JAB

Hmmm...Well, here's hoping it was a one time thing and that the quality isn't slipping. Unfortunately that CAN happen when a product from a small business sees demand greatly increase.

Strange - but people like what they like. I do like it, a lot. I like Mr. Benton's smoked breakfast sausage, too. Plus it is kind of cool that a business that is more or less 'just down the road' from me counts (or at least counted, at one time -maybe still) chefs across the country, including Emeril Lagasse, as their customers. Still, if you don't like it then all that doesn't mean much.

Not to sound defeatist but I think there is also an economy of scale thing involved. Amazon, for instance, might piss off some of us with the opinions of the CEO, etc. We are free to boycott if we wish but we must realize that, with a huge company like Amazon, we probably aren't really going to make a dent and the company probably won't even notice. People who use Amazon regularly or even semi-regularly and who decide to boycott, however, will notice when they have to go out of their way to find a product that isn't available locally, pay more for the product than it might cost on Amazon, end up paying more total shipping because they can't order everything they want from one place with one shipping fee or get the product, find it is defective, damaged or just the wrong thing and don't have Amazon to back them up when trying t make it right with the vendor. Not every person who boycotts Amazon would face those things but some will. Meanwhile, as I said, Amazon probably wouldn't even notice that there was a boycott so those folks would only be hurting themselves. As there is no, real alternative to Amazon that does exactly what Amazon does the phrase, "Cutting your nose off to spite your face," comes to mind. Still, for some people the positive feeling they get from knowing that they, at least, are not supporting Amazon may well be worth it. Also, while I don't agree with Bezos and hope that the lawsuit he is supporting fails miserably, I have to commend Amazon on certain things, as well. My former sister-in-law works for their Athens site as an order picker and based on discussions with her I think that, on the whole, the company treats its employees exceedingly well. Now, I am sure that they work hard but Amazon at least acts like they appreciate the hard work. In fact, I think a lot of companies could learn from the way Amazon treats its employees. Obviously, by their example, companies don't have to treat employees like crap in order to make a buck or be successful. For that reason I am kind of torn about boycotting them, anyway, even if I thought such a boycott would be effective. While I don't agree with the political stance at the same time another big issue that is always at the forefront of my mind is the way companies treat their employees.

