How many 6.00 to 9.00 / hour users have more than 90 bucks in their pocket at the end of a payday?
How many of these people will have so much crap on their hard drives and want to install anything and everything and run it unrestricted? (Some will not even have enough space to run defrag, others will find that some "special" program is wiped out by antispyware, or that disk cleanup wiped out their once a month or such porn downloader, or infected.wmv porn archive or whatever other "important" software they might have had).
How come you took that sentence of mine, that you quoted out of context? Yeah, exactly. Thanks for listening but not hearing, reading but not comprehending. It is alright, I'm not here to convert anyone, merely to find a few people I can talk to further.
Speaking of automatic log management and "professionals" remotely watching everyone's systems... You weren't around for those Symantec Zero Day hacks some years back (2005/2006)? I recall that "pushing" anything even on corporate networks was a challenge from an infected server or to infected systems. And no, I don't recall being able to order things for my clients if they weren't willing to write the check or whip out the cash, it is called sound business. Anything good is doable with a group of users willing to let me run their shop, the problem is them being willing AND ABLE to pay, and that only works in huge corporations. Small shops and lone or home users don't like being unable to install Weatherbug or Callgirl 3.0 or whatnot. When the choice is between porn and trojans and security or productivity, users tell you their priorities damn quick, through words OR actions. So I let them hang themselves after having printed my advice to them on my last invoice, in non embarassing manner. No way to deny that I warned/advised them of a course of action. If they disapproved, tough tamales. I drove more bad clients away than most people get... but for good reasons, "no customers is better than bad customers"... only desperation will make me work with someone I deem unworthy of my time nowadays... and as a result I lead a much stress free business life:)
I just posted about something like this elsewhere in the thread.
Not only do the cards do better in Linux, but the various IDE chipsets do remarkably well, especially in nVidia's case where they recommend using the MS drivers unless you want software RAID... I've had similar results with the ATI IXP chipset's IDE controller. It has major issues with networking, power saving, etc. Put it under Linux, and the problems just... go away. Strange that. Commercial companies can't be bothered to write good drivers anymore, but a bunch of geeks, paid or unpaid, can. Sad day in the unFree market.
Don't feel left out, the ICH isn't the only chipset with issues. I have a K8Neo Platinum with the Nforce 4 SLI and Soundblaster 24bit, in windows it is a dream, in linux, once I finally got a good set of drivers for my Geforce, it did the riverdance around my windows setup and left it in the dust... I had a similar issue with the Radeon on this laptop. (Running ATI IXP chipset with a 200M) once I got it properly compiled, it was a screamer... other than in the graphics department, where the GPU was no less clunky than in windows. The drivers run far smoother with the linux IDE drivers for the IXP though. Back to the gaming rig... the problem is that the IDE drivers for the nforce4 in windows are not optimized, and you're stuck using emulated drivers off the driver disk, or the windows IDE drivers (which nvidia recommends during the downloaded software setup from their site). I've tried both, and they are both lame, at best. Linux seems to not have this issue, hence actually running this board at a speed I find, "reasonable" if not outright "good". (heh heh, and then there is hdparm:D
Just thought I'd let you know you're not alone in your experience with IDE drivers:)
(as an aside, I have a toy file server/backup that runs on a Celeron 300, last uptime was about 400 days with breaks only when power went down and the power backup ran out:) thing still copies files, large or small, locally or over network, far faster than a P600 with a better motherboard, more ram, and equally slow hard disks does in windows 2000/XP (I have lots of free time to test stuff out)).
I agree on this, I actually still used it at my last IT job, in a Windows Partner Gold shop:) That shop even went Platinum and I still did all the work on OSS programs.
