JAB

Well, I took off from work last week and so I managed to get to Kingston on the last day of early voting. At about 10am there were three people ahead of me in line and there were four polling stations. It took about five minutes from the time I got in the line to the time I walked out of the room and it only took that long because the lady in front of me had gotten married and needed a name and address change which they did for her on the spot. So I have done my 'duty' even though I am under no illusions that voting under the current two-party system means much or that it is anything more than going through the motions. They gave me a sticker for voting at which point I thought to myself, "What the hell am I, five years old?" I do think that says something about the mentality of the average voter. Personally, I'd rather have a sucker. At least then I could enjoy the irony of them handing out suckers to the suckers...er, I mean voters...who really believe that their vote still makes a difference.

Nice work. I like the friction to retention strap 'convertible' idea. If using it around a camp, etc. then I can see that the strap would just be in the way but walking through the woods or brush, etc. the strap would be a nice, extra precaution.

Doubtless the close-knit, always supportive families of these upstanding young gentlemen who were only trying to get money to buy shoes for school will protest in the media that the bloodthirsty, elderly murderer should not have taken the law into his own hands as if he was some vigilante out looking for thugs to shoot rather than a gentleman on his own property protecting his own life. Me? I say it sounds like these two erstwhile thugs are of more use as worm food than they were as people.

I know this might get my 'nerd card' yanked but I still haven't seen Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I know everyone said that Ben Affleck was really good as Batman - in fact, some have said that he was, surprisingly, the best thing about the movie. I don't hate him as an actor but after what he did to Daredevil it is just hard for me to want to see him as such an iconic character. Anyhow, this isn't about Ben Affleck and it does have a reason to be in the Walking Dead thread. I had not realized - until a friend alerted me this morning - that Lauren Cohan and Jeffery Dean Morgan played Bruce Wayne's parents in that movie. In other words, with Glenn out of the way Maggie and Negan hooked up and raised Batman.

Congratulations!

I appreciate the offer but I doubt it would be as good as when fresh. Just let me know what you think. Maybe I'll bag a deer this year. I do still have a little venison in the freezer from a deer that a kind neighbor gave me last year (I did process it, myself, at least.) Maybe I should just rip off the idea and make myself one.

...and tell the rest of us about it. Apparently as part of a promotion and 'to celebrate the start of hunting season' Arby's - yes, Arby's - is going to have a venison sandwich for a limited time at a very few locations. It doesn't look like it will be shaved meat like their roast beef sandwiches. They are saying it will be top and bottom round cuts of venison from free-range, farm raised deer so basically a venison steak sandwich. Only 17 locations, to be more specific, and the only one I saw on the list that is in TN is one location in Nashville. Further, they are only going to be available at each, participating location for a few days. The Nashville location (2044 Rosa L. Parks Blvd.) is supposed to have them from October 31 through November 3, 2016. More information and a complete list of the locations and dates when the sandwich will be available at particular locations can be found in the article linked below: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2016/10/25/arbys-takes-stab-venison-burgers-select-locations/92727506/ I don't see making a five or six hour round trip just to try it but I am curious if it will be any good.

I am behind on the comics. I have only read to just the other side of the 'Negan' story arc and into the next, major threat. I don't want to give spoilers but just let me say that there are still other threats out there that are bad enough to compare.

I wait until election day to vote. I live right at the edge of my county and never have reason or opportunity to go anywhere near where early voting takes place during the hours that early voting is open. Doing so would pretty much mean making an hour to hour and twenty minute (round trip from home) out of my way and in the opposite direction from where I work (which is another 30 miles from where I live) plus whatever time it took to vote. It would be difficult to do that even if I thought that any of the candidates (big two or third party) were worth a crap. My designated polling place, on the other hand, is about fifteen minutes from me. Still in the opposite direction from work but much more doable. Hopefully you guys are right and most folks will vote ahead of time. My polling place is small and probably not extremely busy, anyhow, but if most folks have already voted then I should be able to get in and out and on my way to work that morning without much delay.

The lead architect for Wonderworks, obviously . Nice rifle. I have long thought that a Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70 would be fun but wouldn't really ever use it for much, probably not even range.