I have got to get to Benton's and pick up some smoked bacon. Maybe I will head down Madisonville way this weekend sometime when they are open. I have known Jewish people who couldn't resist Benton's bacon (no, seriously.) I do most of my shopping at Ingles. Like most places, their meat prices are ridiculous but they usually have pretty good sales. Not much on sale that I wanted last week, though, but maybe this week will be better for sales. I, too, always see what is in the 'use or freeze today' bin. You know, I like you guys so I am going to give you a little tip in case you get a chance to try it. Two words - beef heart. When the new Ingles in Lenoir City first opened they had a few packs in their meat case. It was dirt cheap (maybe a dollar something per pound) so I decided to try it. Apparently if you get a whole one you really have to clean it up to remove connective tissue, silver skin, maybe the ends of veins and arteries where they attach but what I bought there was already cleaned. I marinated it and put it on the grill. It honestly tasted like steaks used to taste when I was a kid. Most steaks now seem to have very little flavor compared to back then. It wasn't tough like you might think, either - again, maybe because of the marinade. My oldest niece (16 years old) loved it. I took some to my mom and she was squeamish about trying it at first but when she did she loved it, too. There was no mineral/organ meat taste like you would expect. I think there might have been if I had not marinated it, though. After that I didn't see it there anymore but I asked the meat department fellah about it one day and he said that if I wanted some he could order it. I got him to order some and when it came in he called me and said it would be back in the meat department cooler and I just had to ask whoever was there to get it. Well, he had saved me a couple of packs and then put a couple of packs in the meat case. I figured those wouldn't sell, anyhow, so I got them, too. Looked like all one heart made about four packs. I made fajitas out of one pack and have the rest in the freezer, now. I am now curious to try a deer heart. Something else I have recently discovered that I like is buche. It is a filling you can get in tacos at some Mexican restaurants or groceries that offer traditional Mexican tacos. Buche is pork stomach. No, not pork belly (like bacon) but the actual, internal organ. I like to call it 'pork guts' or 'pork gut tacos' - which they are, really. Some people say to ask for them to be fried really crispy but I like them fried the regular way just fine. To me, they taste like a really intensely flavored pork chop - again, no organ flavor. If you folks like bacon, pork chops and so on then I think you would like buche. Well, a week or so back I found a pack - Smithfield brand, of all things - with two pork stomachs in it at Ingles. I have those in the freezer, as well, but will cook them as soon as I have a chance - after finding a recipe online, of course. I have buddies who will also eat it so I am waiting until we are all getting together as I am not sure that I could eat two, whole pork stomachs by myself. Beef tongue is also darned good but that stuff costs something like $6 a pound just for a raw tongue. Then you have to parboil it, skin it and then prepare it however you want. I am still going to do that one of these days because I had tongue in creole sauce (Colombian creole, not New Orleans creole) at a now closed Colombian restaurant down in Cleveland, TN and loved it. I have been eating beef tongue (lengua) for years but am also now wondering what deer tongue would taste like. I actually tried buche for the first time because I ordered a lengua taco and the kitchen sent the wrong thing. The waiter said he would bring me a lengua taco but I could have the buche one free if I wanted. I probably would never have ordered it the first time but after trying it I really liked it. In fact, I think I like buche tacos better than lengua. I will say that I don't like liver any more (strangely, I liked beef liver with onions when I was younger) and I don't like tripe, at all. Sometimes you see sliced beef shanks at a pretty good price and they are good if you braise them (just cook them about like you would beef bourguignon). Beef short ribs used to be cheap and were good cooked that way, too, but then they became 'trendy' and are usually pretty expensive, now. Anyhow, if folks are willing to try some 'weird' meats they might find that they like them - and many are usually pretty cheap.

Well, you could get a silicon bullet mold, pour bourbon into the molds and then freeze it. That would sort of be turning bourbon into bullets that would turn into bourbon. Might be a little hard to collect for consumption, though.

I like coffee. In fact, I like it too much because if I get started drinking it I will pound it down until the pot is empty. The problem is that hot coffee hurts my stomach so I rarely drink it, at all. Iced coffee, for some reason, doesn't really bother me - I don't know if there is some kind of acid in coffee that heat activates or what. Still, to be safe even when I fix an iced coffee I usually like a little coffee with my milk and Splenda. Mostly, though, I get my fix from soft drinks, usually Coke Zero. I drink them all day long but try to just kind of sip them so that each one will last me a while. Does caffeine keep me awake? Generally speaking, only if I don't get enough of it. Seriously. Oh, since I usually drink the 16.9 ounce bottles of Coke Zero (because I can put the lid back on and set it aside if I want) I converted the results from the caffeine calculator to determine how many of those bottles I can have in a day. My results were 22.4 12 ounce cans or 15.9 (might as well say 16) of the 16.9 ounce bottles. I may sometimes hit them a little too hard but not that hard. Heck, I'd go broke at that rate just buying Coke Zero! Deadly, for me, would be 562.1 cans or 399.1 of the 16.9 ounce bottles. I think I would bust a gut (again) before I got that much down.

The good thing about ordering through Walmart is that you can do 'site to store' and not have to pay any shipping charges, etc. It also means your package is secure until you pick it up, not sitting outside your door until you get home. For urban dwellers (or anyone else) who run a risk of having packages stolen this might be a factor. I am not so much worried about theft in the rural area where I live but it also means the package won't potentially be sitting in the rain, etc. until I get home. I haven't used Walmart's service all that much but I did order my Ontario RAT 5 via Walmart site to store and the experience was good. Of course, there are two Walmart locations between where I work and home so it isn't a big deal for me to swing by and pick things up as I barely have to go out of my way in order to do so. The problem is that Amazon has things that Walmart doesn't - although Walmart does have things available online that they don't generally stock in the stores (my RAT 5, for example.) I have to be honest and say that, until and unless an alternative comes along, I will probably still order from Amazon on occasion. That said, I haven't been ordering much at all from anywhere, lately. I have always been the type of person who preferred to actually lay eyes on a product and have it in my hands when I pay for it. I pretty much felt that way about ordering from catalogs before things like Amazon existed and now feel that way about ordering online, as well. There are things that cannot be obtained locally, however, or at least not easily. For instance, I have ordered sheets of thermoplastic (Kydex) via Amazon as well as different colors of paracord. That, to me, is one of the benefits of Amazon. I might could order everything that I have gotten from them online from various suppliers but with Amazon you can order a pocket knife, flashlight, some kydex, some paracord and a balaclava and have them all (if you choose) arrive in the same order so that you only pay shipping once or might even qualify for free shipping.

