The "un-derailable" thread!

[ArmyMatt]

At least you get to watch all the seasons one after the other. Do you have any idea how frustrating it was for those of us who were hooked on Sherlock from the beginning, waiting years for each new season to come out?

no I am on episode 2.......months after watching episode 1. I think my buddy likes watching me squirm

 

[gzt]

A Dune tract:

https://imgur.com/id%3Da%252FF9EAx%3Btype%3Dalbum

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Depends on what part of the state you live in. I live in the Central Valley where gun ownership and conservative old school values are still valued. It's easy to get a CCW license here. I carry a 9 mm Smith & Wesson M&P Shield. I also have a Springfield XD .45 on my CCW if I want to carry it but it's a touch big and heavy. Good winter gun. I always have an extra mag in the pocket, too!

I was off from work today..spent time putting rounds down range concerned about ISIS sorts of things...guess I'll be carrying "more" gun and rounds in the future.

Regardless of Fr. Damick's latest FB rant about Syrian refugees (yeah I'm more concerned about the influx than he is)...you packin' heat Gurney? Guess it's near impossible out in Cali but things are going to get a little...weird...in the next 6 months me thinks...

YOU SAID IT WAS "UNDERAILABLE"

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Kate and I watched the first episode of Sherlock, found it exceedingly annoying, and never watched it again...

 

[MrJim]

Depends on what part of the state you live in. I live in the Central Valley where gun ownership and conservative old school values are still valued. It's easy to get a CCW license here. I carry a 9 mm Smith & Wesson M&P Shield. I also have a Springfield XD .45 on my CCW if I want to carry it but it's a touch big and heavy. Good winter gun. I always have an extra mag in the pocket, too!

Well how cool is that? Our mentality here (where everyone has a CC license) is that Cali folks are unarmed and not allowed..glad to hear you're able and obviously have good taste in carry guns...only hear good stuff about M&P & XD...I'm a Beretta/S&W guy myself ...

 

[ArmyMatt]

Kate and I watched the first episode of Sherlock, found it exceedingly annoying, and never watched it again...

whatevs my man, you like Seinfeld, so it evens out....like Jerry, who is Even Steven

 

[gzt]

The BEST, Jerry. The BEST.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Well, CA is quickly becoming a commie state. They're chipping away at our rights right and left. But the Central Valley is more conservative than most folks could imagine!! Around here the 2nd amendment is actually appreciated! Lol

I go to the range a lot shooting pistol and rifle. I'm a true Orthodox Christian because I collect AK's!!! LOL!!!

Well how cool is that? Our mentality here (where everyone has a CC license) is that Cali folks are unarmed and not allowed..glad to hear you're able and obviously have good taste in carry guns...only hear good stuff about M&P & XD...I'm a Beretta/S&W guy myself ...

 

[MrJim]

Well, CA is quickly becoming a commie state. They're chipping away at our rights right and left. But the Central Valley is more conservative than most folks could imagine!! Around here the 2nd amendment is actually appreciated! Lol

I go to the range a lot shooting pistol and rifle. I'm a true Orthodox Christian because I collect AK's!!! LOL!!!

Being an old Jarhead I was nursed on the AR platform....never fired an AK but would love to have one...it's a bit down on the list but sometime ....even still, you may want to consider that future move a more conservative state before your little valley is surrounded!! I used to live in Wyoming, that's close to ya... but Pennsylvania is way more civilized

***wait, I just looked up "Central Valley CA"..you guys are big enough to be your own state

 

[katerinah1947]

Being an old Jarhead I was nursed on the AR platform....never fired an AK but would love to have one...it's a bit down on the list but sometime ....even still, you may want to consider that future move a more conservative state before your little valley is surrounded!! I used to live in Wyoming, that's close to ya... but Pennsylvania is way more civilized

***wait, I just looked up "Central Valley CA"..you guys are big enough to be your own state

Hi,

Amazingly, AK's are accurate. It stunned me. Yes. I did try snap shooting the stockless one. That doesn't really go well for non marines. I was so embarassed, that I used the sights on the next shot. That is when I became amazed as the old ones look like junk, Stamped sheet metal look.

I caint hav thet thouht no mors, it hits what its pointed at. My S&W lost acuracy over the years. It's that newer small carry .40 . It's not me. So, thats how )), I know its the gun's fault. Iron in S&W's must age poorly.

