Master

According to a recent news article, Mr. Mark Kelly, former NASA astronaut and husband to former Congresswoman Giffords, recently purchased an AR-15 rifle from a Tucson, Arizona gun shop. Under the local laws, he must now wait 20 days before he can pick-up the rifle.

Under pressure from the media to explain his actions, he now states that his original intent was to turn the rifle over to the Tucson Police Department after he picks it up. And that his purchase of the gun was to only prove a point on how easy it is to get them. (If you call going through a federal background check and waiting 20 days, easy.)

So my point is as follows. The ATF Form 4473 clearly asks (in the very first question) if the purchaser or transferee is the actual buyer or end user of the firearm. According to Mr. Kelly's statement to the press, he will not be the eventual owner of the gun. And this intent, from start to finish, was to buy the gun and give it to another entity (Tucson PD).

Isn't this a staw purchase? I know for sure that police departments can buy guns and have them registered in the name of the department. (While I know there is no real registration, per se. There is, in reality, a de facto registration that takes place with all of the ATF paperwork that tracks the guns from the factories to the end users.)

So is this man breaking a federal law to prove a point?

http://news.yahoo.com/arizona-assault-rifle-purcha...

I was answering a question in another forum on here and did a quick search for game camera photos. Wow, one of the first ones that popped-up was interesting.

http://www.phossil.com/thom/game-cam-coon_thumb%5B...

So what is the oddest image you have seen captured on a game camera? Feel free to describe it, or if you have a link to the photo, that's even better.

Was doing some research to answer another question on here and I started looking through a 1963 edition of the Shooter's Bible by Stoeger. I started salivating when I saw the old prices!

Colt Python - $125.00

Colt Government 45 - $82.50

Colt Gold Cup National Match - $125.00

I was thinking how I would like to get in a time machine and go back! But then I did some online research. Found-out what people earned and what other things would cost.

Average Cost of new house $12,650.00

Average Income per year $5,807.00

Gas per Gallon 29 cents

Average Cost of a new car $3,233.00

Loaf of bread 22 cents

The moral of this story is you ou can pretty much multiply everything by a factor of 10, and the prices would be realistic in today's world. Colt Python? $1,250. Colt 45 Auto? $850. Average annual wages? $58,000. Average price of a home? $126,500.

It also tells me that gasoline should be $2.90 a gallon and not $3.40 like it is right now.

I have Norton 360 Antivirus protection. Went to eBay today and guess what? Every search I do on eBay tells me that I am being directed to a fraudulant webpage. But when I look at the URL I can see t his is simply not the case.

I think eBay should sue Norton for disrupting their business. I personally can not bid on auctions for items that I really wanted.

Anyone happen to see Christina Aguilera totally botching the National Anthem at the Super Bowl?

Just how self-centered and conceited can a person be? It's the National Anthem. It's about paying respect to the nation and the many thousands of men and women that died defending the USA at home and abroad. Why would ANYONE want to reinterpret it by trying to string-out the words? I've seen classrooms full of first graders do a much better job than she did.

Am I alone in my thoughts?

I probably have no right to even ask this question, since I have not practiced my martial arts in so very long. Never-the-less, I took a look at some of the martial arts school websites on the internet and was completely blown-away by how much "latitude" people seem to take upon themselves during training and (much worse, in my opinion) testing for the next belt/rank/dan.

Not to geeze too badly here. Ok. So I do want to geeze. But to me, the idea of a "uniform" should be to have some sort of uniformity, at least within the dojo/school. If I walk into a martial arts dojo and I see that all of the students are dressed alike, with the exception of the colors of their belts, and I see that all of the instructors are also dressed alike, then I think to myself, "Hey. This place is really organized. Look at the discipline here. Everyone knows their place and comes here to learn and grow - including the instructors."

On the other hand, if I were to visit a dojo to watch them train, and the students and instructors are allowed to show "individuality" to the level where some are wearing embroidered patches up and down their sleeves, while others are dressed like "Evel Knievel"...well, am I the only one that thinks it shows a lack of respect for their dojo?

Am I too much of a traditionalist?

Ok, first off. I don't look black and technically I am not black. But, just for the record, if you go far enough back into my ancestors, you will find that I do have "some African roots" of my own.

