StPatrick

Sun, you and Mr. Wu are correct. I'd post the old SNL skit featuring Italian winemakers discussing the soaking of corks for wine bottles, but that's for the ready room.

I'll ask here before I start a new thread, since the forum is a bit heavy on intro-to-1911 questions at the moment... 3" 1911s have a rough reputation, due to the extreme slide velocities and high spring tensions making FTF / FTE issues more likely as the recoil and mag springs age. This is a generally agreed-upon thing, though not all guns have that issue, of course. Without getting into the argument about 3" 1911s, here's my question: does anybody make a 1911 with a commander-length barrel on an officer-sized grip? If not, why? The grip is the hardest part of a pistol to conceal, so it's not like having that extra inch in the pants matters (that's NOT what she said...heh).

No problem...if I lived in Memphidishu, I'd be worried about nothing beyond around 100 yards. We have made some promises, though, and in order to maintain the whole #1 heavyweight champeen status, they need to be kept.

It was actually landing gear crashing through the roof that condemned the building...I'd guess that the cheap price of the structure had more to do with the decision than that. That said, it seems an awful lot like a sack dance in the backfield. I'm only one fool among millions, but if I were trying to build an interfaith dialogue, this is probably not how I would try to start it. Personally, I'd publically disavow AQ, Hamas, and Hezbollah, or something crazy like that, and then maybe consider introducing others to some of the more positive aspects of my religion. I would definitely make sure to treat women like full citizens and human beings as well, but that's just me spitballing ideas.

My apologies, Jack. Since you are the grammarian of note here on TGO (by way of knowing how to use all those little Latin abbreviations like "e.g." etc.), I'll rephrase it for you: It is sad that "Der Spiegel" has had to publicize the realization that if the United States adopts the European "Social Democracy" model, the Germans, along with other NATO countries, will then be forced to provide for their own national defense. Our own military spending will naturally decrease under the more "European" model, which will prevent force projection capabilities, and thusly the providance of any kind of security "umbrella", which has been assumed by NATO countries from the end of WWII onward. Unable to rely on U.S. military protection, the various NATO nations will then be forced to provide their own protection, as the E.U. military force is nonexistent. If you were referring to currency, then I've missed your point altogether, and you should ignore all of the above. If you were referring to grammar and style, I think it's fixed. Either way, you're a smelly pirate hooker.

As much as I appreciate the libertarian influence in politics (as they are forcing the Reps towards more traditionally conservative fiscal positions, and also allowing political space for more personal choices that would have been considere dheresy in 1994), the "big L" libertarians are not now, and will never be, a serious political force until they can find a platform that resonates with adult voters. Legal weed, the gold standard, and a complete non-interventionist military foreign policy, combined with unfettered free trade (which I support in principle, but cannot accept when other states act aggressively against our own interests - ignoring sanctions, etc.) cannot get to 50% and elect a president. I much prefer traditional classical liberal principles being injected into the already existing Republican party; the current economic situation allows us to avoid the culture wars and come together on common issues such as growth, taxation, and regulation. Goldwater 2012?

It's for the children... If it only saves one child... How could you deny the importance of [insert emotional appeal to do something financially irresponsible]? California needs to implement a guest-Governor program. Just for entertainment purposes, I'd love to see Chris Christie run that state for a couple years. I could never vote for him on a national level, but I still love that fat man so so much.

Why? Unfettered access to unearned power over regular working men and women, through a continuous process of violence, intimidation, and corruption. Disguise those actions with talk about how you're "a regular Joe", then beat, maim, and intimidate your oppenents until you achieve absolute victory, even if the regular Joes all lose their jobs as you bankrupt their employers. Wash, rinse, repeat. Who? Name a national labor leader that hasn't sacrificed the jobs, health, or dignity of his members in order to consolidate power. I'm sure there's one somewhere, but I haven't found him yet.

Seriously though...when you've lost "Der Spiegel", you know you're in trouble. They are a socialist rag par excellence, internationally respected and quoted, etc. Sad they had to wake up and figure out that if the US goes Euro, they'll have to somehow fund and provide their own security. Welcome to adolescence, morons. Adulthood is even worse.