No, not on something - that is almost certain - but on to something. I was just about negative two years old when Woodstock happened but have often heard the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young cover of the song that Joni Mitchell wrote about the occasion. When I read the following article this morning, a line from that song came to mind. Okay, maybe the 'bomber death planes' aren't going to be 'turning into butterflies above the nation' but it seems that the U.S. military is looking to start using practice ammo with bullets that will turn into flowers. No, really. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-army-wants-bullets-that-turn-into-plants-over-time/ar-BBy4KWv?OCID=ansmsnnews11

Maybe this would be more accurately stated as, "She either needs to abide by the policy or risk suffering the consequences." I am not saying that she should violate the policy just that if she kept a firearm secured and very well hidden inside her vehicle and were never caught then there wouldn't really be any suffering of consequences. There would be the risk, however.

This law is not something that Tennessee has just cooked up. At least one of the states that borders Tennessee, Georgia, has a clause in their law in which, in some places, the lack of a guard at an otherwise restricted building makes that building unrestricted. I haven't heard of it being a big deal in Georgia. Here is a pretty big quote from georgiapacking.org - the bolding and font color change of the text of the 'Exception' section is mine to emphasize the relative portion:

Or among the wave of people who were getting permits back around 2008. In TN, the law says that they have 90 days to either get your permit to you or let you know it was denied and why. Mine took very nearly the entire 90 days. In fact, it was getting so close that I contacted someone at TDOT to find out what the hold up was. Miraculously, mine arrived in the mail a few days later. I think the TN permit system is (fairly) efficient now partly as the result of having been so relatively inefficient and unprepared for sudden, increased demand just a few years ago.

Gun range, shooting benches and working on cars, my foot - I currently have a camouflage moving blanket from Harbor Freight as my dang bed spread! It suits me, is more comfortable and warm than you might think and I don't care if the dog's nails prick the crap out of it. Moving blankets also make for pretty good cover when camping. Does anyone know if the diamond sharpening 'plates' they have - you know, the ones that are fairly small and very thin - are worth a hoot? I think they come in sets of varying grits and the price isn't bad. I would like to have a few to maybe attach to or carry in the gear pocket on knife sheaths.

I see it at one Walmart location or another around here every once in a while. Not all that often, mind you, but probably more often lately than I see .22LR in those locations. I think I have seen some once or twice at Academy and/or Gander in Knoxville but won't swear to it. Mostly it has been CCI in the clear, plastic boxes I have seen but, again, not very often anywhere. Other than that, not really.

Any time you have to go under the knife it sucks but, honestly, you probably won't even miss that foot of colon. Heck, if it helps your diverticulitis you will probably say, "Good riddance." When I had the tumor blocking my colon and the surgeon went in to try and remove the tumor it (my colon) ruptured - actually, more like exploded like an over-filled water balloon based on what I was told, later - and all in all I ended up losing about two feet of colon. I'm not going to say that it was a good time going through it but mine was pretty complicated because of the rupture, etc. A straight-forward, non-emergency procedure should see you back on your feet in just a few days and you probably wouldn't even miss the foot of colon. I'll be sending good thoughts your way, for sure.