A bit of the 'sins of the father' thing, too. Firstly, because Carl was going to lose an arm as a direct result of Rick having led his people to kill saviors. Secondly because Carl was going to lose an arm as a direct result of Rick remaining defiant. Lastly - and most brilliantly - karma because it was pretty much Rick's fault that Merle lost his arm waaaaaaay back in season one. I think it also played to people's expectations. Since comic book Rick has only one hand (the Governor chopped off the other one) when the preview of the scene where Negan sticks Rick's hatchet in his belt and drags Rick into the RV came out a whole lot of people expected (as seen earlier in this thread) that Negan was going to chop off Rick's hand. Then he didn't but, because of that, it was 100% believable that Carl might end up losing his arm, instead. I also think it sets up the story for the future. Remember, Rick is a dad who once ripped a guy's throat out with his teeth because Carl was threatened. Rick is also, in his own way, just about as 'mentally skewed' as Negan. Speaking of Carl, I think there was some foreshadowing of his future role when the group was carrying Maggie through the woods. Did anyone else notice that, out of all the people who were there, Carl was leading the group? I don't think that was accidental. Yeah, he was walking alongside Rick (who was carrying the front of Maggie's stretcher with Abraham carrying the other end) part of the time but part of the time he was actually out in front by himself taking out walkers to protect the group while Sasha and Aaron walked along beside the stretcher. Carl is a strapping, young lad and could likely just as easily have taken Rick's or Abraham's place carrying Maggie so that Rick (the leader) or Abraham (arguably the best, toughest fighter) could be freed up to lead and defend the group but instead Rick and Abraham were acting as litter bearers while Carl took point. I liked it. I know some people don't like Carl but he is and has long been one of my favorite characters on the show (and in the comics) - sometimes more than Rick. Rick says he will do whatever needs to be done to survive and protect the group (and he has lived up to that more lately) but Carl is the one who has actually done it pretty much all along even when Rick was still being wishy-washy about it. Also, despite Negan's 'future serial killer' remark, Carl seems to be able to do 'whatever is necessary' without losing himself while Rick slides a little bit further from 'well balanced' with every new thing he is forced to confront. From going into the catacombs below the prison (by himself, mind you) to save Tyreese and his group to shooting the Governor's guy who kept walking toward him (and Beth, Judith and Herschel) while refusing to drop his gun to putting Rick in his place regarding how not doing what needs to be done gets people in the group killed (when he points out that if Rick had killed the Governor to start with that Lori, Merle and others would not have died.) I don't know how much it will come to mean that Carl was out in front leading the group but I don't assume anyone in the show is 100% safe, including Rick. In fact, early on in the comic (before the show ever existed) Kirkman said that he wasn't entirely sure what would happen and that, while the comic was mostly Rick's story in the beginning he wasn't sure that even Rick would survive the full run of the comics.

I honestly don't think that was psychopathic. Instead I think it was an example of a normal person who has been 'bent' and had what he is willing to do changed by the horror of the zombie apocalypse combined with a brilliant leader and tactician who is not well balanced but who was also 'playing to his audience'. The back story I have heard is that Negan was a gym teacher before the outbreak. I doubt he went out on day one and started bashing people's heads in. Instead, I imagine he has slowly and steadily gotten to that point in the years that have passed since his old life ended. I am not justifying his actions, just saying that I don't think he has the excuse of being a psychopath (no insanity defense here, in other words.) Again, I think he wanted to strike true terror into the rest of the group so he wouldn't need to go through all of this again. Maybe it is his version of classroom management 101 twisted by the apocalypse. He wanted to be the 'big, bad monster' in their eyes, someone they would never even dare to think about crossing, and the best way to do that is to become this person who can joke while he bashes a couple of people's heads in. To my thinking the whole thing was far too methodical and planned to have been carried out by a true psychopath. Now, is Negan a sociopath (someone who knows right from wrong and gets off on having the power or intelligence to get away with doing wrong - kind of like at least some serial killers)? Probably. Yeah, I know that psychology now lumps psychopathic and sociopathic together as 'antisocial personality disorders' but traditionally there is a difference. One of those differences has been that being a 'psychopath' can warrant an insanity defense while being a 'sociopath' does not. Is Negan a megalomaniac? Definitely. Does Negan represent a cult of personality? Well, he must be pretty charismatic and effective as a leader to have so many people following him when at least some of them probably don't agree with everything he does. Again, unlike the Governor he doesn't hide his 'bad' side and his true plans from most of his people with only a few henchmen who know what is really going on. Instead, he has a few hundred people (at least - I personally don't believe that all the Saviors were present at the head bashing) who know who he is and who still follow him. Some probably do so out of fear or because they'd rather live under his rule than be alone 'out there' but some obviously really trust him and believe in him.