I still want my concealed grenade permit. It is sort of the last comment one can make, if the bad guys win. Oh. Silencers are legal here now. They came just in time, as I can still almost hear, not quite, but almost hear.

LOVE,

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Yeah, I'm a big fan. Right now I'm looking at buying a Serbian Zastava O-Pap AK. They're basically the civilian version of the "Yugoslavian" M70. Make no mistake, this bad boy is a BATTLE RIFLE! Bulged trunnions, thick receiver 1.5mm, cold hammer forged barrel, overbuilt and accurate, but heavy and beefy sucker! I go to a Serbian church so hey, might as well trust the legendary Zastava factory! LOL. The N-Pap is a common rifle to buy, but it's a toned-down new non-milspec version. i'm a fan of the PAP's.

I'll probably get a WASR-10 and maybe a milled AK, then my collection will be complete.

My dad is former Army. He served in Vietnam then was a truck driving instructor for years and years with the 729th trans company in the Reserves out of Fresno. My dad carried an M-14 in Vietnam and absolutely HATED the AR platform! He loathed it! He hated the way they felt, how they fired, the way they jammed, the overly-complicated field-stripping, how they rusted in 'Nam, and he felt they were cheap kaka. He clinged to his M-14! He recently bought an M1-A so he feels like he's back with his old gun again in the jungle.

I know AR's have come a LONG way since the old days that Eugene Stoner had first created that thing, but I'm just more of an AK fan. I had a jam at the range a couple weeks ago. I just popped the dust cover off, field stripped it right there, removed the jam, back in business. Hilarious. Right on the spot.

AK's get a reputation that they're somehow cheap and inaccurate. Wrong on both counts. They are cheap in price, but incredibly durable. Kalashnakov really knew his guns. People at the range fire mine and they're shocked at how much FUN they are! I get some dirty looks from some guys probably assuming I like terrorism or Russkies or something because I am not firing a 'murkan gun! So I bring my Mini 14 and fire that, too ...

This is my exact Hungarian gun here

You're right about Central California. It is IMMENSE. A lot of people don't realize that California is the third largest agricultural economy ON EARTH! We produce more produce, nuts, cotton, corn, and other ag than most entire countries! You drive through Central CA and it takes about 4 hours.....nothing but walnut groves, cotton fields, peaches, oranges, lemons, grape vineyards, on and on and on....it's truly amazing.

But you're 100% dead on that we're surrounded by liberal nutters. We're sandwiched between the Bay Area (some call it "the gay area") and Los Angeles (smogville gangland). When an election comes around, it's amazing how all of Orange County near L.A. is solid red, Central CA is redder than Texas, but just those major metro areas like the Bay Area, L.A., San Diego, Oakland, etc. are blue enough to stomp us out.

People don't realize how conservative parts of CA are. We're just outnumbered overall and slowly with illegal immigrants coming in and militant secular humanism ruling the day, losing strength. It is virtually impossible for a GOP guy to get elected president here. Our assembly and state senate are overwhelmingly blue.

Crazy. I'll move to Arizona or Texas someday LOL

Being an old Jarhead I was nursed on the AR platform....never fired an AK but would love to have one...it's a bit down on the list but sometime ....even still, you may want to consider that future move a more conservative state before your little valley is surrounded!! I used to live in Wyoming, that's close to ya... but Pennsylvania is way more civilized

***wait, I just looked up "Central Valley CA"..you guys are big enough to be your own state

 

[MrJim]

I have cousins I've not seen in 35 years out in that valley...I had to look it up but they're in a town called Exeter near Visalia...

Nice AK....someday..even if I have to settle for a WASR..though I've read the quality of the imports are much better than past years (as in no canted front sights )...

I see lots of "restrictions" in various parts/ammo sales...are you able to get the good bulk ammo prices online there?

 

[Wgw]

So you know @gurneyhalleck1 , from one Dune enthusiast to another, I have it in mind to write an SF novel set in either a recreated or historically undefeated Byzantine Empire, which would center around the struggle of a senior military commander with severe prelest, and an attempted subversive propagation of a Gnostic cult. I am somewhat inclined to set it on an agreeably interstellar scale and work with a cosmological model which discards causality (a neccessary and unexplored consequence of the FTL drives in Dune and most other space operas, for example, Star Trek and Star Wars). This lack of a coherent linear causality would make for an interesting story set amidst artifacts from partially collapsed timelines.