Thanks to gun sane for posting this. It is fun whether it is very 'scientific' or not. I first tried it 10 times with the keyboard as I thought 10 times should give me a pretty good indication. I got reaction ages of: 34, 38, 34, 30, 32, 31, 31, 25, 35, 32 for an average of 32.2 After reading some of the above posts I decided to try 10 times with the mouse, as well. I got: 40, 38, 34, 35, 36, 39, 31, 32, 34, 37 for an average of 35.6 Not great, I guess, but considering I am 45 (will be 46 come June) I'll take either one of them and be satisfied.

I was doubly surprised when not only did the story get pretty full coverage on one of the regular, broadcast nightly news programs but that they also presented the story in such a was as to not diminish or question the heroic actions of the private citizen. I thought, "What? An example of a private citizen using a firearm to save a life not only made it to the national news but even seems to be getting a positive spin?"

i don't think Negan just walked in to a big group, took it over and immediately started being an a-hole. Instead, he probably started out with a group like Rick's - a small group that had survived and developed the ability to kick much ass. Time after time, for whatever reason - skill, knowledge, cunning, accident - Negan kept his group alive and got them out of situations they didn't think they could possibly survive. That core group developed a loyalty to him. Then he maybe came upon some more people who had cool stuff like supplies, a safe place to live and so on and - over the course of the next, few months - the Saviors lived up to their name and got the larger, to that point more protected group through some things that they would not have survived without Negan and the Saviors there to protect them. As Negan settled into his new role as the leader of the combined groups - with his core group of Savior loyalists firmly on his side - he began to be more and more of an a-hole. Still, he had planted the idea in people's minds by that point that the only reason they were alive was because of him and, if only in order to survive, they fell in line and accepted the excesses he slowly but surely piled on. Imagine, if you will, if Shane had killed Rick instead of the other way around. When Shane reached Alexandria he probably would have done just about as well as Rick at keeping them all safe. Heck, he might not have made some of the tactical mistakes that Rick made. However, once he was in the leadership position he also would not have been the leader by the leave of the others in the group. Instead, he would have developed into a leader much more like Negan just as Rick could have done. Remember how Shane knee-capped Otis and left him as a distraction to the Walkers who were chasing them? I could totally see Negan doing that. So, in some ways, in Negan and the Saviors I think we are seeing a possible glimpse of what would have happened to Rick's group as well as Alexandria if Shane had been the one to live. Now, as to dissenters: Rick has had dissenters. Look at Spencer - he very much tried to do just what you guys have talked about, get Rick taken out of the leadership position (and, although he didn't want to admit it, see Rick dead.) Hell, as much as I disliked Spencer you can't even deny that he had some good points. Rick really did make some mistakes that got some of the people of Alexandria killed. The idea of herding the walkers from the quarry didn't work out and having most of the fighters from the group out doing that allowed the Wolves to invade and kill still more people then the herd of walkers invaded Alexandria and killed still more people. Rick killed a woman's husband (yeah, he deserved it) and took up with that woman. Then, when the herd hit Alexandria, that woman's youngest son was killed by walkers, Rick chopped the woman's arm off with a hatchet (to save Carl) and Michonne ran the woman's oldest son through with a sword (because he shot Carl and was trying to shoot Rick.) Rick really kind of was partially responsible for Spencer's dad being killed (because he set into motion the chain of events that lead to his death) and was also partially responsible for Spencer's mom getting killed (because his plan went awry and the herd came to Alexandria.) Rick made the decision that they should attack the Savior's outpost and set into motion a chain of events that, again, has gotten several people in his group killed. Still, what happened to Spencer? Both sides turned on him to one extent or another. Rick had already threatened to take him out and he ended up with his intestines laying on the pavement courtesy of Negan. Now, imagine if said dissenter was trying to cause trouble for Negan. Unlike Rick, I doubt Negan (or his loyalists among the Saviors) would have given him a second chance. One of Negan's advantages is that, "We're all Negan." As soon as anyone started grumbling or saying things that indicated he (or she) might become a problem Negan would know about it and, "shut that sh** down, no exceptions." See, (in the show more than the comic book but in the comic as well), I see Gregory, Negan and Ezekiel all as representing different aspects of Rick's leadership. Negan represents the strong leader who keeps his people safe from outside threats but rules by might and threats. Rick has, more or less, kept his people safe from outside threats (at least more safe than they would have been without him) and is not above a well-placed threat or even violent action on someone within the group that he perceives as a threat (again, the husband that he beat the crap out of, held a gun on and then, ultimately, killed.) Gregory represents the kind of leader who wants peace, just wants everyone to get along and work together and thinks that it is worth suffering a whole lot of indignities to preserve the peace (and his own hide.) Rick wants people to get along and work together. Rick wants peace and (until he realized that no matter how much he caves his group will never be safe from Negan) is willing to suffer a whole lot of indignities to preserve the peace. Ezekiel is a good man and a pretty good leader from a social standpoint who wants to give his people hope. The Kingdom might actually have a shot at fighting the Saviors and winning but he will instead deal with them in order to keep his people from having to fight. Rick is still, on the whole, a good man and a pretty good leader within the community who also doesn't want to risk his people by fighting the Saviors. The thing is, however, to varying degrees, each of them mostly exhibits only one aspect of the type of leadership that Rick provides and each of them takes the aspect they represent too far to be 'the best' leader that they possibly could be. Negan is too quick to punish and goes right to the extreme in that punishment. Gregory is a coward who won't fight no matter the indignities he and his people must suffer. Ezekiel is so worried about his people having hope and peace that he doesn't see that sometimes it is necessary to fight to achieve those things. Rick, on the other hand, mostly combines the beneficial aspects of each approach and, therefore, provides a much more balanced leadership style. He will use the carrot, the stick or the olive branch as he believes necessary to keep those who trust him alive and bring them into a brighter future.