My thought is that those folks who just wanted to hold on to what life used to be like either: 1. Got eaten because they couldn't bring themselves to put a bullet in mama's brain once she turned. 2. Couldn't take the new reality and ate their gun 3. Eventually took a permanent vacation from themselves and became 'someone else' (like the Governor - psychopath #1 - who was a nice if weak guy before the apocalypse and ended up adopting his less-nice, tougher, dead brother's persona) 4. Took the approach that Rick et al, have taken in accepting that they can't have things that way right now but if they make it through at first then maybe they can have some of those things back later. I think the problem becomes that, after a point, they can't go back to the way they were even if everything else suddenly went back to 'normal'. After all, if you really look at it, even the main group of protagonists are not exactly well balanced or even very 'heroic' at this point. Personally, I don't think that Negan is a psychopath. Some of his Saviors definitely are but he isn't. That is what makes him such an interesting character. A psychopath has the excuse that he/she doesn't really grasp 'right and wrong'. I think that Negan does but that he, ironically, has adopted the same approach that Rick has adopted - do whatever it takes to survive. Many of his non-psychopathic Saviors have, as well. Dale held on to who he had been and Dale died. Tyreese held on to who he had been and Tyreese died. Herschel held on to who he had been and Herschel died. Heck, it says right there in their name that the Saviors seem to think that they are 'saving' what is left of the world. Even bashing in the heads of a couple of members of Rick's group could be seen as his idea of 'serving the greater good'. After all, I think Negan is also a brilliant strategist who knows what makes people tick and (from his viewpoint) if he can set an example by doing something horrific and terrifying to a couple of people - even if it is something that would have made his former self sick to even contemplate - then maybe he won't have to kill the rest of the group and there can be a more or less peaceful future between them. He says as much right before the Saviors leave at the end of the premier with his, "We did it. Together. Even the dead guys," speech about it having been a 'productive' day. The Saviors don't think they are the 'bad guys' because there are no 'bad guys' and there are no 'good guys' - there are only those who survive and those who don't. Remember Rick saying to his group, when they first came to Alexandria, that if the Alexandrians tried to make them leave then they would take Alexandria from them by force? Remember Rick running that 'cop' down and killing him to keep him from going back to the group that had Beth? That sounds a whole lot more like Negan than it sounds like 'officer friendly' Rick from the first season. Negan is just willing to take the idea of 'anything to survive' further than Rick will (maybe.) The biggest difference - aside from the obvious 'cold blooded' factor of the Negan/Lucille scene - is that we see things largely through Rick's eyes and so, just as Rick does, we can often justify his actions based on his point of view even when other, still mostly 'normal' people are looking at him with shock and horror. There are currently only two semi-long term members of the group who have behaved in sort of the manner you describe. Those members are the reverend (who was shocked and horrified when Rick and his group put the Terminus people on their knees and bashed their heads in - hey, that kinda sounds familiar except they didn't let any of the Terminus folks live) and Morgan during his 'hippie' phase - and we pretty much hated both of them until they got with the program and started killing.

I won't give any possible spoilers but if the show follows the comics then some people will love it and some will hate it. Either way, based solely on what has happened on the show, itself I think it is safe to say that this season marks the turning point between, "how do we survive the zombie apocalypse" and "okay, we've mostly got the short term surviving zombies thing down so now how do we survive each other and begin to truly rebuild for the long term?" I expect the zombies to still play an important 'role' but the 'role' they will play will likely be very different going forward. On The Talking Dead they mentioned that some people are calling this premier and the upcoming season a sort of 'reset' for the show. I think that sounds about right. I also think it is a good idea and not only because that follows the source material. I think it is good for the possible continued longevity of the show because it serendipitously comes at a time when the whole zombie craze is dying down (pun intended) in our society. As the fad wanes I suspect that a 'zombie show' would be cancelled pretty soon but a show with strong story lines about people and how they not only survive but begin coming back from the brink of destruction that happens to also have zombies might make it. Further, I think those who say, "But it is a show about zombies," are and have always been wrong. It is a show about people surviving in a world where society as we know it no longer exists and just happens to have been destroyed by zombies. There is a huge difference. Yeah, the show is called The Walking Dead but remember that, in the context of the show, 'the walking dead' doesn't refer to the zombies (or 'walkers'.) Instead 'the walking dead' refers to the survivors, just as in a speech that Rick made to the others several seasons back when he described their situation by telling them, "We are the walking dead," (see the clip below.) So even the title of the show refers to the survivors doing whatever it takes to live and not the zombies. Anyhow, if the story takes the direction I think it will then some people - those who just find a story about surviving and rebuilding after a TEOTWAWKI event interesting and who still like zombies as part of that story - will like it. Those who just want a show purely or mostly about fighting zombies likely will not.

