MacGyver

I expect money is pretty scarce around PhotoBucket these days...

Every one of those series is worth the money.  This is a great deal.

You know why you always take more than one church of Christ guy fishing with you, right? Because if you only take one, he'll drink all your beer.

While it wouldn't be my first choice for pocket carry, I wouldn't hesitate with a Charter Arms Bulldog or similar.  I've seen a few that have taken (and probably given) some beatings and just kept right on going.

Don't let the facts stop you from emailing you representative. Lord knows they don't let the facts stop them. They ought to have to earn their pay checks :)

I don't think they understand how this federalist system works.

Stupid truthers...

That's a no brainer.  Halloween is right around the corner:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SimMpsUeBE

I'd like to find one in .44 Mag, too.

I'm going to sign some of y'all up for Facebook accounts...

I think that stuff is 7.92 Mauser ammo made in Canada in 1942 to be dropped to allies in the European and Asian theaters.  Pictures?   edit:  here's a link - see post 12.

I like DM Bullard for my SOB holsters. Both the dual carry and the tuckable IWB. He's got a P320 pattern.

I still taste it and smell it when I close my eyes at night.  I'd love for my memory to fade, but it won't.  It can't.     We've squandered the memories 2977 people who lost their lives that day.

The Postman is great when Tom Petty shows up.

Book of Eli is my favorite = "we had more than we needed..."

Despite the fact that the two liters will likely outlast us by thousands of years, I'm gonna make my cordage the old fashioned way:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DljWyRQFrNc

I'm going to give it a whirl.  My specific use case would be to take notes in a digital format without having a laptop screen sitting between me and the person I'm interviewing.

Sorry - wrong MacBook.  I do all my day-to-day work on a MBP.  I was talking the new little MacBook with the one USB-C port in my post above.

I'll see if I can find a video of Cook's recent comments  - here's a link - they we're basically a mea culpa where he said that we as consumers have been way too willing to trade security/privacy for convenience, and that Apple had been all to willing to facilitate that trade for more access to consumer data.  With all of the Snowden revelations - and moreover with the post-9/11 power grab by the government - they really realized the cost associated with that tradeoff, and have decided to push back.  This is fundamentally important.  It could be as historically significant as Phil Zimmermann refusing to backdoor PGP back in the day.  The stance could frankly be Tim Cook's legacy. Mind you, this will take consistent vigilance, but I'm excited to see a company making a stand.   At least right now, I think Apple is in the better position here than Google.  I recognize that Android is largely open sourced, and Google corporate is not Android per se.  That said, Google's business model is still us.  They're not as valuable without all of the data on us.  They're going to have some work to do in the next few years.   Microsoft is actively fighting a court case to watch right now.  It's going to have huge ramifications in the privacy space.   To some extent, I think we as consumers - and certainly the big tech companies are starting to realize the costs associated with the never ending so called Global War on Terror.  We're going to have to push back at some point

Yeah, this comment should be taken within my particular use case.  That is, I want our business to be able to consume hardware out of the box as a general rule.  This is important for scalability and support in our shop.   If you want to roll your own, there are a lot of great components out there.  We've got specific machines for specific use cases that we've built using specialized hardware, and they're great.  But, that shouldn't be the expectation to get a great user experience out of the box for day-to-day office use.  That was our reason for moving over to Macs.

