tnguy

This is digressing somewhat at this point but if I am late with my insurance payment (or most other services with a healthy dose of competition) there is a long grace period and no penalty and in the case of the insurance company, they'll make a decent effort to remind me. Gas, electricity and especially water have nasty penalties and will cut you off in  a heartbeat.   One possible option is to minimize the monopoly aspect. Have the infrastructure owned by one company or the government and the service itself provided by multiple companies. This brings its own issues, however but it wouldn't be such a big deal if you could have different ISPs over the same wire (As it happens, I get my DSL from a different company from AT&T who is the default provider around here. This other company is a little more expensive but less restrictive than AT&T.)

I have one of their rails on the way (backordered). Had difficulty picking one out  :dunno: . I figured I can always change it if I don't like it.   Think I did OK on the barrel. It was slightly less than similar barrels so I hope I didn't cheap it too much. Reviews were good though.

  Been without cable or satellite for a long time but I gots to have me some internet. Between OTA on a DVR and Netflix and Redbox, I'm pretty well covered. As for watching weather on the TV? Ain't nobody got time for that.  http://www.newschannel5.com/category/105910/storm-5-weather-center  

  If you get on the news, that may count as an arsenal.

  I am sure it could be done reasonably with cryptography. At least close enough. That would likely be too difficult for most people though.   Point is, if you're not even going to bother to try, let's just stick with paper.   Hmm. Thinking about it, it would have to be done unreasonably with cryptography. It's just too easy to make a computer look like it's doing one thing when it's doing another. Anonymity makes cryptography problematic also.

  Wait, now I'm confused? More government bad or more government good?

  The other option is that Comcast turns around to Netflix and says "Give us a huge pile of cash if you want your customers to have a reasonable experience".   There is an argument the certain types of traffic /should/ be prioritized such as VOIP and gaming but then again, who decides?   Personally, I would be happy to have it unregulated but on the other hand, as others have said, it's already a monopoly/duopoly world.

Negative points to the rental company for discretion though.

Whilst I hope he's either rotting in a cell or catches one between the eyes early on if things do go south, he's probably a good object lesson of why it's a good idea to have a close-knit group than trying to go it alone. There will be gangs of bandits (for that is what they are) like his if stuff does go down and it will be hard to defend as a small unit. Unfotunately, this is an area I'm lacking in myself.

I believe they show up on seismographs so secrecy is somewhat limited.

I prefer paper ballots myself but the crying shame is that electronic voting *could* be done properly, securely and safely but nobody cares (or, perhaps, wants to care).

Gotta love how France and the UK make sure theirs are on a different continent. Makes me so proud.   Though I see there were a couple in the US too. Gotta love that special relationship.

  Interesting. I'm guessing they work off the regular phone satellites. Looks like batteries are internal. Most phones and tablets are unable to power external devices.

  Indeed, what is there about it that means it should be any more than a background check? If it has to be in place, it should be possible to go to you LGS and get it done there and then.

Follow the left's example: Ask for a mile and settle on an inch. Rinse, repeat. I think we should be pushing for mandatory issue and carry of RPGs and haggle from there.

Good point there. Why wasn't there insurance already for this event? Surely that would be the coach's purview?

  Exactly. If ammo is actually available at or slightly below the gougers prices from retailers, it'll put the gougers out of business and hopefully we can start to return to normal. By holding retail prices low, it just gives the low-lifes a nice fat profit margin.   We don't have to like it but it's the law of supply and demand.

Was the helmet made out of lead?

Where is a young Jodie Foster when you need her?

Oh, for sure.

  Heard about this guy before. Has his own currency or something? I'd vote for him.   Edit: I may be thinking about someone else? Pretty sure it was Memphis though.   Edit2: I believe I was thinking of this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton . Not Memphis but in the right general direction :)

It's definitely a mixed bag.

Many of them are actually selling stuff and see it as an advertisement, I think.

Jeff Cooper quote appropriate I think.  

Yep. Let's load them up with the hairdressers and telephone sanitizers.