That scene was more disturbing, ironically, because it was so relatively 'sterile'. Negan was pissed and making a point so as brutal as it was there was emotion behind it. At Terminus it was just a matter-of-fact, cold-blooded thing that was, literally, like they were just slaughtering animals. As horrible as the Negan/Lucille scene is at least there was an element of humanity - a dark element - of humanity to Negan. He is a monster but the Terminus people were SOULLESS monsters.

I see it very differently. In history there have ALWAYS been people like Negan. Negan has the Saviors. Negan isn't the Governor with a few henchmen. Negan has a literal army. They are Attila and his Hun army. I am sure plenty of folks would have liked to pick up a sword and destroy Attila after he rolled through their village but it never happened. It would kind of be like saying, "Why didn't somebody just grab a gun and take out Stalin?" Even if someone did there is STILL an army to deal with - an army that might not like that you killed their leader and would probably take it out on your group. Heck, if that little freak who is the current leader of North Korea hasn't been taken out, yet then I have no problem accepting Negan. For that matter I think there would be more like him in an apocalyptic world than TWD has shown.

Yeah, he does. Hey, I like metal/thrash music as well as intelligent comedy. I'll have to see if I can find any music from the bands he has been with on the 'Tube.

I just came across this comedian. I had never heard of him, before but in this bit it is like he is reading my mind. This is exactly how I feel about the trend of so many people thinking that a person can't excercise the right to free speech simply because it 'offends' them - or even because it might 'offend' someone else, entirely. The best lines are, "I want to live in a Democracy but I never want to be offended, again!" "Well, you're an idiot."

Cool. One of my second cousins went to school with her (I don't think they were in the same grade or that he knew her all that well.) I asked him once if the other kids really made fun of her for being poor and he said that they did. I asked him if he had made fun of her and he said, "No because we were as poor as her family was."

A single panel cartoon just popped into my mind of two guys - one older and one younger - looking at the rear of a bull. The bull would be looking back at them with a wide-eyed, bewildered look and there would be a paper target hanging on a fence post for the fence that was around the pasture the bull was standing in. The younger guy would be holding a (smoking) pistol and the older guy would be pointing to the target and saying to the younger guy, "No, dammit. I said aim for the bulls-eye!" Of course if this cartridge lives up to it's claims if you shot a bull in the ass at those distances with it you might not end up with a bewildered looking bull. Instead you might end up with a pile of grilled steaks and hamburgers!

Even though the bullet is smaller with the case head diameter being 10.8mm I first thought along the lines of a '10mm Magnum'.

Well, whether or not the cartridge design has peaked my reaction has a much more personal component. That is as follows: Regardless of how much velocity/energy this gun might carry at great distances it is still a handgun. Therefore, the effective range in my hands will be limited to the distances at which I can, personally, be accurate with a handgun. As much as I would like to believe that I could reliably make 200 yard shots with a handgun I am capable of being honest with myself and saying that - with open sights - 50 yards would a decent sized target would be pushing it. At 50 yards this thing isn't going to kill anything any more dead than the .44 Magnums I already own and probably won't make anything any deader at 50 yards than my .357 GP100 with the proper ammo - that is if I manage to actually hit something in a vital area at 50 yards with a handgun. Of course there are pistol scopes but to me if I am going to fool with carrying around something with a scope I would just as soon go with a short rifle and have the benefit of increased stability. As I said, however, that is just me and my shooting interests/situation. Now, if I lived in Kodiak/Polar bear country where I might have to fight off an attack by one of those suckers and had the money I'd probably want a double shoulder rig so I could dual-wield them!

My first thought was, "Wonder what it would be like in a carbine?"

According to the blurb at the link in the OP: Of course that might just be a way of adding further hype for marketing.

Thanks, fellas.