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[ShneekeyTheLost]

The underlying problem is more fundamental and has less to do with a given topic than human nature itself, and a psychological property that despots have been exploiting since the earliest recorded human history.

Whenever you have two competing principles, be it anything from a sporting event to politics, you have a polarizing effect of 'us vs them' which seems to bypass many logic checks we otherwise generate for ourselves. It's a polarizing effect which leads, in politics, to demagoguery, which is ultimately a contributing factor to the fall of Rome, among others.

It is the viewpoint of 'either you are for or against us, which is it' that is inherently a false assumption, because it sees things as A or B, without the spectrum of possibilities or viewpoints between them. And it is the antitheses of debate, which is so vital and necessary for any form of representative government to continue adequately representing its population.

[Alkarii]

Saturday, my brother was telling me I should sign up for a concealed carry class and get my license. Just before I left for work yesterday afternoon, my dad brought up the subject again.

So I guess it looks like I'll be spending more money. I had been intending to get my license, but I kept putting it off for later, as I don't really go into public that often anyway, unless work counts.

[DinkyInky]

"The sword is far, the fist is near." - Korean proverb

Not familiar with that one(Mother did a lot of that proverb quoting while trying to appear to not do that), but this one seems more suitable:

손바닥으로 하늘을 가리려한다
(Sonbadageuro haneuleul gariryeohanda)

"Do not attempt to cover the sky with just the palm of your hand."

Source of that proverb if you have a moment, 주십시오 (jusipsio) please. I need a new book.

[DinkyInky]

Saturday, my brother was telling me I should sign up for a concealed carry class and get my license. Just before I left for work yesterday afternoon, my dad brought up the subject again.

So I guess it looks like I'll be spending more money. I had been intending to get my license, but I kept putting it off for later, as I don't really go into public that often anyway, unless work counts.

Do you have a real need for one now, or is it fear they'll remove the possibility to get one?

I have a stack of those(somewhere), collecting dust. They were a...consolation prize I guess you could say.
I don't even own a firearm at present, and have no real desire for one, let alone carrying them privately, but it's possible, though I'd brush up on my safety courses at the range, and probably re-certify(not sure if proper term, it's been a...long while) my skills for any I decided to have again.

I helped my brother get set up to get them way back when there were whispers of regulations changing acquisition of CCW during the last presidency. I refused to help him get that paperwork without him completing safety courses on all of his firearms(pistols and rifles), not that he needed to for the CCW, it was just because it made sense. It eased not just my mind, but my parents, Stepfather, and sister.

Those changes never happened, mind, and he rarely carried his pistols anywhere but in a lockbox to and from the range(he did a few times after getting it when Mother tailored his suits, but she could easily have fitted him at home without the need to carry them), but he had the legal paperwork for it because they "might" change it. That was amusing(for me), because she got so many contracts with law enforcement to tailor suits for CW.

I guess the question is this, if you don't plan on transporting them anywhere outside your home on your person, is there a real need for it?

[Bookworm]

What I encourage people to do is to call the local NRA office and ask where they can take a free gun safety course, before they do _anything_ else. They'll at least learn the basics of what they are and aren't - that is, they aren't magical death wands that cause people to go insane. They're just tools, and are equally as dangerous as a Skil saw or nail gun. THEN they can decide if they want to go further and learn how to use them, buy one, get a CC permit, etc. The more people we have with that background, the better we are. They may never use the permit, and they might not even own the gun - but they've been through some basic training.

If there was anything I'd like to see forced, it's that EVERYONE should have to take a basic gun safety and handling class, no matter how pacifistic they are. If nothing else, they'll know how to disarm one if the time came. (Child found one, etc) I'd like to see it as part of getting a driver's license or state ID. It's not like it'd take much time. Four hours, max.

[TazManiac]

I like that, even though the very thought of 'compulsory' training smacks of Great Evil to many who've been training themselves to expect a certain thing is only one way.

I'm thinking Competency is a good antidote towards Fear.

[jwhouk]

There have been suggestions to make it part of classwork in high school, along the lines of Driver's Ed.

I don't think that will go so well, considering the events of this month, though. (Although perhaps consideration that one of the teachers is an expert marksman could carry fear into the hearts of any potential school shooter...)

[Bookworm]

I like that, even though the very thought of 'compulsory' training smacks of Great Evil to many who've been training themselves to expect a certain thing is only one way.

I'm thinking Competency is a good antidote towards Fear.

Well, driver's education _is_ compulsory in many states. What's wrong with adding a handgun safety class. It's not like I'm suggesting they learn how to shoot. Just how to NOT shoot themselves, or anyone else.

[GlytchMeister]

I like that, even though the very thought of 'compulsory' training smacks of Great Evil to many who've been training themselves to expect a certain thing is only one way.

I'm thinking Competency is a good antidote towards Fear.

To me, compulsory training is different from compulsory service, and even compulsory service can accomodate pacifists and people who just aren’t cut out for being a soldier or officer - engineers, mechanics, medics, desk jockeys, and more can all be found in the military.

