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The prospect of getting the hell beat out of one’s self has been largely negated by our legal system and society in general. Some folks still need a good azz whoopin’. This would cure a lot of our present day societal ills.

https://ij.org/press-release/tennessee-property-owners-score-early-win-in-lawsuit-against-warrantless-trespassing-surveillance-on-private-land/ Benton county judge denied TWRA motion to dismiss.

shame that wasn’t the attitude in 2001 or whenever the patriot act was passed.

I am seriously thinking of ditching our smartphones. I lived a pretty good life pre-cellphone and I can still do it. I have maps, can read the maps, have a landline and an answering machine. And if push comes to shove you can send snail mail via the current postal service. If you need to contact me you can call me at home, come to my home or send a letter. Look at all the options you have and none of them involve me paying $85 per month to have my privacy infringed. I also have a flashlight and a camera, as I use my phone for those 2 tasks more than talking on them. I have about had it with all this "smart" technology. I don't need a smart refrigerator talking to my laptop or T.V., sorry I am old school thru and thru. I can also cook supper without electricity on a gas range

I'm no Apple fan, but I followed the story and kind of support their decision. The feds wanted a backdoor to the software that runs their phones, and Apple did not want to provide one. You can't sell a product with an intentional security flaw. I am sure they already had a means to get into the phone, but the feds didn't want to reveal that fact. Was that before or after Snowden?

Between the trackers we willingly install on our vehicles in the name of saving on insurance, the GPS trackers in our cell phones, the chip readers in our debit and credit cards(that can do a multitude of things besides allow you to purchase items), and the very real push for card only transactions these days; it's very hard not to be getting unsettled by the tracking of our daily lives. The removal of cash in purchases removes(in more known term to this community) "ghost" purchases. Not one thing you buy will be missed. Anything, anytime, anywhere can and will be seen. Don't believe in it? Look at England's CCTV system. Works pretty well it seems. Enough so that a network like it is being established here, linking all those security cameras on the streets from "private" business protection, the speeding ticket camera, even our own personal security camera systems that we willingly had over access to the security companies who "guard" our property. Privacy? If we ever truly had it, we seem to have gladly given it away. Fighting "Big Brother" and George Orwell's 1984? Heck we made it and we liked it coming! Back on the cashless society that my late father-in-law talked about 30 plus years ago. Frank said we'd never see it in his lifetime. Within a few years he had a debit and cred card in his wallet for everything. Cash is being shunned today in our lives. It's dirty. It has germs on it. Cash leads to spreading Corona. We've had everything from blood and human wastes, cocaine and heroin, and other chemical residues on our currency for decades. But now it's not safe? And while I'm on a roll here, what about the ads on FB and other social media sites? You've seen them I'm sure. Which ones? Those promoting giving children debit cards. What? Oh it's just to teach them how to manage money. Give me a break! Or a smack on the jaw if you think I'm a bit over the edge on paranoia today. Every move you make is being watched today. We are being led in a very specific direction. One that leads to total overwatch of our lives and actions. And we are happily and willingly embracing it. Ok. Done for now. Do you see what association with all you "right wing gun totin' terrorists" has done to me? I used to be a calm and quiet sort of guy. But I've embraced all the EOTWAWKI theories with wide eyes and open arms! LOL Now all this has been a bit tongue-in-cheek. Sort of. Well, Maybe.

My job requires me to photograph various things and provide them to our customer. I've learned to be cognizant of what's in the background, be that a plumber's crack or proprietary tools. This teacher needs to learn to mind her own business, and the child's parent need to learn to set up a screen or put the child's back to a blank wall.

A slightly different musical instrument than most of y’all. You can tell from the fingerboard and the note diagram on it that I’m not an experienced fiddler, but it is enjoyable, if quite challenging to learn. It’s a Fiddlerman Master violin and their “3 star” Pernambuco bow. Not anything super special or extra nice, but a nice step above a basic student violin. I didn’t realize until I went to post the pic that it was kinda blurry. I’ll re-edit to add better pics later.

Most companies don't intentionally put software out with known flaws, otherwise they would patch them. Now, software that wasn't fully vetted, yea all the time, some more than others, but many do it. That is one reason why I became involved with open source programs, the code is out there for anyone to review and you can compile your own copy. I do have something to hide, most everyone does. There are reasons there are doors and locks to bathroom stalls, we all got #### to hide.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Google is a legitimately evil corporation. More so than most. They refuse to work with the us.mil yet will happily work with Chinese government to develop algorithms that are used to clamp down on dissenters. Apple may not be great, but #### Google.

