leroy

They are an excellent knife from a great company at a great price....   Enjoy, leroy

In the famous words of the long haired bad guy in that cinema classic "Pecos Bill": "...Ya cant stop progress boy...."... Gaston Glock and his sincere copiers moved gun design ahead over the world... John Moses Browning wuz a great (...possibly the greatest...) firearms designer ever...   Gaston Glock is the next generation... Pick the one you like and shoot it... I like all of em...   leroy

The upper east tennessee area is a lovely area.... Full of mountains, lakes, trout streams, and lovely people... There are plenty of shooters and plenty of fishermen there... Johnson City is the home of East Tennessee State University; and excellent school for all but engineering type studies... It adds the usual "university"type mix and atmosphere to their city...   I worked and traveled in that area for many years; and i think it is a truly lovely place; full of nice people... A mix of mountain folk, with a mix of imported folks who come to work there; depending on where ya choose to live... On  balance; i would say the Johnson City and Kingsport areas are more urban with a more diverse population; with the Bristol TN-VA area and the Erwin, TN area being a bit more rural... They are all great places to be in my estimation...I wouldnt mind livin there at all, and im an east tennessee native...   As to the "drug" thing... The sad truth is that east tennessee is overrun with methamphetamine production no matter where ya look; no place is immune to the problem... I think it has become the replacement for the bootleg moonshine industry in the more rural areas... I'm sure that there are plenty of marijuana growers there too; there are wherever ya have a good amount of wooded parcels, and there are plenty of woods in upper east tennessee...   The good news is; that i think that, on balance, the local constabulary keeps a pretty good lid on things... Shootin and killins up there, unlike lots of other places, are mostly due to feuds within the drug trade... I tend to like those; they cause the participants to be self limiting, so to speak....   We have several members here who live in the upper tennessee area, im sure they will chime in and opine as to the situation there; but to me lookin to the east from north of knoxville; it looks a helluva better to me than the knoxville area...   Hope this helps... leroy

Great little knife from a great company....I like 'em too...  You will enjoy havin and usin that little knife... I carry mine in a pocket sheath from these guys: http://www.knivesshipfree.com/sheaths/   These little knives are great users and a little bit of stropping will make them razor sharp... They are just as handy as a folding pocket knife and a lot more sturdy...   Enjoy... leroy

RE:... TMF's post above (...#29...)... Right here strikes an interestin chord with me from the "long ago": Back in the seventies there wuz an interestin little gunshop near midland center in Maryville that had a pretty good selection of hunting and shooting stuff... I used to drop by from time to time and it wuz interestin to walk in and talk a bit...During those days; i wuz spendin lots of time lookin for good shotguns and "N" frame smiths...   When ya walked in; everything stopped ALA the old time "stranger in town" thing from the westerns and all eyes were on you...   As TMF described; the "vibes" were very interestin there too... I aint too much of a "vibe" person; but this place gave off some interestin ones--even noticeable to me... I always got the impression that it wuz kinda like the galactic empire vs the ragtag rebels thing; and you could figure out pretty quick that they saw themselves as the "rebel" element...   These guys were friendly but they would never opine on anything... They replied when spoken to; but passed out no opinions...Whenever i visited with these guys; i always felt like that i had been "mentally and spiritually" interrogated and every word spoken and action made while in the place wuz analyzed and duly catalogued... It wuz all unspoken, but really real (...to me at least...)...   This place is long gone now; but i always thought it wuz interestin... Several of my childhood buddies did lots of business with them... I never asked about the "vibes" but i kinda knew they were sympathetic to them...   There is a fine line between patriotic organizations and "others"... I can see the militia thing as being manned by concerned folks who are, in fact, patriotic... I can also see that it can easily be inhabited by anarchists and nuts... It's the anarchist and nuts ya have to worry about...   leroy, lookin back

  I had forgot about the submersibles; i would bet you are exactly right... The Navy has done some very deep dives with them...   Keep up the good work!...   By the way:....RE: TMF's great post (...several pages back....) about not goin to the moon, JFK, and the military-industrial complex... My 24 year old has a delightful, rustic buddy who will tell ya in a minute that "nobody has been to the dammed moon!!"... He says it's all a scam and wuz filmed out in nevada somewhere... The best part is terrible to consider....He will also tell ya that the reason the Challenger went down wuz because there was a school teacher on board and the gubmt wuz afraid she would rat them out; so they shot it down off the launchpad.... Now that's a conspiracy theory ya can believe in!!! leroy

