JAB

My [non-virtual] friends and I can start out talking about beer and end up talking about American history. We have known each other for so long (almost thirty years, now) and have been around each other so much that we can sometimes discuss two or three topics all at once. My wife says that she has stopped even trying to follow our conversations when we do that. A formal discussion usually sticks to the topic at hand, I guess. A good conversation addresses that topic and then, after the topic has been addressed, may follow a natural progression from topics related to the original topic to completely unrelated topics. Most of the time, I like when the threads I start behave more like a conversation.

Beautiful knife. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Well, showing their true colors it looks like both Haslam and Ramsey are coming out in opposition to the bill that would allow faculty and staff to carry on university campuses in TN. I'm still trying to figure out how in the hell Haslam was any better a choice than McWherter unless you own stock in Pilot (as in both were piss poor choices.) I am disappointed in Ramsey, who claimed to be on the side of firearms rights. Gov. Bill Haslam, Ramsey line up against guns on campus » Knoxville News Sentinel

Good shooting. I really like mine, too. I keep going back and forth on whether to keep the old style stock or get one of the new style stocks. For me, the biggest draw of the new style stocks are the spare mag holders Hi-Point has developed for them.

Interesting. The average person probably doesn't know that, though. I didn't, so I'd still have gone with the vehicle for which I had the keys. I am surely looking forward to the second season, though! My wife wouldn't even think about watching anything zombie-related until this show 'sucked her in'. She has since watched 'Night of the Living Dead' (the original) and one or two other 'zombie' type movies with me.

Really nice. I've only had my 642 a couple of months and keep thinking it would look great with some nice wood or antler grips - until I shoot it and it whacks the sh..ut yo' mouth out of my hand even with the factory rubber grips.

Not sure how to keep the little buggers out if they want to get in. The best I can suggest is keep a video camera handy and the next time the above situation presents itself, record the whole thing. With the money you could win on America's Funniest Home Videos, you could probably get new, skink-proof doors. I never said we had everything here. In fact, I never said that we have anything here. I just get tired of condescending posts where people seem to think that they know, 100%, that something could not possibly exist when there is no way to know that. In other words, people who think they know everything are annoying to those of us who actually do. (LOL!)

Looks like they need to change that sign from Mesquite CV to 'Fallen Oaks Drive', anyhow. Too bad about the loss of the old oak tree. On the flip side, [many types of] oak makes for good wood-grilled steaks.

Obama has said, before, that he would like to see Federal carry laws replace state carry laws which he feels aren't strong enough. He has also indicated that he would like to see a Federal ban on concealed carry. This legislation sounds like a good way for the Feds to get their foot in the door on an issue that, to this point, has been the domain of each, individual state, allowing for the possibility that the Fed could eventually achieve the aforementioned goals. I say, "No, thanks." Keep the Federal government out of this issue even if it means no reciprocity in some states.

Hah! Don't blame me - my ammo fund isn't large enough to wipe out their entire supply single-handedly.

Well, you see, officer, it was all a big misunderstanding. My friend here is getting older and has gotten near-sighted but refuses to wear his glasses. His vision is so damned bad that he thought the ATM was a slot machine. When the screen displayed the message, "Insert Card into Slot" he thought it said, "Insert Slot into Car" and the whole thing just sort of went to hell after that.

I am not even talking about bigfoot, etc. I am talking about more 'mundane' creatures existing where and/or when they aren't supposed to exist. Also, for the record, I am not even saying that I believe there are panthers, cougars or what have you in East Tennessee. I'm simply saying that I don't discount someone's claim of having seen one simply because I haven't backed over one in my driveway, yet. To me, as it is impossible to prove a negative, acting as if one knows for sure that someone couldn't possibly have seen something that they may very well have seen shows just as much ignorance as believing that Sasquatch has been borrowing your car without your permission.