That is pretty close to the type of finish and exactly the type of engraving and inlay that I was talking about, above. The double-barrel part, not so much.

If I'm going to have a golden gun then it will break down into a pen, lighter, cigarette case and cuff link for super deep concealed carry.

I see where you are going with that and your point makes sense - people like what they are used to and familiar with. I also think that 'peers' play a role in our acceptance or rejections of certain things, especially among those with limited experience. In other words, a person new to the military right after the adoption of the Beretta might form the opinion that the .45 was better because that is what many of the more experienced guys around him are saying. Once those 'old timers' rotate out and are replaced by folks who have always been issued the Beretta, however, then the Beretta might be thought of as 'better'. That said, I believe there are more factors involved than simply a resistance to change. I will use myself as an example. I guess I am a bit of an anachronism. I was born in 1971 and I am 45. I still don't like Glocks and fully intend to never own one (not saying they aren't good guns for those who do like them.) I also have pretty much no interest in owning an AR15 type rifle and would personally trust a good revolver any day over a semiauto of equal quality. Ammo capacity is about the only thing I see as being a check in the 'advantage' column for a semiauto and, for the lifestyle I currently lead, I don't see that as an overwhelming factor (stay with me - I am going somewhere relevant with this.) I am not, as you said, saying that one is better than the other just because that is what I like. What I am saying is that, along with the simple resistance to change that is often part of human nature as well as the nature of organizations of just about any type, I believe personal preferences and confidence levels in Firearm A vs. Firearm B that are based on an individual's experiences still play a role. In fact, those personal preferences and experiences may play a much greater role in the resistance to change, especially among those who carry firearms as part of their job, than we realize and it might not simply be a case of 'that is what we have always done'. Instead, it could be a case of some folks saying, "Firearm A is proven reliable and effective. This is my life we are talking about, here, so why would I want to experiment with an unknown factor such as Firearm B when I know, from experience, that Firearm A will play its role if I need to call upon it to defend my life?" Then there are people like myself who just like what we like. I mentioned that I plan never to own a Glock. I have fired Glocks. They worked fine and I hit what I was aiming at - and I still don't like them. There are other semiautos that I do like (although generally not better than revolvers) so it isn't just being 'set in my ways' or determined not to like them. I have also found that - although they can be 'dressed up' to be some of the coolest looking handguns ever - I am not that crazy about 1911s, either and prefer newer semiauto designs so it isn't just 'traditional' vs. 'more modern' for me. There is also another factor in resistance to change. One of the biggest mistakes many organizations make, whether talking about a large police force or a manufacturing company, is that they simply make decisions without getting stakeholder buy in. Another is that higher ups often either don't realize that organizations often have their own, somewhat unique culture or they don't really understand the culture among the rank and file of their, particular organization and that preference for one thing over another can often be due to aspects of that culture. The only way to find these things out is to actually ask the rank and file. If the bosses/brass of an organization - people who don't even use the equipment in question on any kind of regular basis, just say, "We are changing from Firearm A to Firearm B (or machine A to Machine B or process A to process B, even) because Firearm B is better," then there will often be a lot of resistance to change. For one thing, the people who never actually use the equipment really might not know what the hell they are talking about and Firearm B really might not be better as those in supervisory roles could well be making the decision based solely on the 'on paper' advantages rather than 'experienced' advantages. The change often goes more smoothly if focus groups comprised of the people who will actually be using the equipment and whose opinions are trusted by the impacted group as a whole are brought in - even before the decision to change is made - to find out what they and others do and don't like about the current equipment and what improvements they would like to see in the new equipment or even if new equipment is really needed, at all. That input can then be used not only to narrow down options but also to get most of the actual end users to agree that a change really would be a good idea. At that point, once the supervisors have chosen something that not only makes sense from an organizational and 'bottom line' standpoint but also makes sense to the people who will actually utilize the equipment then generally resistance to change is greatly reduced because the people using said equipment on a daily basis feel like they, themselves, helped to drive and implement the change. Am I making any sense? I guess I am saying that, while I do believe resistance to change, in some cases, boils down to it being human nature to not like change and the tendency for one era's 'new thing we are skeptical about' to become the next era's 'tried and true' I believe that it is a bit more complicated and there are more factors involved in the case of firearms, especially firearms that are carried for the purpose of defending one's life. There is also sometimes an opposite impulse, on the part of some, to change simply for the sake of change without really considering if the planned change is really an improvement or simply a case of 'trying something different.'