This guy's collection of firearms is amazing!!!

Thanks for the very public votes of confidence @TGO David & @MacGyver. I hate that a misunderstanding about the post led to a long time member getting banned. Only the initial misunderstanding though, his actions after that were on him. To everyone else, I always make calls based on what I think is best for this community. I am a human and therefore fallible. If you think I made a mistake, have a question for me, shoot me a PM. I’ll be happy to hear you out. That’s not me trying to justify or explain myself to y’all. I’m confident in my role here. I just want y’all to know I really value y’all. This community here is responsible for my closest friendships on this planet. Seriously, the group of friends I talk to every single day I made here. Y’all are important to me, even those I butt heads with. This place is a real community, so keep that in mind and take care of each other.

She's a good comrade doing what comrades do best; use rules in new ways to punish people she disagrees with. I agree. That would piss me off as a parent too.

Any of you who didn't know Marswolf when he was among us... Y'all would have either loved him or hated him. Shannon was an OG badass who up until the very end was serving the country for a few different alphabet soup agencies, doing some really bad things to some really bad people. AND he had great taste in music, could make me laugh like almost no other, and was just a hell of a good guy that I think of often. I'll be pouring a glass of something good tonight and raising it not only in his honor, but in the honor of the others here that we've lost too soon. We may not realize it, but we are definitely diminished each time one of our ranks sets sail for distant shores.

Glad this thread came back! Only picture I have handy of all of them. 2000 American Standard Strat Parts Tele (My baby) Squier Bullet Mustang 2000ish Taylor 410-CE My grandpa and I finished the body and built the Tele together. I had hopes of a decent guitar but after having a local luthier in Memphis level the frets it is literally the best playing guitar that I have ever held or owned. As much as I love my Strat it rarely gets picked up now. The Tele is just so versatile.

I am setting up a new category of member that will be used strictly to memorialize our fallen / dearly departed friends. Thankfully the number of departed is mercifully low for as long as TGO has been around and as many members as we have, but I do not want to risk these accounts and their contributions to the forum ever being lost to a routine "purge" of inactive accounts. Can you help us remember who all should be moved to this group?

You won't regret it. Its very cool.

You now have an “enhanced” permit. No changes to the permit. Just a fancier name.

I would just settle for that big quake that they been expecting to just take Washington, Oregon and California and send them into The Pacific Ocean!!!

CA is a really big state. Sounds like a normal year anymore.

Big whoop. I’m ready for the giant meteor.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. All they had to do was get a judge to get them a warrant to install camera's and/or search the premises. I have a big problem with the fact that lots of game and fish departments in different states think they can go anywhere at anytime. I have mixed feelings about the fact they can put a dummy deer, turkey or elk out there hoping someone will shoot it. I really look on that as bordering on entrapment. The TWRA is like lots of LEO, there are some of their guys that push the limit a little too far. You can get a lot more flies with sugar than with vinegar.

That was under Obama's administration, no? I would think that the feds would have some sort of "Hindering & Interfering" law that they could have enforced. I mean, after all, if lying isn't free speech then surely obstruction follows the same.

Also, I forgot to add that you shouldn't download apps from anywhere other than Google Play Store unless you vet them well. Google does some screening of the apps submitted for the store, but 3rd parties do not. A lot of free apps include spyware written by the developer to sell information to another party. The safest phones are Windows and Apple, but they are more restrictive too unless you jailbreak the Apple which defeats security.

Yes, it's on mine and no I didn't download it. It does say that in order to turn it on, I have to install a participating app.

Good.

When I left high school, I felt the same way. Wasn't part of any popular group and really didn't fit in. My folks were just blue collar workers and I didn't make the cut. I started to do a public FO! to them all, but some semblance of sense came in and stopped me from doing it. Some 30 years later, I ran into a few of them and started a conversation. I won't say we became instant buds, but I have managed to get a few good people I can talk with from that group now. Even giving some thought to moving back to that little community. My remaining family is there, and my wife is the last of her family but for her step-mother. Might just happen. If we all survive this current mess. So sometimes things do change for the better.