And you know what, the boss liked it, but didn't want to develop a selling method for it, since windows was easier to sell, what with all the corporate IT departments knowing all the buzzwords and the FUD. He talked about how it was cheaper to develop stuff through a subcontractor (I did IT work but in spare time between billable hours, I worked on promotional material, graphics work, etc...) Saved the man at least my yearly salary doing things in house. He appreciated it too, talked smack about my "using competition software" but didn't blink at giving me a raise or helping me out with extra days off and even a paid vacation or three (wasn't in my contract):)
I like the monoculture, since windows is such a clunky beast, I hope it spreads, because then I can see more suffering among the cattle, and perhaps, when the pain is great enough, they'll stop treating the symptoms (buying a new version of Windows and downloading a new Service Pack) and they'll excise the tumor instead. But then again, there will always be a majority, and the majority has ALWAYS been told what to think or do, so if working a 10 hour day to pay the CompuShop guys to defrag and virus scan your machine is what the majority want, then that's their prerogative... I, for one, can do all that while getting other work done on other machines, or enjoying reading a book, making love, sailing, cruising, chatting or even, *gasp* posting on Slashdot. I even taught non techie friends of mine how to select parts and build game rigs. Fixing problems is still tougher, but I don't get the blank stares anymore and all it took was a couple of beers, and honest discussion. And nobody died:)
Yeah, but I had the benefit of having bought the commercial edition (CD, windows, mostly because I support ID's choice to make them posix friendly/compatible). I didn't have the patience to download the hacks at the time, so I just tweaked it for WINE, about 5 minutes of "hard" work. And about 95.00 USD saved for other expenditure:) instead of paying some drone at the local compushop to tell me they have no clue, because they don't use "Lie-nax".
*chuckle*
So yep, it is against my principles to pay for anything I don't need or want:)
Nah, its a full time system, running everything from apache, samba, vsftpd, dns and network time in the background, gaim (pidgin now) browsers, a couple of reader tools and iptables (custom rulesets because of the gaming aspect). It is the service system for my work laptops. It just happens to serve as a gaming rig because it is the only really powerful system I got anymore. The laptops are all Turion 64's running Gentoo and BSD. This is the only one still running windows, and it is having far too many problems with the power saving... something the Linux rigs have no issues with. Curious that (its an HP, and I've found other ppl losing their network when returning from standby, MS and others have articles on it, nobody's fixed it, but thankfully, Linux and BSD don't suffer from any of those issues:)
Actually the only thing I'm saying is that (especially in response to the AC above saying "no thanks" is EXACTLY THAT... if you want it, DO IT... if you don't want it, then why bitch?) Wanting something hasn't stopped me from DOING it in my life, and every time I looked back at something where I hesitated, the only thing there is regret... regret because fear or laziness beat me. We are a culture of majority because hiding in the majority comforts cowardice. Doing your own thing is hard, difficult, nigh impossible in today's fear driven culture, even more so than in the fear driven cultures of the kings and queens of the past. If you don't plan to stand on your own feet, all I'm saying is "stop expecting to stand on someone else's shoulders"... corporations won't save Linux anymore than they "saved" BSD... neither will governments (which, if you translate their charters using Black's Law Dictionary, you'll find that governments are STILL corporations). BSD was saved by the fact that people believed in it, just like religions, just like windows "ease of use" (tell that to my father and his friends, to whom anything beyond punch cards is "difficult" and "clumsy interface", he hates Linux, Windows, BSD, MAC OS, and anything beyond the old CP/M).
As far as I'm concerned, Linux works as much as windows does (I simply feel it is better for me)... each has equal rewards for your trouble. If you get more involved with your own needs and desires, you get more out of it, if you expect someone else to solve it, you get what you deserve, working your days away to pay someone else to fix your rig and do a half assed job of it (I worked IT for someone else before running my own business the way I wanted to, so I can attest that if you do a thorough job, you can't finish as many customers, and won't get as much return business from the same client, and someone else gets the promotion and the raise)... so in the end, you get the proverbial shaft. This has been the case since people started importing food while living on farmland, and voting for someone else to send someone else's kids to die in wars of someone else's making and demanding that other people pay taxes so they could benefit (healthcare, cops, zoning) from the robbing of those people of their efforts (wages/profits) and their property (land through zoning). I call it just deserts and, for one, will have no conscious part of it. What each of you choose for yourselves is your own thing:) I'm just here to rile up the mud to see if there's any precious gems left among the chaff.