I don't have any big plans for a 'next gun'. I honestly already have more than I will ever need (but do we ever have all we want?) My foray into the field of the 1911 left me underwhelmed and I am not really on fire to get another, not to mention I am just as happy not to be buying .45acp ammo nor do I really relish the thought of adding another caliber for any kind of 'regular shooting' that I don't already have. No, real interest in an AR, either. Just about the only 'really want' I have right now would be a SP101 in .357 with (or that I could put on) the rosewood inlaid rubber grips like the ones on my GP100. I think that would make a satisfying 'set', for me. I'm not currently looking all that hard, though, because I don't have the free capital to buy one outright nor do I have anything I would want to trade at the moment. Maybe if I see a nice, used one at the LGS where layaway is an option. Even where it comes to the SP101 I'm honestly not just desperate to own one and am not really looking all that hard. It is more a kind of 'would be nice at some point but won't break my heart if I don't'. Otherwise, if there is an otherwise, my 'next gun' will probably be something inexpensive (and unexciting to most folks) that I might happen upon or decide to get. I am really thinking seriously that I would kind of like to have one of those Hatfield folding single shot shotguns while Wally still has them for around $100. Things like that are really where my tastes and interests lie these days. High speed/low drag I definitely ain't and that suits me just fine. Now for a confession: There are some of the firearms I inherited from my maternal grandfather which I have only put a handful (or less) of rounds through at this point. The ammo shortage/price jump along with being pretty well out of commission for the last part of 2014 and most of 2015 with that pesky cancer thing and now work schedule changes as well as other issues have made it dang near impossible for me to get to a spot that has suitable ranges for shooting centerfire rifles. So much so, in fact, that many of those still feel like 'new' guns, to me. No, none of them are up for sale or trade. Honestly, right now there are things I would like to do/add/change with the things I already own more than I want anything else. For instance, one of those inherited guns is a Stevens SxS 12 gauge. Nothing special, just an old, utility grade shotgun with the 'coolness' factor of being a double barrel. Although I like it because it is a SxS I don't have a lot of use for it as it. It also isn't one that I identify strongly with him - just one of the guns he had. So, as I have thought for a while that I would like to have a coach gun, I am seriously considering having a gunsmith go through it and fix any issues or potential issues, have it cut down to coach gun length and a nice, new bead added then do a minor restoration job to it, myself. In the long run I think I would enjoy that more than just buying a coach gun somewhere. That is, when/if the spare funds come available.