I also very much like the idea of a militarized regime existing on such a scale modelled directly on the old Byzantine Empire. Thoughts?

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Small world, brother Jim! I live in Visalia, and Exeter is just a short hop down the road

I like SG Ammo a lot. I'll buy 1,000 rounds of 7.62 x 39 for $235

WASR 10's are supposed to be gtg now. Solid gun but not pretty. You ever watch the AKOU4774 on YouTube? Watch their WASR torture tests LOL

I have cousins I've not seen in 35 years out in that valley...I had to look it up but they're in a town called Exeter near Visalia...

Nice AK....someday..even if I have to settle for a WASR..though I've read the quality of the imports are much better than past years (as in no canted front sights )...

I see lots of "restrictions" in various parts/ammo sales...are you able to get the good bulk ammo prices online there?

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Sounds incredible

So you know @gurneyhalleck1 , from one Dune enthusiast to another, I have it in mind to write an SF novel set in either a recreated or historically undefeated Byzantine Empire, which would center around the struggle of a senior military commander with severe prelest, and an attempted subversive propagation of a Gnostic cult. I am somewhat inclined to set it on an agreeably interstellar scale and work with a cosmological model which discards causality (a neccessary and unexplored consequence of the FTL drives in Dune and most other space operas, for example, Star Trek and Star Wars). This lack of a coherent linear causality would make for an interesting story set amidst artifacts from partially collapsed timelines.

I also very much like the idea of a militarized regime existing on such a scale modelled directly on the old Byzantine Empire. Thoughts?

 

[Wgw]

Sounds incredible

Well I have completed the prologue and hope to complete a bit more this evening. I have been working on this idea for some time; I suspect what drove me to want to complete this is the disagreeably humanist perspective in much mass market SF, and the disagreeable alternative of implied fascism we see from those following in the footsteps of Heinlein. The Federation of Starship Troopers was militaristic, but also shallow, and indeed the work almost begged for Paul Verhoven to recast it as a predoctable anti-fascist sort of allegory.

If one is to write SF involving a military power, this must be based on more than mere chauvinism in the manner of Heinlein; there must be some depth, and I think the long history of the Roman Empire, especially post Constantine, offers some enjoyable cultural context. I am inclined to view the ominous figure of Emperor Palpatine from the older SW films as being a thinly veiled caricature of either Emperor St. Constantine or the Pope (particularly with the red robed guards), yet Lucas, a self described Methodist Buddhist, manages to accidentally make the Galactic Empire seem rather more appealing to many viewers than the rather one-note rebels. Commercial SF of the sort one sees in film and on television makes the great mistake of having characters who in their apparent heroic attributes are actually rather shallow; its a bit like very early genre SF from the 1930s, pre-John Campbell, pre-Heinlein, pre-Asimov, yet with none of the charm. (the works of say, Edmond "Planet Buster" Hamilton or EE "Doc" Smith may in part seem laughaboe by contemporary standards, yet carry a rich imaginative thrust, and a certain sincere enthsusiasm that seems entirely lacking in recent fiom and television SF, at least since the early 1990s).

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I'm sad to say, but I must concur. Science fiction is loaded to the hilt traditionally with skeptical atheists. Asimov, Heinlein like you said, Gene Roddenberry, H.G. Wells, and many others.

I've always been fascinated by the book, Dune. Many think it was a book promoting atheism because people in the book like the Bene Gesserit use religion as a type of social engineering and power-grabbing mechanism. But I think Dune went far beyond that. I do think the story is showing A false religion and a creation of myth but it seems like people miss the point to me.

What I see in Dune is much deeper than mere "anti-religion." For one thing, Dune focuses on Islamic type religion, not the more Christian type, but even then it goes past that. Dune is showing us a group of people using religion, yes, for their own gains. Paul and Jessica get caught in a situation where the Duke is dead and House Atreides is in chaos, Arrakis is again in Harkonnen hands, and all seems lost, so he and Jessica use the missionaria protectiva plans as a means to survive. They take advantage of a mythos, a story arc, a narrative, and they seek to become it. Paul becomes Usul, Muad'dib, the messiah of Dune, with the intent of using the position to achieve the political aims he finds important, not to legitimately fulfill a religious mandate that he really believes in. But what is fascinating is that between his jihad that we see happened between Dune and Dune Messiah, he is caught up in his prescience and realized power, his myth, his legend, his direction. He is in a web that he can't escape from and it's fascinating. Despite blindness from the stone-burner, he's still able to see and locked in the maddening prescience. I think it's interesting.