As I said, I don't go hunting them and I generally leave them alone. That said, if there is one in a location where I don't want it to be (like, in the house or if the egg-stealing bastard is stretched out beside my chicken coop - both of which actually happened last summer) then it is causing me aggravation so, yeah, I have no problem eliminating it as I would any other pest or vermin. If it is on our property and is a poisonous snake then, yeah, it is causing me aggravation (and there is the possibility, at least, that it could cause harm) and I would no more hesitate to kill it than I would to swat a mosquito. Hell, there are people who actively seek out coyotes to kill - some even probably travel some distance to do so. Coyotes eat rats, mice and other vermin and, as long as they aren't at someone's house they probably aren't causing that person any aggravation or harm but I don't see anyone getting all worked up about them being killed. Some folks have varmint rifles specifically so they can kill groundhogs. A groundhog is just about the most docile creature around. They eat grass, for the love of Pete, but some folks make a hobby of killing them (and not because they are threatening their garden, etc.) I don't but I haven't seen any posts where anyone is upset over that, either. So, I just happen to include 'snakes' in the list of animals I consider to be pests, vermin and the like. As I said I won't go out looking for snakes to kill, won't kill them 'in the wild' and often/usually leave them alone when they are in the yard as long as they aren't too close to the house, aren't a poisonous variety, etc. I actually think green garter snakes are pretty and have held/played with non-poisonous snakes. I'm not especially afraid of them (unlike my wife who is phobic - part of the reason I will eliminate them if they are too close to the house) but I'm not going to lose any sleep over killing one, either.

Think about it this way - do you think the average person could just pick up a military weapon or jump in a military vehicle and know how to operate it well enough and quickly enough to kill/escape from a horde of zombies or outrun a huge explosion intended to completely vaporize everything in the CDC? That is, if the keys happen to still be in the ignition? Me, if I had time to mess around with the new gear and learn to use it then that might be one thing but if I am running for my life, I'm jumping in the vehicle to which I already have keys and already know how to operate and I am depending on the weapon I already know how to use. As for using the weapons, Rick and Shane aren't SWAT team members - they are country deputies in a town that doesn't even seem to have a SWAT team (based on the first scene where the black and whites are set up in a road block) - and there is no indication that the rest of the survivors have even as much firearms knowledge/experience as they have. Keep in mind, too, that all that gear didn't save the original owners/operators.

Understandable. Living in Loudon, we are a little closer to Chattanooga than you and we like going that direction, sometimes, just for something different than Knoxville. When we are down there, I try to hit the Sportsman's Warehouse and at least one of the two Academy locations (its worth it just for the Monarch FMJ Makarov ammo - which, at around $10 per box is about 1/2 the price that Wolf, Fiocchi, etc. goes for around here.)

Everybody knows that if there hasn't been an example of something either captured or killed in an area in several years then that animal must not be there. The next thing you know, some crackpot will try and tell us that the *coelacanths aren't really extinct. Oh, wait - you mean they aren't? *Coelacanths are a species of fish which were believed by scientists to have gone extinct around the time dinosaurs died out - that is MILLIONS of years ago and HUNDREDS of years of recorded history with no record of one existing - until one was caught in the 1930s. Since then, several examples have been seen/photographed. They are rare and extremely endangered but by no means extinct - so just because you haven't seen one in your neighbor's tropical fish tank - or run over by a car on I-40 - that doesn't mean they don't exist.

Got through level 15 on the second try. Crappy score, though. Gonna lay off of it for now - my eyes are about to cross but pretty soon I need to go back and get better scores for each level. Then, again, if I could shoot even that well at such distances in real life I'd probably be happy. Thanks to the OP for posting this. Still haven't gotten the 'team player' badge to open the bonus round.

YEEE-HAAAAWWW. Guess I just needed to come on here and gripe a little. Took two more tries to get past it. Wasn't pretty - only scored a 21.93 total with my worst hit being a 0.71 (meaning I almost missed, I guess) and the other hits being 6.88, 5.21 and 8.59 but, hey, I'm past it!

I thought I was doing okay. I rolled through the first 13 levels fairly easily (not saying my scores were all that high but they were 'qualifying', at least.) I just started playing about forty-five minutes ago and have earned all the badges except for 'team player'. Level 12 slowed me down a little but it still only took me about 30 minutes of playing to get through the first thirteen levels and reach level 14 - where I have been pretty much shut down. The real pisser is that I had a passing score on the third try in level 14 - and have had strong passing scores several times since then - but keep missing one out of the four shots (meaning my three hits are good enough to add up to a passing score if I could just put that fourth shot somewhere - anywhere - on target) because I have to get in a hurry to fire that fourth shot. Talk about frustrating - and I am at work so I can't yell out a therapeutic four letter word.