For what it's worth... I think the author of the article (...along with those "others" he refers to...) hints at the problem but either hasn't recognized it; or doesn't understand it...   Up until the dawn of the CNC age (...the time of the Colts, essex put togethers, and the old military pistols...); folks wanted their carry 1911 to be a reliable shooter for defensive purposes; there were few problems with the 1911; providing they had a good magazine, good ammo, and someone who know how to shoot...   Some said the 1911 wasn't sufficiently reliable; but there are lots of reasons not to believe that...Accuracy wasn't "bullseye grade"; it was "combat grade"... Folks built 1911's looser then... That made them reliable... I've handled and owned a bunch of lowly Colts and military rebuilds (...now out of favor with the current 1911 "in-crowd"...) that never failed to go off when they had a proper mag, good ammunition, and a thoroughly trained shooter handling them...   The reason that "new" 1911's need all this TLC is that they are too closely machined and fitted... They are, in effect, a modern match grade bullseye gun that the manufacturers are marketing as "defensive guns"... That's why they are 'finicky" and need fixin.... Glocks aint "finicky" out of the box; they are combat guns....   leroy, lover of the lowly colt 1911 and that greatest of all colts, the SAA

  As to the motives; could be pressure from "others" or from within the Malasyan government to keep this quiet.... Like i said; i simply dont know; but i never discount the possibility of someone tellin a lie....Gubmt is bad to do that sort of thing; all for the 'Collective Good" ya understand... It's always better to hurt a few in order to accomplish the "Collective Good" of protecting the many... After all, that's the job of gubmt aint it?...   Do they (...the Malayiasian gubmt and "other interested parties and nations"...) know what happened...??  I think (...that means i dont know...) they know lots more than they are sayin; but that's just me...   By the way; i may have forgotten to take my meds... Did i mention, i'm a very suspicious man...??   "Uncle Sam", that most truthful and purest of the pure of the great ones of the world said that he buried OBL at sea; i aint seen him either; and neither did anyone else...  "Uncle Sam" said to take his word for it; it's better that way, ya understand....   Remember this:  A great greek philosopher once said (...rough paraphrase...): "...It is the mark of intelligence to consider an idea; but not to embrace or believe it..."   I aint real intelligent, but i always consider the "why" of everything that aint real cut and dried; and this one aint....   Consider that the "proof of the crash" is some flotsom and jetsom floating around in the ocean and someone said the wreckage is in 23,000 feet of water -- far out of reach of the ability to go down and take if a look; if one is interested in doin such a thing...Transponders turned off after takeoff --- very interestin... All very interestin and very unusual factoids... But, again, im a suspicious man...   I think ill go take a nap now; im tired from my electroshock therapy... That's where i put my tinfoil hat...   leroy

Malaysian Airlines and the government of Malaysia are the arbiters of this; not the people who built or contracted to maintain the aircraft that's lost... More than that; this is Malaysian Airlines and the government of Malaysia are leading this "search" with the help of others...   Said another way, this is in the hands of "others"; not Boeing or Rolls Royce... I know that sounds very cold to anyone with a heart; but there have been plenty of times when governments and businesses have kept their mouth shut and told lies for lots of reasons....   Does it hurt the folks cryin and waiting to hear about their loved ones?.... Sure it does... The fact is that it could be that the good ole USA and others "helping" on this are doing it for purely humanitarian reasons; nothing more, and that is the right thing to do....Or, they may well be willing participants in a cruel charade to cover up what actually happened while trying to find out where this plane is and the purposes for which it was taken....   For what it's worth; i don't believe for a minute that this plane went down as they said...I think it landed somewhere intact and it may show up again for another purpose; and a terrorist one at that... That's pure conjecture on my part, but again; i don't trust any government to tell the truth about things like this; they never so...   Do i think that governments lie for their own purposes and hurt grieving folks...?  Of course i do... I say (...again...) watch what the pesky jews do in Israel... When they bring their air defenses off high alert, ya can say that the matter of Flight 370 is pretty well closed...   suspicious leroy

All... RE: The "...magic telemetry and locational discussion..."; along with "....why doesn't Boeing just tell us where the plane is discussion..."....   I think the reason that Boeing (...or Rolls Royce...) doesn't unilaterally report the "whereabouts of the plane" is because it's not their business to do so; and they may be constrained by others... Boeing entered into a contract with the buyers (...or lessors...) of the aircraft; presumably Malaysian Airlines (...or others, E.G. the government of Malaysia...)... The "services" (...and real time data collection and performance monitoring are presumably part of that contract...) provided are outlined in the contract with that entity who actually paid Boeing for that service and or data; not the public in general...   Said another way, any contractual information (...including telemetry from the engines and or plane positioning transponders...) are the property of the plane's owners; not the general public, and the owners make the determinations as to what gets released and when; not Boeing....   Boeing (...and other suppliers like Rolls Royce...) may well know plenty; but they are not in a place to make that information public; as others have paid for it... They are simply like "Silent Sam the Service Man"; they do what they have been contracted to do and keep their mouth shut...   leroy

