporting for Cheers and Gears, I have never seen more than a few hundred views of what I post. Clearly I hit it with the Toyota Tundra 2022 story as I posted late last night and by Midnight it had 1,501 views. When I finished work at shortly after 1am it was at over 2k views and just now I see 4,551 views in comparison to the other reporting I have done for the most recent 6 postings where Cadillac has 413 views. Crazy in how many want to see the 2022 Toyota Tundra. Trucks are popular!

[G. David Felt]

Very cool find posted by a person on their way to the R1T launch.

 

For motorcycle fans such as @Drew Dowdell Have to say this bike is very cool, 180 mile range in the City, 120 miles range on the highway.

Verge Motorcycle Opens Preorders For Hubless Electric Model (rideapart.com)

Loving the Hubless drive wheel. 80 kW (107HP) motor with 735 lb-ft of torque. 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds.

Final EPA miles still to come and final speed numbers.

[G. David Felt]

Interesting read on a very rare F250 Crewcab pickup, thought to be one of the very first ever built by Ford.

Barn Find 1966 Ford F-250 Crew Cab Has Some Quirky Little All-Original Secrets - autoevolution

[G. David Felt]

Interesting review on ICE versus EV Tires and why the differences.

 

[G. David Felt]

An interesting day of Auto news from engines being discontinued to interesting possible auto resurrections.

Chevrolet Performance Division has stopped production of the 755 HP 715 lb-ft of torque LT5 V8 engine as a crate option.

Chevy Discontinues 755-HP Corvette ZR1 Crate Engine | The Drive

Interesting read on how Ford Dealers are getting in the way of Ford Motor Corporation taking Tesla head on for BEV sales crown.

Ford Wants To Compete With Tesla, But Its Dealers Are Getting In The Way (jalopnik.com)

Another interesting read on how Cadillac Blackwings sedans are the last that matter.

2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing & 2022 CT4-V Blackwing Review (jalopnik.com)

Had to laugh at this one on how people reacted to having to wear a seat belt from the 1980's. The feds are taking away our freedom. Watch 1980s Drivers Freak Out About Having To Wear A Seat Belt (jalopnik.com)

Interesting take on staking cars in a tight garage. This Is How You Fit 7 Cars Into A 3-Car Garage (motor1.com)

Final bit of interesting news is the VW owns the rights to the International SCOUT name and is considering bringing a Bronco / Wrangler competitor to the global stage but as a pure BEV version.

Volkswagen May Bring Back the International Harvester Scout (motortrend.com)

[G. David Felt]

This Movie I am excited for also, but sad that I have to wait for streaming as I no longer go to the dirty smelly theaters.

 

[G. David Felt]

BRONCO Fans Rejoice, Ford has posted this to the official Ford YouTube Channel

Ford Bronco Raptor is coming 2022

 

[A Horse With No Name]

On 9/18/2021 at 11:50 AM, Robert Hall said:

Maybe I can eventually come take a culinary tour of Montreal.  I’m sure I’d love it.  

Road Trip!

10 hours ago, David said:

BRONCO Fans Rejoice, Ford has posted this to the official Ford YouTube Channel

Ford Bronco Raptor is coming 2022

 

Hell yes. 

20 hours ago, David said:

This Movie I am excited for also, but sad that I have to wait for streaming as I no longer go to the dirty smelly theaters.

 

My neighbors refuse to go to the theater unarmed with multiple weapons under concealed carry. I pretty much watch movies at home...

On 9/20/2021 at 1:27 PM, David said:

Interesting read on a very rare F250 Crewcab pickup, thought to be one of the very first ever built by Ford.

Barn Find 1966 Ford F-250 Crew Cab Has Some Quirky Little All-Original Secrets - autoevolution

This is to die for. 

On 9/19/2021 at 4:36 PM, balthazar said:

Hey, whatever rocks your boat...!

On 9/18/2021 at 11:55 AM, balthazar said:

I worship the Twin Gods of Chrome & Horsepower.

They are faithful, fun, and exciting, but expensive. 

[Robert Hall]

There are some movies I wouldn't mind seeing in the theatre, I have an excellent Cinemark w/ the big comfy leather seats nearby, but not interested in sharing an enclosed space with all the unvaxxed walking dead out there.   My 75 inch Samsung 4K UHD will suffice. 

[A Horse With No Name]

Doing my Christmas shopping for you all...

At least they are honest...

If kids books were honest...

[ccap41]

On 9/17/2021 at 4:55 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

On 9/17/2021 at 2:48 PM, ccap41 said:

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're an advocate for the government pissing money away on things that are not needed. 

In case You needed help seeing it.

What about this statement mentioned political affiliation or bias towards any political party? 

 

On 9/17/2021 at 4:55 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

The point is that the readiness profile of these vehicles is unlike any other in the world. It’s likely that they have 2 or 3 layers of redundant vehicles and cycle them out for overhauls, so if they buy 300 of them only 100 are duty ready at any given time, another 100 are kept on reserve standby, and the other 100 are being overhauled.

Can the government spend less money? Absolutely. But this is such a tiny chunk of the budget not even the accountants would notice the difference and replacing 2017 and older vehicles that have been literally flown around the world doesn’t seem like a huge problem to me. Now, if all they did was go back and forth to the golf club for the last 4 years, then you might have an argument

We can just agree to disagree then because ANY money spent, whether you deem it insignificant or not, is money wasted by the citizens that could clearly be used elsewhere. 