[Alkarii]

Yeah, a recruiter told me that only a small fraction of the military is directly related to combat.

As far as whether or not I have a "need" to carry, Little Rock is supposedly one of the most dangerous US cities with a population under 250,000. I'd just heard we're a constitutional carry state now, but I think it'd be better to have such a license as a CYA precaution.

As for the safety classes, I wholeheartedly agree that we need something that requires people to take it at some point, as a huge portion of firearm related deaths and injuries are accidents.

[Dave]

IMG_20180228_085341-648x486.jpg (162.17 KiB) Viewed 7251 times

Recent reinterpretation of certain Mayan glyphs found at the Copan ruins have puzzled researchers from the University of Going a Bit Red in Helsinki. They do not know what to make of one line of inscriptions, which seems to translate as

Application CALENDARMACHINE.EXE has unexpectedly exited. Press ENTER to continue, or ESCAPE to reboot universe.

[GlytchMeister]

*slams the enter key before throwing the computer out like Rob Swanson*

I’d probably shit a brick if I saw the option to reboot the universe on my computer.

[Catawampus]

Yeah, a recruiter told me that only a small fraction of the military is directly related to combat.

Sorta. The vast majority of any modern military is people who have jobs that are not directly combat related. Cooks, medics, engineers, mechanics, computer techs, communications specialists, truck drivers, whatever. The exact ratio tends to vary from military to military, and from unit to unit within that military, but it's often around 4 to 1 or greater.

However, even if you're a quartermaster or an engineer or whatever, you still have the chance of getting posted to a combat zone. And that means that there's still a good chance that you'll get shot at, or that at some point things will go wrong and you'll have a rifle shoved into your hand and be told to hold your position against the enemy.

[Catawampus]

*slams the enter key before throwing the computer out like Rob Swanson*

I’d probably shit a brick if I saw the option to reboot the universe on my computer.

"User lacks administrator privileges. User access to Universe revoked."

[GlytchMeister]

*slams the enter key before throwing the computer out like Rob Swanson*

I’d probably shit a brick if I saw the option to reboot the universe on my computer.

"User lacks administrator privileges. User access to Universe revoked."

From the void:

“Well... shit.”

[Alkarii]

Looks like I'm gonna be buying a new phone charger. The one I'd been using since I worked at Home Depot has a partially frayed cord, and the one my dad let me borrow doesn't charge my phone nearly as it should. After three hours, I went from less than half to between half and three quarters.

[TazManiac]

You can get them up to 2 Amps, but keep in mind; besides having more amps available, the thing actually controlling the rate of charge is the device itself.

(but, yeah- frayed cord is not good...)

[Bookworm]

The IKEA (Koppla?) USB charger is an excellently designed charger, and I can say with authority that it does a good job charging three devices at one time.

[Alkarii]

My mom said she's gonna find me a spare charger when she gets home this evening.

On a completely unrelated note, I've noticed that it's not quite so easy to find movies/documentaries or whatever in regards to the first World War, though there's plenty of books. Why is this war relatively ignored compared to the second? It's quite common for a person to know more about the second than the first, yet the first created a lot of the issues that led to the second. Is there a way to get ahold of someone in Hollywood and suggest a big movie or something based on that war?

[TazManiac]

Brainstorm, Quick Response mode:

- There are a lot more media sources for WWII vs 'the Great War', (the Film Industry & it's relevant Technology) continued to advance over the decades.)

- It happened a lot longer ago, WWI (duh); there are less (no more?) living participants, less relevance based on the passage of time, etc, etc.

- Most everything I've taken for granted (assumptions re: one vs the other) is that WWII has a better track record vis-a-vis Romanticism, PR 'spin'; Remorse over the 'Loss of a Generation' (WWI) vs 'the Greatest Generation' (WWII)...

- Setting of a new bar following the horrors of Mustard Gas and Trench Warfare and 'Modern' Artillery; by the time WWII had rolled around folks had some time to come to expect the horrors of war weren't some Valiant Charge across an Open Plain, on Horseback, by the Good Guys. It turns out it's, and has always been, a Meat Grinder.

(And then there's the reaction to Pearl Harbor, fighting against the otherwise seemingly rational self-preservational aspect of Isolationism...) <-- despite which, folks volunteered, knowing the bad times WWI caused Grandfathers, Fathers, and Uncles who went through that previous conflict.

Still, there are a lot of WWI stuff around, not all of which I've seen (it can get a bit repetitive due to the common reuse of the old stock, public domain footage...).

Lets see:

Both the BBC & PBS have pretty good short-series on WWI, (I could have sworn Ken Burns did too), and I find lots of folks asking the very same question(s) on Google, etc.

One thing some folks may not be aware of is the abundance of Public Domain material out there and the relativly easy access granted by the Internet...
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/wwi/wwi.html
https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/ ... litary/ww1

& a link to a Q&A on Reddit:

And of course I've liked: Sergeant York, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paths of Glory, and Lawrence of Arabia.