I like it!!  Thanks for posting it...   leroy

  Thanks David... I'll drop ya a PM or send a note somehow so we can set up a meet...   Thanks a bunch... leroy

David... How are ya fixed for 180 or 200 grain montana gold 40 cal bullets?... I could use a thousand for my newly acquired 10 mm... Could probably pick them up from ya in may if ya come to the show in Knoxville....   Thanks a bunch... leroy

Dustbuster raises an interesting point.... Ya got the engine telemetry and the radio sensors that hear the telemetry... If more than one sensor hears the same telemetry; ya can do some math and get a good guess as to location... The more sensors that hear, the more precise the calculation... All that bein said; i could see how Boeing could keep their mouth shut... The data is part of a legitimate business transaction between Boeing and whomever purchased the plane... The telemetry is part of that deal...   leroy

I think lots of folks have made some pretty neat and insightful comments -- ive thoroughly enjoyed readin them all -- thanks a bunch for takin time to opine on this great subject....   To think that the division 1 universities are not a farm camp for the NFC and AFC is to think a fantasy... There aint no such thing as an "amateur student athlete"; and there hasn't been for a long time; probably since the 50's....   That bein said and understood; there is no use for the apparatchiks and functionaries of the NCAA; they are just another bunch of "on the dole" dregs of the college and athletic scene...  I say do away with the NCAA and pay em all and admit what you are doin... Some of them need cars and grocery money to keep the family up while they are playin football (...or whatever they play...), and im ok with that...   As delightful as college and professional football is; its only important to a precious few individuals... The truth is that it's just a delightful diversion for us who watch occasionally; and a cash cow for a small group of talented folks.... It's the ultimate dream of little boys to make a fabulous livin from playin a little boy's game... It's another proof of how great this country is... A place where big men can play a little boy's game and become fabulously wealthy and famous; and where a bunch of "pimples on the posterior of progress" can make six figure salaries "ensuring" that "amateur student athletes" don't go on the payroll while in college...    No wonder everyone in the world wants to come to Amerika; what a place.....!!!   leroy the anti NCAA zealot

  I understand... I hadnt thought of the "... aimin, zoomin, and lookin in one place..." thing... It makes sense; but i still dont like the "official" explanation.... The problem with all this is the history of not tellin the truth or not sayin anything at all...   leroy

I think the deal here is that local government (...no matter how stupid...) has some leeway in "regulating some sorts of ammunition".... They cant ban it all...   The supremes have ruled that banning and restricting all ammunition is tantamount to banning arms... The bottom line is that if it is a legitimately passed ordinance or law by duly elected officials (...or bozos...), the local jurisdiction can do this sort of thing... The thing to remember is that it is local....   leroy

I don't own one; but i simply cant imagine a Walther PK380 being a "bad gun"... In my experience, Walther simply doesn't do that... All that bein said; i understand that some are made on "friday and monday" and may have problems; but Walther will quickly fix that... I think the Gunblast guys did a review of the PK380 when it came out....   For what it's worth; i tote a SIG 238 all the time and keep a big gun handy in the car and in the home... I like the 380 and i think the PK380 is a locked breech pistola...  The old blowback operated pistols (...think PPK here...) were hard to rack to eject a bad round...  I also like the Glock 42; but i bet the Walther is a lot easier to find....   PS-- I like the Smith "Shield" and Kahr stuff too...   leroy

Let me see if i can get this right...  We have a system of geo-stationary satellites that cover the globe, can watch the Nantz nuclear facility in Iran and tell when the Iranians bulldoze and clean up a single plant entrance at that plant; and we cant find a 777.... ???    I'm sorry, but Ive got a bit of a problem with the idea that we somehow didn't know what happened 'cause we didn't see nothin...   I'm like some other folks have opined... I'll believe that the plane is not a danger when the pesky jews stand down from their high alert... I fully understand why the Malaysian government cant reveal it's possible actions (...if there were any....); they are tryin to keep the peace within their country and with other neighboring countries in their own way...   Of late (...from the 60's on...) Uncle Sam has decided to lie about everything... As an old 8 th grade grammar school teacher used to say: "....believe nothing you hear and half of what you see..." and you will most likely get a fair picture of what is really goin on... I heard that in 1960... It's even more true today in my opinion...    By the way; where's Bin Laden and Jimmy Hoffa???... I aint seen them either...   suspicious leroy