Apple is able, as a byproduct of their size to do one thing well - scale.  As such things like using a limited NFC capability for Apple Pay will likely work where others have failed.   I wouldn't call myself a fanboy by any stretch - when it comes to tech, I'm pretty agnostic and moreover am pragmatic.  I'm going to use what facilitates getting the job done best.  That said, our family has chosen to generally step into the Apple ecosystem, and we're pretty happy there.  Some thoughts:   1. I was a PC guy for 35 years.  My dad got one of the first 300 IBM PCs off the line back in 1979-80, and I've generally stayed there over the years.  It wasn't until the first of this year that I replaced my work machine with a MacBook Pro.  Most of the reasons for me staying on a PC for so long were wrapped up in the fact that the forensic tools we use are generally PC based.  That, and I was comfortable with what I knew - despite suffering a lot of little frustrations over the years.  While I am not an IT support guy on a day-to-day basis, I would call myself an expert tech.  And the fact that my high end factory built Dell workstation would regularly lock up, blue screen, fail to come out of sleep mode, etc... just added up.   2. When I decided to replace my $7,000 workstation, frankly there wasn't anything in the PC space that was really that compelling.  A legitimate point to Apple - they're making better hardware than anybody out there.  Period.   3. There are some issues with that great hardware - mainly that it's made by exploited Chinese workers with the little fairylike hands needed to put this stuff together.  That's not a problem that's unique to Apple - but it's one that we should likely require them to take a lead in addressing - again because of their size and ability to scale.   4. Apple's generally closed OS is better for my family - and as a result for me because I don't have to spend a ton of time troubleshooting their stuff.  The 'it just works' may be a stretch for everything I want to do, but for my kids and my wife it seems appropriate   5. Sticking with one ecosystem works well for me.  I hardly ever even open my MacBook Pro.  When I come into the office in the morning, I plug the power adapter and a thunderbolt cable in.  That powers two Cinema Displays, and I go about my day.  If I want to work at home, I plug a thunderbolt cable into my family's iMac and take over that screen.  Couple that with storage in the cloud, and it's seamless.  Our business has really reached the point where we can work from anywhere.  We likely could have pulled that same feat off on Windows, but Apple has made it easier.   6. An $80 license of VMWare Fusion is the best way to consume Windows.  Truthfully, I don't know that I'll ever use Windows in another way again.  We have clean images for all of our use cases in the cloud.  When we need to use a Windows machine, we pull an image down from the cloud, boot it up, do what we need to do, shut it down and delete it.  We use a new image every time.  And, since we've got specific builds for everything we do, stuff runs fast.  Couple that with a few Linux images and we've got amazing capability.   7. I'm a Microsoft supporter.  I think they're an amazing company that is still capable of doing some great stuff.  I've worked for them and with them.  Apple needs good competition in the OS space and elsewhere.  I'm old enough to remember Microsoft's 'evil empire' days.  I find it interesting to see some of that same language being used around the periphery with Apple right now.  Over the next couple of years I would expect that to escalate - probably in the form of more targeted malware, greater discontent around innovations or lack thereof, and finally with some big antitrust suits.  Empire is hard.  Tim Cook has a tough job.   8.  Apple's move to more subscription-based offerings is significant.  Stuff like them financing phones, Apple Music, etc... moves their revenue away from being solely dependent on hardware and gives them the coveted monthly recurring revenue.  As crazy as it sounds, with current Silicon Valley and Wall Street models, if they can make that switch, then they're likely undervalued.   9.  They're going to need focus in the OS/app space.  A lot of their stuff is increasingly bloated.  Thankfully, they're still controlling the ecosystem and their stuff isn't shipping with a bunch of third-party bloatware like most Windows machines these days.  But, stuff like iTunes needs focus.  You can't say that iTunes today is more usable than it was five years ago.  There's more content available - but the usability is lacking if you have a memory of how it used to be.   10.  I like Tim Cook's recent thoughts on user privacy and the fact that they're starting to implement things in a way that neither Apple or other interested parties can get access to without users' permission.  This is a significant difference between them and Google - at least right now.  For Google - we're still the ultimate product.  If the current power grabs within government in the name of 'national security' and 'finding terrorists' continue - then Google is going to need to struggle with this as well.  There is some significant stuff going on right now in the courts - actually Microsoft is taking the lead in the current cases.  It is worth watching where it goes.   11.  Nobody has a monopoly on innovation.  Thankfully.  I laugh when I see announcements like yesterday's about the Pencil.  The cause may be a bit different.  Flash back to the 'evil empire' Microsoft ripping of Xerox, buying out competitors, etc...  There's nothing new under the sun.   12. We're not big TV watchers - but the Apple TV works great for our cord-cut home.  My kids can operate it well - even my 4 year old.  Coupled with a Netflix subscription with a kids profile enabled, and it's about everything we need.     13.  TV is one place where we had to make a choice on an ecosystem, and we chose iTunes.  All the studios are trying to get their own formats/ecosystems out there - and most of them won't last.  Ultraviolet, whatever.  We just decided to download movies on iTunes.  Coupled with their cloud storage - and the fact that they're generally priced the same as anywhere else, we decided to step into the ecosystem that has the highest probability of being left standing when the dust settles.  I know there are ways that I could accomplish the same thing as a techie - but for $69, I've got enough other stuff to screw with in my life.  I don't need to add TV to that list.   14.  The MagSafe power adapter has to be out of patent protection by now.  Other manufacturers should be using this.  It's a better iteration on power adapters. 

I did find it odd today to see Microsoft and Adobe in the launch event.  It was kind of like they were parading out conquered rivals to have them pay homage or something.

I'm kind of excited about the new iPad Pro.  For my particular use case, it may fill a need that a laptop cannot.   And, that's kind of interesting when you think about Apple and their continued growth.  To some, they're victims of their own success.  How do you continue to innovate with these revolutionary devices - of which I'd really argue they haven't done since the iPhone.  What they are executing on well is fitting devices to particular niches.  The MacBook may not appeal at all to me writing code, running a couple different VMs or doing forensic work.  But to my wife who needs none of that, it's about perfect.  So long as they keep growing incrementally, they'll be fine.   I think the biggest announcement today was them taking control of phone payment plans - basically their selling you a phone at a monthly rate with AppleCare and a new phone every year.  That's huge.  And I'm sure all of the carriers were calling Apple bad names today.

Empires never last...   For those who are the praying type, I might add the following comments.  While I think that it's appropriate to pray for our country and leaders - it needs to be within context. The kingdom that God is concerned with was heralded about 1750 years before our Thomas Jefferson penned our declaration on behalf of the founding fathers.  One kingdom will last - and all others will eventually fail.   What does it mean for us then for the Kingdom of God to be here and now?  And, how does that affect our citizenship and our lives here in the United States (or any other country for that matter)?   I expect the the good Lord doesn't much care if Hillary wins.   As for most of the GOP field, I sure wouldn't look to them as some sort of proverbial savior.  As I read it, the Gospel is offensive on who it lets in - not who it keeps out.  How does that sync with most of the rhetoric you're hearing right now?

I've got an Airweight in .22 mag. It's a great pistol, but it's a heavy pull - probably at least 12 lbs.