We live in Loudon and come from that direction but the way I get to Spring Creek, I take the road that turns off of 411 and goes past the entrance to Gee Creek campground (the turn off is more or less across 411 from the entrance to the Savannah Oaks Winery - I believe that is actually Delano, TN), drive until the pavement ends, cross some railroad tracks and then just keep going. And going. And going. The first time we went, my wife finally convinced me that we were on the wrong road, had missed it, etc. and that I should turn around. As I was pulling into a pull-off at the side of the road to turn around, I saw the Spring Creek sign just up the road - that is how close we were to giving up by the time we found it. The road that Spring Creek is on runs parallel to the Hiwassee River for a good bit of the distance and I threaten to take my fishing rod when we go (although I haven't, yet, because I generally wear myself out walking back and forth to change out targets on the 100 yard range.)

Oh, no! Some of you would consider killing a snake? Heaven forfend! Seriously, though, I don't go out looking for snakes to 'assassinate'. In fact, I generally leave them alone but I figure that if the worst thing I ever do in this world is kill some damned belly crawler then I'll be doing just fine. Oh, I kill flies, ticks and the occasional rat, too - guess I'm going to hell.

I had to go to Chattanooga to find them but at the Sportsman's Warehouse there I picked up a box of Buffalo Bore 180 grain hardcast (loaded ammo.) I was happy to find them there because I prefer not to order things online unless I have no other option. I was in Sportsman's Warehouse weekend before last and they still had them but I didn't notice if the price had changed - I paid a little over $20 for twenty rounds - not cheap but I imagine that box will last me for years. I fired a few just to check recoil, point of aim, etc. and there is a little difference between those, 125 grain and 158 grain loads. The difference might be more noticeable out of a shorter barreled/smaller gun like your Ruger than out of my four-inch Taurus 66. I have the Taurus to carry when trout fishing up at Tellico and wanted to load it with something that would have a chance at stopping a black bear, however unlikely an attack might be. People say that you don't have to worry about bears yet there have been attacks. Having to draw a weapon on a mugger is statistically unlikely, too, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to be prepared, just in case. I figure than if I go loaded for bear, literally, then I should be able to stop any other threats (including the two-legged kind) pretty handily. I recently bought a Super Blackhawk in .44 Mag but as it has a 7.5 inch barrel, I will probably stick with the (somewhat) easier to conceal, double action Taurus with the 180 grain Buffalo Bore for that application.

The 'Great Blues' get in our pond on pretty much a daily basis in the Spring/Summer and less frequently during other times of the year. Kind of hard to keep a decent stock of bluegill with them gobbling up all the smaller ones. Honestly, they are pretty common to see around Loudon. Generally speaking, birds may be my favorite animals but I wouldn't mind seeing a hunting season on the Great Blues. I wouldn't go hunting them 'in the wild' but would sure as heck blast the ones that think our fishing pond is a free, all they can eat buffet. As for how they taste, I don't know but I have seen a list where a cook in the middle ages, preparing for a feast at one castle or another, was ordering supplies. One of the things on the menu was herons. I can't, currently, find the link/page where that supply list is located but I did find this page, which contains a description of a feast presented by a nobleman in 1455. http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-banquet-feast.htm Notice that heron is listed among the meats prepared for the feast. Whether or not the Great Blues we see are similar to the type they were eating I don't know. I seem to recall, though, that the list I can't currently locate also included other fowl such as geese, peacocks and cranes.

Nice picture. We live in Loudon. In the last, few years I have seen coyotes: 1. In our back yard in broad daylight (no chance of getting a shot at it) 2. Dead on I-75 between the Sugar Limb Road and Lenoir City exits 3. Running across a frozen farm pond close to I-75, about a mile or so south of the Lenoir City exit at about 7:30am (while I was driving to work on the Interstate one morning) 4. Running across Hwy. 72 in front of Blairland Baptist Church (in Loudon) in broad daylight at about 4 in the afternoon 5. Running across Steekee Road about fifteen yards from the Steekee/Hwy 72 intersection (just after dark) 6. Sitting in the grass at the side of Parkside Drive in Knoxville, just watching traffic pass (just after dark.) and yet not once - despite camera phones, etc. - have we managed to get a single picture of one. Good job!

That statement sounds a whole lot like, "Let them eat cake," to me. It is certainly just as stupid, naive and out of touch with reality. Just goes to show that, although the years may pass, the privileged, spoiled 'aristocracy' doesn't change all that much. Of course, he doesn't have to worry about how much the fuel for his massive, armored Prezmobile limousine and the associated motorpool costs. The poor slobs driving their 8MPG clunkers to work foot the bill for that. When he decides that all he needs for his official transportation is a Hyundai hatchback then maybe he will have room to tell everyone else to tighten their belts. Until then, maybe he should cool it with the snide comments.