From time to time i talk about the idea of various states as "devolving into loose confederations"; one that believes in the plain reading of the constitution and the bill of rights; and the other a deep blue oligarchy run by machine politicos that make serfs of their citizens.... I think this issue is one of the symptoms of this devolution... If the citizens of the state of Illinois don't get rid of this trash (...i predict they wont...), they will continue to be serfs...   Remember the words of a great unknown Indian (...a real "Indian" Indian...) pundit and wise man that opined: "...At the end of the day, there are only two kinds of people.... Those who want to be free and those who want to be told what to do..."... He is exactly right... He evidently saw the "white man's burden" first hand and had enough sense to recognize what is it--- makin people bow down and serve as serfs; being told what to do....   watchin leroy

All:   Check this out... See below....   I lifted it from here:  http://www.waldensridgewhitewater.com/accessrights.htm   Notice the bold italic underlined portion....   leroy

Peace.... I understand the concern for wife and kids due to a "stanger" walkin up on the family... I also understand the concerns of others who have bad neighbors and bad situations... All that bein said; i tend to take the "watch and be ready" approach... I think the precautions ya need to take are related to where you are (...what's the neighborhood, urban or rural...), who are the people (...transients or neighbors...), and what the "protectors" (...your wife...) are willing to do to defend things if something terrible (...God forbid...) should happen...   My personal approach is the "...friendly but watchful..." approach; but im at home most all the time... If i see a new face, i make a point to visit a bit and find out who folks are... That sends a couple of messages; the most important of which is that "...im watchin...", and "...im studyin your face and features...".   Those who are petty thieves dont like that... I doubt that does much for "...stone cold killas..."; but, again, nothin does but gunpowder and lead (...which i always keep handy...)...     The sad truth is that we live in dangerous times; and everybody is edgy; so that complicates our dealings with others...   The truth of the matter is that if you are absent from the home; the only protection that can be provided has to be provided by the wife or other able bodied adult or young person... If they choose to be armed, that's a great thing and the best thing possible in my estimation... If they dont, God alone, is the only protection... I hate to say it that way; but it's the genuine truth... The truth is that i would never leave kids playing outside my direct line of sight and i would never not be armed; but that's just me... The only thing that "technology" can do for ya, is to let ya know when someone is commin.... If he (...she or it....) is the Grim Reaper, ya better be ready for what's next; and that's what the adults or other older kids watchin the little kids need to prepare for...   I know that we all want to do what we can to protect our loved ones and that's what we are supposed to do as responsible adults; but the truth is that if ya aint there, it has to be done by "others"... To my way of thinkin, the best "others" are two big dogs, the "armed and ready to shoot" wife or older sibling, or other family members (...your mean father-in-law or dear ole dad comes to mind if they are able or still around...)...   Like several here have opined; this is probably a "nothin but chance meeting", and, as such; should be considered just that... I tend to be a bit suspicious, so im always watchful...   I'll close this little essay by way of sayin by remindin everybody that "...you are the only being that can really protect you..."... I would advise calm, quite, watchful, reasoned responses to all these little encounters... It's kinda like baby bear's porrage; "...not too cold, not too hot, just right..."... That way, no body gets hurt and everything stays reasonable...   Signs, fences, and surveillance tools are just that, they are tools; they do nothing to deter anyone who is bent on doin ya harm... Only determination not to be a victim and the ability to burn powder stops the harm once the mayhem is decided on...   Here's joinin you and others in the the hope (...and fervent prayer...) that this is a simple chance encounter by a harmless wayfaring pilgrim...   watchin leroy