But what's up with all the black stuff? We have a black President. The new Miss America is black. Ok, so fine. Blacks are coming-out on top in fair competitions. But now I go to the Yahoo main page and I see images of more and more black notables from history. Lo and behold! Yes, it's black history month. But why stop there? Let's just make it a black history millennium so make all the knee-jerk liberals (the ones that live in all white gated communities) happy. I was thinking about visiting the Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC and looked on their website. Yes, for sure, they also have some sort of tie-in with African American culture.

Can we just give this a rest please? I am embarrassed to be even partly black. My mostly black friends and I...we just want an even chance in the world. You know, not be treated differently. Or, as Martin Luther King basically said, 'We don't want to be judged by the color of our skin, but rather, by the content of our character.'

So, will all the well meaning white anglo saxon protestants please lay-off the black stuff?

Looking back at your martial arts training, is there anything that you regret? Of, with 20/20 clarity in hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently? Feel free to explain in detail.

I think he died years ago during he bombing of Bora Bora. But, hey. We need someone like "Goldstein" to hate, don't we?

For some strange reason my web browser (MS Internet Explorer) gives me a message near the top of the window that it wants to run "Quickbooks Library" by Intuit Inc. when I surf to some web pages.

That sounds like an accounting software to me. Why would it ask me if I want to run it when I surf certain pages (not all)? It seems more like a cookie that they are trying to place into my cache.

Any ideas?

I think I might get in trouble when my Uncle Buddy gets back home. He asked me to take care of his place while he was away. I was snooping through his house...I mean, looking around to make sure everything was ok, when I found some 12 gauge signal flares laying around and decided I wanted to try one out to see what it would do. So, I was over at Uncle Buddy's house watering his gold fish and feeding his plants while he was away...and I used his Perazzi MX3 to try to shoot that flare. Only problem was that the flare got as far as the choke tube and got stuck. Wow, that magnesium sure is bright! How do they attach the barrels on a Perazzi anyways? Is that silver solder I see running where the barrels came apart? Could I use double-sided duck tape for a repair? Do they make such a thing?

Someone sent me this link of what goes on inside of a Kosher slaughterhouse.

How can this be good? (Kosher?)

Be warned. This video link is NOT for the faint of heart.

http://www.chooseveg.com/kosher-slaughter.asp

With all of the acoladed pouring-in after Ted Kennedy's death, I just wonder how he managed to stay in office for so many years?

Let us imagine the following make believe situation. Barrack Obama, a married man with children, attends a special party for female campaign workers at a remote New England location. When the party is about over, he offers a ride to a young woman from the party. She accepts, and off they go into the night. Mr. Obama is intoxicated when he gets behind the wheel. At some point, the booze and the night driving conditions lead to some bad driving decisions on his part, and the car he is driving plunges off a a low bridge into the water. He manages to escape from the car....but his female companion for the night can not be found. Mr. Obama then casually talks to some of his aides that evening, but fails to notify authorities of the accident or the fact that there was a passenger in the car with him. In fact, he never does report the accident to the local authorities. Instead, the police discover an overturned car in the water, tow it ashore and find a dead woman's body inside. It is only then that he steps forward to explain that he was driving the car the previous night when it plunged into the water.

Ok, so I used B. Obama as a make believe person in this situation. Only because he is popular and also a man that I personally voted for in the last election. But, please tell me. If such events were to occur, do you think it would end his political career? If so, then how did Ted Kennedy remain a US Senator for 40 years after the above described accident?

First, I have had friends that were Holocaust survivors. I never had the chance to ask them what they thought of this man.

I dunno. He's 89 years old and a frail old man. The biggest question I have is what do they "say" he did in those concentration camps? I know that some have given him the nickname "Ivan the Terrible", but it seems that what he really did was "simply follow orders". I know that some will say that's no excuse, but if you are in the military, you know that failure to follow orders can get you in hot water (dishonorable discharge or face a firing squad). It seems that even if the evidence is correct, the worst he did was "process" the unfortunate souls that were interred in those camps.