[A Horse With No Name]

11 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

What about this statement mentioned political affiliation or bias towards any political party? 

 

We can just agree to disagree then because ANY money spent, whether you deem it insignificant or not, is money wasted by the citizens that could clearly be used elsewhere. 

We really do need to shrink federal spending. I don't want to get political....but yeah....it's bloated. 

Enjoying my Ranger, would love a Bronco. 

[ccap41]

Just now, A Horse With No Name said:

We really do need to shrink federal spending. I don't want to get political....but yeah....it's bloated. 

I completely agree and BOTH parties are extremely guilty of this. I don't care what side of the line one stands on, they're both wasteful. 

[G. David Felt]

49 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

My neighbors refuse to go to the theater unarmed with multiple weapons under concealed carry. I pretty much watch movies at home...

I am with you, I have no desire to go to the smelly dirty theaters especially with this Pandemic so will have to wait for it to stream and I watch it on my own big screen and surround sound.

[ccap41]

I'm yet to go back to a theater but mostly because I'm cheap and it's way cheaper to rent movies after they've been out a few months than spend $50 for two people to go to a theater and get popcorn and a drink. 

I actually just took the IL concealed carry class this past weekend. I'm really glad it's a requirement to carry a firearm as not everybody should be able to carry. Unfortunately, my state sucks so it'll be 6-10 months before I actually GET the license. 16 hours(8 Saturday/8 Sunday) and the last four hours on Sunday are shooting/drawing/covering exercises. 

Anybody else here conceal carry?

[G. David Felt]

4 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I'm yet to go back to a theater but mostly because I'm cheap and it's way cheaper to rent movies after they've been out a few months than spend $50 for two people to go to a theater and get popcorn and a drink. 

I actually just took the IL concealed carry class this past weekend. I'm really glad it's a requirement to carry a firearm as not everybody should be able to carry. Unfortunately, my state sucks so it'll be 6-10 months before I actually GET the license. 16 hours(8 Saturday/8 Sunday) and the last four hours on Sunday are shooting/drawing/covering exercises. 

Anybody else here conceal carry?

Glad you like your gun and want to carry, but no need that I see to have a gun. I can kill ya with so many other options just as easily, but would rather just agree to disagree on issues and live together in our Multi-Cultural world than to have people carry guns and possibly during a moment of anger do something they would regret.

Thank you for taking training as I honestly think if one wants a gun, they need to learn how to handle it, maintain it and be responsible.

Sadly we have piss poor leadership in this regards especially in Texas with them no longer requiring any license or training, anyone can carry a concealed gun. Talk about a scary place to live. Seems they are embracing the shoot first, ask questions later cause your scared, and possibly ignorant about what is going on.

Reminds me of the idiot white trash lawyers that pulled their guns on a peaceful protest going down their street.

[G. David Felt]

RIP Willie Garson, an awesome actor that I will miss. Came to really like his skill in the TV 6 season show White Collar as the character Mozzy. Never had an interest in the Sex and the City series or movies where he supposedly hit it big.

Willie Garson dies at 57: 'Sex and the City' star worked on HBO reboot 'even while he was sick' (msn.com)

[ccap41]

6 minutes ago, David said:

Glad you like your gun and want to carry, but no need that I see to have a gun. I can kill ya with so many other options just as easily, but would rather just agree to disagree on issues and live together in our Multi-Cultural world than to have people carry guns and possibly during a moment of anger do something they would regret.

Thank you for taking training as I honestly think if one wants a gun, they need to learn how to handle it, maintain it and be responsible.

Sadly we have piss poor leadership in this regards especially in Texas with them no longer requiring any license or training, anyone can carry a concealed gun. Talk about a scary place to live. Seems they are embracing the shoot first, ask questions later cause your scared, and possibly ignorant about what is going on.

Reminds me of the idiot white trash lawyers that pulled their guns on a peaceful protest going down their street.

Unless those other options are on you or are extremely good at finding what's next to you at any moment, that's not super relevant. But, I do agree there are many other ways to stop a threat. One of the biggest things our instructor emphasized was your life HAS to be in danger and you also must be able to prove your life or another life was in eminent threat before you draw your weapon.  If you pull your weapon and there wasn't an eminent threat, it's a felony. There are many instances of people doing the right thing and shooting under legitimate threats, and still face civil suits because people near by were traumatized. 

There are also SOOO many places you can't carry at that I realistically don't see myself carrying very often, at all. I mostly just see myself leaving it in my vehicle and you need the license to have it loaded and within reach in a vehicle. 

I'm fortunate that my close friend group are all pro-gun not not pro-idiot and we all believe some training should be required in order to carry a loaded firearm. It isn't a toy or like movies and you need to know what the hell you're doing when that is on your body or in your vehicle. 

That "peaceful" protest is a little debatable as they were on private property and were not allowed in the subdivision to begin with (gated subdivision). That was actually relatively local as it was somewhere in the St Louis area. I don't recall al of the details not but I know they should not have been there but the homeowners also should not have drawn their firearms. They should have stayed in their house and called the police and let the legal system do its thing as long as they are not making an attempt to enter their home. They were not under immediate life threatening circumstances. I also do not know Missouri law and what they are and are not allowed to protect. In IL, that would have been a felony, from the best of my very limited knowledge.