The first thing I thought of was the gold plated guns that Saddam apparently had. Apparently, it is also kind of a 'trend' now among super-wealthy millennials (well, probably more like millennials with super-wealthy parents) to have various firearms that are gold plated, jewel inlaid and the like. Blech. I am not the biggest fan of 1911s but cannot deny that they are iconic and can be made to look great, especially for a presentation pistol. I think that even a little engraving and even just a bit of gold inlay can be done in a classy way. For me, as far as fancied-up 1911s go, it would be hard to beat a nice, old-style Colt bluing (you know, that deep, lapis kind of bluing) with some (but not too much) traditional style and elegantly done engraving with maybe - maybe - a small amount of gold or silver inlay just for accent. I have to say, though, that to my mind for a Trump commemorative it should be a 1911 paired with a matching 'Derringer' type pistol. Why? Well, several reasons. One is that if Trump is anything he is a modern-day gambler (his brand of high stakes business deals, that is) and, right or wrong, the Derringer has come to be identified with professional gamblers. Another is that the opposition thought Trump had no chance, they thought they had him outgunned and that he was dead before the whole 'shootout' began but then - just like a gunfighter in an old Western movie pulling out a hide-out Derringer and unexpectedly winning the fight - Trump pulled off a 'surprise' win. See? Derringer. To me, that thing in the OP picture looks like a plastic toy some kid might want from the 'everything $1.00 or less' box of junk from one of those vendors at the flea market who 'specializes' in ordering new, low-priced crap from China in bulk and then reselling it at a mark up. Yeah, you could say I'm not a fan of that pistol.

I've only been missed once, so far, so maybe I should be hurt, too since some folks seem to be getting multiple messages telling them how much they are missed. Oh, well, at least the message didn't say, "How can we miss you when you won't go away?" Even worse, especially considering the subject of the site, would be, "We missed you but our aim is improving."

I hear ya' - and I actually think she is better looking now than she was then. Another thing is that, unlike some actresses who get put into action heroine roles, her portrayal of a badass heroine is actually convincing, IMO. The Resident Evil movies, as a whole, are really pretty much B movies based on a video game but with A movie special effects. However, Ms. Jovavich's performance makes them very enjoyable to watch, not just because she is easy on the eyes but because she is convincing and draws the viewer in with her performance. I also love the way that she often portrays the character not just as a tough gal who is doing what she has to do but, as with some of the best male action stars of the past, as someone who - maybe despite herself - kinda likes it. That gives her a certain swagger and makes the character fun - see the way she is smirking and how her eyes are kind of lit up when she is riding the motorcycle in the trailer for an example of what I mean. She doesn't look like a person who is resigned to her fate. Instead, she looks like a person who is absolutely in her element and feels like, "Oh, yeah - this is what I live for!" There are certainly other actresses who can be just as convincing with or without that element of joy in what they are doing - Scarlett Johansson as 'The Black Widow' and Kate Beckinsale in the 'Underworld' series, another couple of ladies who could make Merriam-Webster arousing, for instance - but not all are. For example, even though she has been cast in a lot of 'action' roles and has been in movies I have enjoyed, overall, I never seem to be able to fully accept Angelina Jolie as a badass, for some reason. Milla Jovovich, though? Yeah, I can totally believe that she could kick my ass (and make me like it.)

Lots of violence, er, I mean 'action' + zombie-type creatures + Milla Jovovich = Heck, yes, I want to see it. Won't pay full theater price but I'd get it on DVD once it is no longer 'new release price'. The movies in the series that I have seen were pretty entertaining and looking at Milla Jovovich even made that kinda dumb movie 'The Fifth Element' (which I did see in a theater and is the first movie I remember seeing her in) watchable.