Why does it sound like a threat? Because it is a threat. Ducks, walking, quacking...some assembly required. So long as we are willing to modify our actions in fearful apprehension of "potential" violence from Islamists around the world (heh...potential - like it's not a GD certainty, no matter what happens here), it's a VERY effective threat. That crackpot preacher in Gainesville hasn't burned a thing yet, and they've already rioted in Afghanistan over his jackassery.

I agree with you 100%. Unlike most interest groups, who run to the statehouse every year, hands held out palms-up like common panhandlers, TN shooters and sportsmen consistently put their money where their mouths are, without monetarily burdening their fellow citizens. We set a great example; sadly, nobody seems interested in following.

This, with the understanding that cells are the size we find them due to the constraints of volume v. surface area. A cell, prokaryote or eukaryote, is incapable of distributing nutrients by anything other than diffusion via concentration gradient. Therefore, an enormous cell, under any conditions, would be incapable of distributing or using the nutrients required for cellular respiration at a more than optimal volume to surface area ratio. Since observation has not provided an example of such a cell, it seems likely to conclude that such a cell could not survive in any environment, much less that of deep space. Adding deep space to the considerations, you run into multiple issues. Water is required for cellular respiration, but would only exist in a frozen state. Not only could it not move within the cell, the ice crystals that formed would rupture the cell wall and effectively kill the cell. Finding a way to solve this issue, by means of high glucose or salt concentration within the intracellular fluid, you then have to ask: how does this cell move in zero gravity, and how efficiently can it diffuse any nutrients it encounters as temperatures approach absolute zero? Finally, if the cell resembles earth-based life, how do the enzymes responsible facilitating basic chemical functions operate at temperatures where intermolecular chemistry simply does not occur? You could say that the cell operates using nuclear chemistry, but how would a carbon-based cell sustain the temperatures and pressures of nuclear fusion / fission without becoming ash? In space, the only chemistry happening on any kind of regular scale occurs in stars, not organisms.

TN, as a whole, simply doesn't elect statewide representatives that are far from the middle. Would I prefer a conservative / libertarian candidate who idolizes our founders, Milton Friedman, and Friedrich Hayek? Sure. Unfortunately, what I've got is Bill Haslam or a vote for a Dem governor in a redistricting year. Repeat: next year, congressional districts will be re-drawn to the advantage of the party in power of the governorship. Sitting at home because Haslam isn't the perfect knight-in-shining-armor candidate only increases the probability of more congressional "representation" by folks who, admittedly and in spite of their moderate credentials, will still vote for Pelosi for speaker of the house. 6 years from now, it won't be Pelosi, but the philosophy will still remain. NEVER NEVER NEVER spurn the better in pursuit of the perfect when it comes to politics. Haslam is the lesser of the two evils, but he can be pressured and moved to the right on issues if the electorate is active. He wasn't my guy, but I'll pull the lever for him in November, and then I will be on his backside on a regular basis via my state rep and senator. Remember: people who take the time to communicate with their local and state reps not only vote reliably, they also tend to convince others around them to vote as they do. Your elected officials know this. If you're guilty of standing on the sidelines, and saying "there's no difference", perhaps you should get involved and make one. This message has been approved by Chuck Norris:

The TWRA is one of the few government agencies I can think of that actually works in partnership with citizens towards common goals, e.g. conservation, population control, etc. Last I checked, it was also budget-neutral, running entirely on licensing fees and the $.10 / box ammo tax. You'd be hard pressed to find another group of people that can make that claim when working with government, at any level. Edit: they need to do something about the "nuisance species" laws, though. If hogs, etc., are a problem, don't erect a financial barrier to their eradication via licensing. More fees = more nuisances. Less fees = less nuisances.

+1 for this. Even if they want you to pay, the fee is only $60, and Mark Crabtree manages to make all the state-mandated education pretty entertaining (or at least as bearable as possible - that video is torture, but at least I know not to trust skinny white dudes in basketball jerseys anymore).

There's also the option of carrying in a holster on your waist 4:00ish, then using a cover garment, e.g. lab coat, etc.

I believe they're called "Tubbs Final Finish" or something similar.