I'll join the chorus of "Anti-aluminum wire" proponents...  I'm an amateur electrician and have been around this stuff my whole working career in industrial settings... Aluminum wiring is ok in outside industrial settings for high voltage applications... Copper wire is the wire of choice for distribution and low voltage settings for a reason....It's safe, forgiving of "clumsy installation", and long lasting...   The problem i see with using aluminum in residential wiring is that residential wiring is not run in rigid conduit (...industrial installations are...), aluminum wiring is flammable (...copper is not...), there is a very disconcerting history of residential fires directly attributed to poor connections in aluminum wiring.... This fact, alone, should trouble you.... There are hundreds of these connections in your house, from switch leads, light distribution boxes, plugs,  and in the breaker panel...  I would never take the chance of using aluminum wiring in any of these locations... It takes only one bad connection (...or loose connection...) to generate enough resistance to heat up a junction box enough to flame... Cooper wont do that; aluminum will...   I've seen some connections that got very hot from loosening from poor installation (...mostly not taking the time to re-tighten the connection lugs after putting the circuit in service...) and overloading in service (...think contractors in heavy load connections like air condition and heating elements here....), that charred but didn't burn... They were all connected with copper wiring... I simply dont think that aluminum wire would be safe in any application that is not perfectly installed (...which is rare...) or adequately rated (...another rarity...)... I simply wouldn't take the chance... You are gambling with both your safety and most likely the biggest investment you will ever make.... I simply dont like the odds... More than that; there are several houses from the era of aluminum wiring installation that have burned in my area...   leroy

Sig... Sadly, carryin one of these old mechanical watches on a daily basis is pretty risky... I have relegated mine (...sadly...) to wearin with a suit on extra special occasions.... I carry one of these when im in the mood to carry a pocket watch in a vest pocket:   http://www.goldmountaintrading.com/fulensilpocw.html I've bought from the Gold Mountain guys; they are an ok bunch...   The Montana Silversmith's watches are good ones and ya wont mourn too much if something happens to it....   RE:  White gold or silver... Got one; a bar case 992... It wuz pretty hard to find years ago...   leroy

sig:... Im an old pocket watch collector myself... I really like and can heartily recommend the old Hamiltons... Iv'e got several 992's with the railroad face (...Montgomery dial, every minute is numbered ...)... Railroad watches are traditionally 17 jewel and up (...most are 21 jewel...), lever set (...ya have to screw the face off and pull out a lever on the front of the dial to set the watch...) and most are in gold filled cases...I really like the ones in a "bar case"; which is designed so the bar of the bail goes over the top of the winding stem and protects it...     Most of these old watches are either in Hamilton or J Boss cases... When they were originally done; you could pick out the watch works and mate it to the case you liked at the jeweler's shop....  The yellow gold filled cases are the most prevalent of the lot; but there are a few white gold and silver cases out there too... A few were done in what is called "base metal"... I've got a military 4992 with a 24 hour dial that is base metal... It has the contract number that the watch was built under engraved on the back... These watches were either for navigation or artillery use....   The Hamiltons were built from the 1920's (...ive got one from 1925...) right up thru the 1950's... They were replaced by the Bulova Accutron, and later the quartz watch of various flavors; the best of which is Seiko....   I've told ya all the good stuff about 'em; now for the bad.... The first is that they have turned from being tools to work with to being collectables... This drives the cost up and allows for some unscrupulous folks to cheat ya if they can; so buy from someone ya trust and has a good reputation in this business... Secondly, they are fragile; ive had several repaired over the years due to broken balance staffs, they simply don't like to be jostled.... Thirdly, they have to be serviced regularly and that's a problem... These original watches were meant to be inspected, adjusted, and serviced  by a real watchmaker... That is a big problem now... The guys that used to do this stuff and were watch inspectors for the railroads are most all gone now or way up in years... Every one of my watches need to be cleaned and oiled right now; but all my old watchmakin buddies are all gone over the sunset hill and there aren't any around my neck of the woods that i would trust with these watches.... This is far and away the biggest problem with them....   Lastly, I'll list the watch brands (...railroad...) that i like and try to list them in order of worth from high to low... Some folks may not like my listing and provide their on... Here goes: Illinois Watch Company (.... Bunn Special....); Ball Watch Company (...predecessor of Hamilton Watch Company, i think...), Hamilton Watch Company (...my favorite, 992, 992E, 992B, 950, 950B, plus some military stuff labelled 4992B...), Elgin Watch Company, Waltham Watch Company... Watch cases are J. W Boss, Hamilton, or others like Elgin or Waltham....   There is one more thing i need to mention... That is watch chains... The "best of the best" (...for railroad men, that is...) was Simmons... Naturally, they are collectable too and they cost lots of money... Most were 1/10 -10 carat gold filled... There is another chain that is good too; but i cant think of the brand right now... But, all that bein said; the Simmons wuz the king of the chains...   Hope this helps a bit... If ya need some more info send me a PM...   Have fun lookin and collecting!!   leroy the pocketwatch man   EDIT... See the bold above... There aint any 31 jewel watches as i originally posted!!!