I just had a strong hunch this virtual school/video teaching was going to be a big mess. I was thinking along the same lines. Giving anyone a video access to me or my home is not going to happen! At least not voluntarily! I don't have a desktop or a laptop with a video camera and don't want one. I just don't care for the idea of my fat butt being exposed to all while I'm online. Heck I had a cow the other day when a link told me about the Covid Tracker that Microsoft and Android had cooked up. Doesn't sound too upsetting...right? Well how about the fact that it was automatically installed in my Samsung phone without my knowledge? Go to Settings, then Goole settings I believe it was, and check. It's there. Sure has an on/off slide on it. But do you really think anyone that would add this wouldn't be slick enough to make it appear you had turned it off?

Also. I know sometimes that members passing aren’t necessarily public. We’ve got some members who’ve had a hard go of things and have been in my prayers for years. If you want to PM David or me privately, we can add people to the list.

Good catch. That was Don - @Timestepper He was larger than life in a lot of ways.

I know we lost another member many years ago but I cannot recall his screen name. I want to say he shot himself in the foot/leg and it eventually killed him. Anyone recall that?

I've added a few more Gretsch instruments to the stable since my previous post-- First, a 1942 Gretsch Synchromatic 100. All original except for the replacement tailpiece (I still have the original broken tailpiece). This thing just sings. Next, a Gretsch G9241 A/E biscuit-bridge Resonator-- I love my Gretsch Park Avenue mandolin so much that I hunted down another one as a "back-up". (older one is lighter sunburst, newer one is darker sunburst)-- Also added another Gretsch mandolin-- an A-body this time-- Gretsch New Yorker A/E Deluxe-- And finally, A Gretsch 5622 centerblock (semi-hollow) model. And a few more action shots from the last couple of years--

My friend Mousegunner, Dr. Marshal St. John’s, departed us in 2011. He had only been interested in firearms for about 15 years but researched and contributed a lot to our hobby. I really miss his wisdom. He was an all around wonderful man. I frequently handle newly released firearms and think how much he would have enjoyed many of them. I just looked, Mousegunner’s last login was nine years ago today!

Sorry to hear that. Kudos that you'd keep a friend that long. When I left high school I wanted to forget everything about it.

Sorry to hear that. My condolences.

Only if you can remember topics he participated in. We're hoping you guys can help us remember them. I also added MouseGunner to the group.

I'll play - Rebuilt Teisco - The D'Armond-style gold foils have such a big sound on a 5 pound guitar! Custom Kraft (Kay). Completely stock. The single coil pickups truly scream but I really dig the crazy binding My first electric and one of the very first G&Ls made. Also, why I hail by Swamp Ash

Howdy folks - I just discovered the forum, having followed a link from the CZ forum. I am hoping to keep up with more local happenings and events. Thanks

Received my permit in the mail today!

I do agree about E-Bay deals. I did have some knowledge of this seller, and checked him out again before my orders. But...you never can tell. lol I do get guarantees from seller and E-bay for product and my satisfaction. I have used E-bay's dispute resolution twice now, and have gotten satisfaction both times. Oh...I am on the OP mailing list. I get far more from them than I care for at times. lol Almost, but not quite, as bad as D'Vor. They drive me crazy with their mailings.

Get yourself on Opticsplanet. Got almost all mine there during sales and VIP pricing.... https://www.opticsplanet.com/s/holosun

Here is an update. I had taken my Safety Course on 7/27, DMV visit on 7/29, and fingerprint on 7/30. This is an Enhanced Permit as well. I have been checking the DMV's online services daily, and today it states: "Your application was approved 06-Aug-2020. You should receive the card in the mail between 20-Aug-2020 and 27-Aug-2020." Sounds like I am good to go.

Remember this CC only permit just went into effect Jan. 1. With Covid 19 and all of its ramifications, gun law is on the back burner. As things roll around to ‘normal’ other states may address this further. If one is going to spend time and money I would recommend getting the best training and permit available.

No guns mentioned

This makes my blood boil. I'm not one that normally thinks of law suits but I believe this would change my mind if it happened to me and my child. (This was back in June) A Baltimore County, Md., fifth-grader got a visit from the police after his teacher called to report that she had seen a BB gun on the wall behind the student during a class video call. The principal and the teacher cited a rule stating that students may not bring guns to school and claimed it extended to virtual classes as well, Sperry said, adding that the school handbook does not address rules for virtual learning at all. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/paula-bolyard/2020/06/11/teacher-spying-on-student-during-virtual-class-sends-cops-to-search-11-year-olds-home-after-spotting-a-bb-gun-n518679

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