We find out in Children of Dune that Paul is "The Preacher" and that he is disappointed with what his religion has become, and feels powerless in it. Perhaps Paul is being used by God as he thinks he is god? Is that what is happening?

Did the pharaoh of Egypt know he was being used by God in Exodus?

Did Cyrus know God was using him to liberate the Jews and send them home to the Temple and Judah?

Did Nebuchadnezzer know his role?

Did each of these bums think they were nursing a legend and guiding history and shaping their agenda yet secretly, unbeknownst to them, a higher power was achieving an end game?

That is how I saw Dune. The missionaria protectiva is a type of, well, for lack of a better term, religious sleeper cell. It's meant for control and guile, but could it be actually playing out the course of real religion when it thinks it is playing a mere role to trick the populace?

I found that stuff interesting.

God Emperor of Dune was fascinating as well. That focused on evolution, and it almost shows a futility to it as Leto knows humanity will burn its spark out completely in the end. He tries to direct human traffic galactically and it just doesn't work. I found that book interesting because of the ideas of a collective storehouse of memories and personality and engrams of thought from all ancestors into a type of one thought genetically. Interesting idea if not pretty crazy. That "other memory" stuff from Children of Dune was essentially what I'm talking about.

Dune is cynical to be sure, but I'm not sure it's the anti-religious skeptical un-Christian satire some think it is. For me it is a book showing the ramifications of ecology, addiction, political intrigue, religious enigma, the different views of messiah, manipulation, dependence on a major resource (spice is akin to our oil dependency, etc.) to the detriment of others, memory and personality, and most importantly it's showing the role we play that we might find ourselves in control over, but in reality we're a puzzle piece in a larger game that only God can see.

That's just my feeble takes.

Well I have completed the prologue and hope to complete a bit more this evening. I have been working on this idea for some time; I suspect what drove me to want to complete this is the disagreeably humanist perspective in much mass market SF, and the disagreeable alternative of implied fascism we see from those following in the footsteps of Heinlein. The Federation of Starship Troopers was militaristic, but also shallow, and indeed the work almost begged for Paul Verhoven to recast it as a predoctable anti-fascist sort of allegory.

If one is to write SF involving a military power, this must be based on more than mere chauvinism in the manner of Heinlein; there must be some depth, and I think the long history of the Roman Empire, especially post Constantine, offers some enjoyable cultural context. I am inclined to view the ominous figure of Emperor Palpatine from the older SW films as being a thinly veiled caricature of either Emperor St. Constantine or the Pope (particularly with the red robed guards), yet Lucas, a self described Methodist Buddhist, manages to accidentally make the Galactic Empire seem rather more appealing to many viewers than the rather one-note rebels. Commercial SF of the sort one sees in film and on television makes the great mistake of having characters who in their apparent heroic attributes are actually rather shallow; its a bit like very early genre SF from the 1930s, pre-John Campbell, pre-Heinlein, pre-Asimov, yet with none of the charm. (the works of say, Edmond "Planet Buster" Hamilton or EE "Doc" Smith may in part seem laughaboe by contemporary standards, yet carry a rich imaginative thrust, and a certain sincere enthsusiasm that seems entirely lacking in recent fiom and television SF, at least since the early 1990s).

 

[Wgw]

I'm sad to say, but I must concur. Science fiction is loaded to the hilt traditionally with skeptical atheists. Asimov, Heinlein like you said, Gene Roddenberry, H.G. Wells, and many others.

I've always been fascinated by the book, Dune. Many think it was a book promoting atheism because people in the book like the Bene Gesserit use religion as a type of social engineering and power-grabbing mechanism. But I think Dune went far beyond that. I do think the story is showing A false religion and a creation of myth but it seems like people miss the point to me.