I have Windows XP and Gentoo Linux running side by side, and strangely, Gentoo scores 10 to 12 FPS faster in World of Warcraft, Warcraft III and even Doom 3. Granted they are commercial games, but if they can run in WINE that fast, I wonder what a direct Linux implementation would do. I just love seeing folks buying the headlines instead of blazing their own paths.
That's why the world is in the shape its in... the majority is always waiting for someone to save the day. You want desktop Linux? Then make it your desktop. Otherwise stop bitching and post some valid comments.
Every government is corrupt, the fact that you haven't seen this yet speaks a lot. Eyes open, but not yet seeing the picture. No biggie, sooner or later everyone gets it:)
The upside is this. Patenting DNA based music has to do with that lovely 95 to 96% of the unknown DNA, that scientists, like those "world is flat" guys before them, are calling "junk DNA". I.E. "we don't know or won't tell you what it does yet, so we're going to call it junk, and you'll believe us, because we're *experts*".
Its information storage... and there are those who know how to read it, they won't tell you or me they can, but there's enough in there to make someone very wealthy if they exploit it without allowing "competition". Patents on "information" are as idiotic as they were when they came about.
If someone with a strong mind had patented stupidity and gullibility, would the world be full of brilliant free acting individuals instead of gullible sheep, just because they'd have to pay to be stupid and gullible? Since almost 99% of city dwellers have cable TV, I bet they would also pay to use a "stupidity" patent.
Where I live now, is far enough away from "the big city" (and all you lame government interventionists, conservative or "liberal" alike).
Here, kids are taught that a BB gun is merely what they use until they can handle the recoil on a REAL gun. Adults use BB guns to teach kids to be responsible with tools... after all, whether you're using a nailgun to nail boards to a wall, or shoot squirrels, that tool remains only that, a tool. Guns are no different, and neither are computers.
If that idiot with the BB gun pointed a "GUN" at any house here, and someone noticed, he'd likely be shot, and the sheriff would say "if he survives, would you like to press charges?"
After all, those taught responsibility with tools, weapons, computers, etc, know that you don't point a barrel or the aggressive/business end of something towards someone who refuses your offer. Whether that offer is to point a knife or gun at them (attack their life) or demanding their wallets (attacking their property) or a molotov cocktail at their house (attacking their home/property).
This is lacking in "big cities" because there, everyone expects everyone else to "play by the rules", and the only deterrent is a police department, which, as a friend of mine on the force once said "you'll be lucky if they show up on time 1% of the time, and then actually CATCH the bad guy".
Week after I left my last big city residence, there were nearly two dozen reported unsolved murders (only 3 with guns, an irony for those of you "for gun control", the rest with bare hands, knives, screw drivers, and household appliances). Nevermind the rest that were "solved".
This story, like everything I've listed above is simply "lack of responsibility". This will only get worse, not better, until the young and adult jackasses receive equal reply to their offenses. Waiting for the cops only guarantees you become a victim of the criminal. The government will NEVER solve this problem, because it is of their own making, just like every other "criminal activity". Lawmkers keep passing laws, and cops keep giving tickets, but that has yet to stop speeding. Cameras didn't do it, tagging people like cattle won't do it. Nothing will... because nothing ever has.
Only "real" crimes are aggression against the freedom, life and property of an individual. If someone, whatever their excuse (whether Crip gangbanger or Gestapo/Komitet thug) attempts to take your life, your liberty of action/thought or your property (including your body, if you see your life and limb as your own property instead of someone else's property), you have every right in creation/evolution (as your preference may be) to defend those things with equal or greater force to that of the aggressor.