As far as Nazis are concerned. I am a fan of Wernher Von Braun; the father of the American space program. But, he too worked for the Nazis and designed the V2 rockets that were used against allied civilians during WWII. How is it that Dr. Von Braun is a hero and Mr. Demjanjuk is avillainn? They both contributed what they could to the Nazi war effort.

Again, if the Israelis had him for 7 years and their highest courtacquittedd him, I just don't know why anyone wanted to hassle this old man.

Opinions?

Seems like every day I turn on the news (or see it posted on the internet) there's yet another story about someone that took a gun and used it to murder inoccent people.

I mean, I know this stuff happens, but lately it's been mass killings. 4 police officers gunned down in CA, then 13 people killed in NY, now 3 more law enforcement officers killed in PA.

This last gun in PA is a total crackpot. His friends claim he was paranoid about the Obama administration taking his guns away. So, what does he do? He uses and AK-47 to shoot and kill 3 police officers that came to his home after his mother called 911 on him.

Now I know what it must have felt like to be a German-American during World War II. I am on the side of the good guys, but I have to ask myself, "Why are my own people doing this to others?"

Comments?

2009 started on a sad note...when a transit police officer accidentally shot and killed an unarmed man near Oakland California. The officer was white and the victim was black. Excuse me, African-American. After this terrible tradgedy, the African-American community demonstrated in force about the brutality of the mostly white police force.

http://www.baystatebanner.com/Natl19-2009-01-15

Now, in an adjoining community, 3 police officers have been shot dead, and 1 very seriously wounded. It would appear...appear...that the officers are all white. And, the perpetrator of this crime is....African-American. 3, possibly 4, lives cut short.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090322/ap_on_re_us/po...

Will those same people that demonstrated against police brutality be out on the streets in anger over what a previously convicted felon did to those officers that were protecting the community?

Your thoughts please.

I have a 1st degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do from many years ago. For whatever reason, either boredom, burn-out or too many other responsibilities in life, I simply stopped taking classes and stopped practicing.

I am thinking of getting back into Tae Kwon Do again, but I know that before I do, I will get myself back into "black belt shape" and practice my forms again and stetch and practice my moves.

My question is this? If I went back to "school" again as a black belt, would I have to PAY to take classes? I had a housemate several years ago that was a 3rd dan black belt in TKD, and he suggested that I get back into it...but he mentioned paying for it. Where I took instructions for 7 years, the rule was, once you got to black belt, you were expected to teach and help with classes and in return, your tuition was free from that point on.

So, the question is. As black belts, are any of you still PAYING to attend your martial arts schools?

I read this from another poster on Yahoo Q&A, and I vaguely recall seeing it on one of those paranormal TV shows. There was an incident where the US Government tried to send a US Navy ship through a special space warp. They started in the Pacific Ocean and wound-up moments later in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of New Jersey (I think). The only problem was that not all of the sailors made it safely...some vanished. And the rest that did survive, had parts of their bodies embedded in the frame of the Navy ship. Does anyone know of this? Any references to it on the internet? Thanks.

I was listening to two hunters talk. One of them was telling his friend, "Yeah. I got lost up there on that mountain top. But then I sat down and was able to shoot an azimuth off of one ridge...then another off of another ridge. Then I realized where camp was." I was just curious. It must have been hard carrying two azimuths out of the woods when a guy is lost. I've never even see one before.

I seem to answer all sorts of questions on all sorts of topics in these Yahoo Q&A forums. But, what strikes me as most odd is that number of young people (boys and girls) that post their photographs online asking others "what do you think of me?". Hey, I guess that's ok, and sometimes I put my own two cents worth in. But you know, on this internet, there are thousands if not tens of thousands of people online that are viewing these pictures that might possibly have other things on their mind.

I really don't think it would take much of a leap of faith to assume that those sexual predators that Dateline NBC is known for catching, might also be trolling this message board in search of their next - victim.

To all the young people out there...those undere age 18. No one really cares if you look good or not and frankly, neither should you. You are still growing and maturing and you can trust me when I say that your middle school and high school friends will not be your friends into adulthood. What those "popular" kids say and do will seem silly to you once you reach your early twenties. In fact, many of those popular kids will be total dorks in their lives when they hit middle age.