What I see in Dune is much deeper than mere "anti-religion." For one thing, Dune focuses on Islamic type religion, not the more Christian type, but even then it goes past that. Dune is showing us a group of people using religion, yes, for their own gains. Paul and Jessica get caught in a situation where the Duke is dead and House Atreides is in chaos, Arrakis is again in Harkonnen hands, and all seems lost, so he and Jessica use the missionaria protectiva plans as a means to survive. They take advantage of a mythos, a story arc, a narrative, and they seek to become it. Paul becomes Usul, Muad'dib, the messiah of Dune, with the intent of using the position to achieve the political aims he finds important, not to legitimately fulfill a religious mandate that he really believes in. But what is fascinating is that between his jihad that we see happened between Dune and Dune Messiah, he is caught up in his prescience and realized power, his myth, his legend, his direction. He is in a web that he can't escape from and it's fascinating. Despite blindness from the stone-burner, he's still able to see and locked in the maddening prescience. I think it's interesting.

We find out in Children of Dune that Paul is "The Preacher" and that he is disappointed with what his religion has become, and feels powerless in it. Perhaps Paul is being used by God as he thinks he is god? Is that what is happening?

Did the pharaoh of Egypt know he was being used by God in Exodus?

Did Cyrus know God was using him to liberate the Jews and send them home to the Temple and Judah?

Did Nebuchadnezzer know his role?

Did each of these bums think they were nursing a legend and guiding history and shaping their agenda yet secretly, unbeknownst to them, a higher power was achieving an end game?

That is how I saw Dune. The missionaria protectiva is a type of, well, for lack of a better term, religious sleeper cell. It's meant for control and guile, but could it be actually playing out the course of real religion when it thinks it is playing a mere role to trick the populace?

I found that stuff interesting.

God Emperor of Dune was fascinating as well. That focused on evolution, and it almost shows a futility to it as Leto knows humanity will burn its spark out completely in the end. He tries to direct human traffic galactically and it just doesn't work. I found that book interesting because of the ideas of a collective storehouse of memories and personality and engrams of thought from all ancestors into a type of one thought genetically. Interesting idea if not pretty crazy. That "other memory" stuff from Children of Dune was essentially what I'm talking about.

Dune is cynical to be sure, but I'm not sure it's the anti-religious skeptical un-Christian satire some think it is. For me it is a book showing the ramifications of ecology, addiction, political intrigue, religious enigma, the different views of messiah, manipulation, dependence on a major resource (spice is akin to our oil dependency, etc.) to the detriment of others, memory and personality, and most importantly it's showing the role we play that we might find ourselves in control over, but in reality we're a puzzle piece in a larger game that only God can see.

That's just my feeble takes.

Indeed. Part of the genius of Frank Herbert washis keen interest in, and ability to describe, altered modes of intelligence, such as the very different, very advanced, almost godlike, powers of the Tyrant Leto in God Emperor of Dune. After that work I fear it went a bit downhill, despite some interesting content in Heretics of Dune. Herbert wrote another work specifically dealing with the formation or a human hive mind.

On another note, I have completed roughly the first chapter of the proposed work and have it in mind to PM you the rough draft.

 

[Orthodoxjay1]

well Can't get back to sleep, had to come into this thread because the bleeding heart and social justice warriorism by some concerning Syrian refugees in another thread made my blood boil. One poster even tried to bring up buddhist fundamentalists and the KKK as his case all religion has fanatics, appearently realitivism and political correctness is alive and well on TAW. I say this to everyone on here who want to let the Sunni Muslim "refugees" in "you take them in, you make sure they don't blow up everything in sight, you make sure they get a job and not live off the failed welfare state, and you make sure that your part of town doesn't become a sharia no go zone".

In other news it look like our church is moving to a safer city, it going to cost me more on the bus, but I can't see myself going back to the closer Russian Church, the priest was nice but a lot of the laity is way too standoffish to non-russians, atleast the Greeks took me in like family, so I feel kinship there plus I feel a loyalty to Father now who helped me out a lot.

 

[Orthodoxjay1]

My latest political analysis...hard-hitting, impactful stuff.

Anyone seen Creepshow, the 1982 horror camp classic? Nathan Grantham, the crazy old man in the first story of the film, is killed by his daughter after harrassing her to death. He comes back to life wanting revenge.

My thought for the day---Bernie Sanders looks just like this crazy old Grantham dude from Creepshow...You be the judge!

that dude is way too creepy already to be president already, now im even more creeped out with these pics. I'm not the most happy with Trump, however I might hold nose and vote him in to stop the creepy socialist sanders, and another Clinton getting into the white house. This election cycle depressing.