Amen to all above...to elaborate on why a lease is bad, here's my take: fundamentally, a lease is a rental agreement. You agree to take possession of a piece of property for a specified term, at an agreed rate, and the owner of the property takes care of all the upkeep. For an apartment, this is not a bad idea - you get a place to stay, without the costs of ownership, at a fixed rate for your term. The underlying assumption with real estate is that by the time you're done with it, it will have held its value, at a minimum. With a car, you're taking semi-possession (after all, you don't own it) of a new vehicle at a fixed rate for a set time. With cars, its already known that several years down the road, they are worth substantially less than new. The leasing dealer has to factor this cost into the lease - after all, it's the biggest cost of new car ownership. Maintenance is not nearly the driver of inherent value as age is with cars. When you lease a vehicle, you're paying for the costs of maintenance, ownership, and use, and additionally paying a premium on depreciation costs. Think of it as renting Britney Spears in her prime - it's never going to get any better, and a few years down the road, the actual owner has to deal with dents, sticky fingerprints, lots of surface damage, and a highly diminished market value. In order to get a return on investment, somebody has to pay for all that loss of value.

I've never had a truly bad one...so my contribution is a Taurus PT709 "slim". I cannot hit a human sized target, much less a paper plate, in any consistent manner with that thing. I have others I can call misses with at longer ranges. The hell of it is that I'm sure it's my fault - every other "mistake" I've had at the range could be corrected by me with no changes to the weapon. Me and that trigger just don't get along at all.

The basics of the story, as I've been able to ascertain, thus far: 1. Asst. Coach Bryan Glover, age 26, wants to be a songwriter. He co-wrote a song (it's a banal major key modern country song in 4/4 time, so even though it kinda sucks, it could go top 10 if the right guy sang it) criticizing the current presidential adminstration. He then distributed it, via his personal e-mail from his personal computer, to a mailing list that included parents of players on his team. That mailing list was provided by the school. 2. He has in the past used that mailing list to advertise his personal training services, obviously for monetary gain. Since the infamous e-mail, Glover has been fired, and a hornet's nest has been stirred up in a most righteous manner - the Williamson County School Board probably didn't see this one coming. Point #2 is important, since he'd already been allowed to use county resources, i.e. the mailing list, for personal gain. When he sent his song out, which contains a political message, he was fired. If messages for personal gain are okay regarding training, why not when he's trying to sell a song? I'm not all that bright, but I can only see one clear difference. The story has since gone viral, at least on righty blogs such as hotair.com and aceofspades.mu.nu. I don't think he should've been fired, when a reprimand would have served the same purpose - what do TGO members think? Relevant links: Fired for non-PC song (OneNewsNow.com) Hot Air » New Tea Party theme song? Ain't That America: Middle School Coach Gets Fired For Co-Writing Anti-Obama Song On His Own Damn Time Caveats: 1. If you watch the Fox interview, it's obvious dude isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. 2. I in no way endorse Ace's idea of equal opportunity fascism. I get it, but no. That said, how is this guy without a job, while the "mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama" teacher is okay?

If the gun makes that "bang!" noise, with a projectile of some sort going downrange when the booger-hook engages the trigger, it's not really worthless, is it? At that point, it's a question of degree. I say that as a full-on gun snob; I only own one semi-crappy gun (PT709...I have no interest in the Taurus wars FWIW), and it's only crappy relative to bigger and better pistols. The rounds still go downrange, so it's not useless - it's just that the nut behind the trigger prevents accurate shooting with it, compared to the nut's other pistols. I'll second everyone who has said that the most useless gun is the one you don't have, or doesn't work reliably.

That's awesome that you could even pick it up...looking at it made me feel like Ned Nederlander in his duel with the German in "Three Amigos".

I wish I could be there, but I have to teach unruly high school kids how to play hockey as a team this weekend. Drink a Guiness or six for me and my freckles.

Whatever credibility Krugman once had as an academic and Nobel Prize-winner has long since faded. He's just another self-identified elite who hopes that his statolatry (like idolatry, but - well, you know) continues to pay well. His unrequited love-letters to the president are embarassing, but he'll press on. It's the nature of useful idiots, after all.

Link?