If that was the lesson taught in school instead of "don't fight, let the teachers/authorities solve it" then we wouldn't be a nation of cowards, indifferent than any other nation of cowards on this globe, always begging someone else to "handle" or "manage" or "solve" what we collectively call, "our problems".
Until the mindset changes, the idiots will continue to believe that we're supposed to "call the cops and wait". Tell that to a woman about to be, or already being raped by someone, whether friend or foe regardless... If the animals of our society know that Joe and Betty and Jane are all willing to deal with aggression immediately and decisively, we won't have "threats" anymore. Threats are treated just like attacks.
Which brings me back to this story. The lady on fox (Mr. Chubby "Lives life on Myspace"'s mom) decides to get what? An electronic security system and a surveillance tripwire? To stop who? Supposed masters of electronic deception?? Isn't that an oxymoronic "defense"? If instead she had locked and loaded a 45, learned to use it ahead of time and carried it everywhere, she would know that its another situation like everything else... bad guy has to learn that his actions have consequences, worse ones than a stint at the prison book club
Slavery is defined as servitude, voluntary or not, in the constitution's ammendments. Guess what? That means that if I force you to serve me, its slavery.
If it is voluntary, it is CONSTITUTIONAL... it can still be slavery, but if you submit to it, its constitutional.
If I threaten to take away your toys, and your kids and your house and everything you love, or like, or need, if you don't pay TAXES, then you are still a slave to pay them, a voluntary slave (even if you can do EVERYTHING I claim to provide for you by yourself, from surgery to protection of your property line, which you have fenced in BY YOURSELF, without my funds given to you).
Are you not a slave? How about this, if you try to leave my system (aka, Waco, Ruby Ridge) then perhaps I'll send my thugs, not to cut off your foot, but to shoot your son in the back, your wife in the face, harass you about it on loudspeaker (Ruby Ridge, Idaho) or perhaps to drive tanks into your church on trumped up charges, and burn all but 6 residents with CS gas (whoever hadn't been shot or ripped apart by tank treads already). Then i'll say its "for the children".
So mass troop concentrations deserve wiping out with Weapons of Mass Destructions, so long as the people being massacred are not our allies (but are being supplied by the same people as our friends, i.e. US:)
Gotcha chief.
Just wanted to make sure the hypocrisy ran all the way around. Thanks for clearing that up chief. Its only Genocide when THEY do it without us telling them to!! Got it, thanks!
Last time a doctor said to me : "Lets get you started on **** drug and see how you feel after 3 weeks." I left and started to treat myself.
When my mechanic says : "Lets try this new part from a Diesel engine on your Gasoline engine, and see how your pickup runs in 3 weeks." I will simply find a new mech, or spend the time and do it myself.
Seriously, if some "scientist" from the churchmen's time said "earth is FLAT! kill anyone who disgrees". The "scientists" of the time, those of the establishment school of thought, would have immediately gone ballistic in their attempts to prevent everyone from speaking and thinking outside their (typically fear driven) paradigm.
My suggestion is to let the Mavericks who say "the earth is round" have their say. It has always been the few, the pioneers who were right, and the "many" who were always lead along, with the proverbial carrot on a stick. Majorities are always stampeding herds of bovine creatures. In the case of humans, they're merely bipedal bovines:)
I said, a draft is simply the worst because you're sent to likely DIE.
Work is not slavery, you can work for yourself.
Employment is slavery, but it is constitutional, if you READ the "anti slavery ammendment" (13) it reads that only "unwilling" or "coerced" servitude (involuntary) is banned. If you indenture yourself, tough tamales.
I don't see how that is hard to grasp.
Most kids aren't taught that they can skip on the draft, that the law doesn't REQUIRE they sign up for the draft (so long as they can stay clear of government free bees that demand exchanging that vow/signature).
Sheesh. Sides, if he shot her, there were deeper factors than the Glock, I'm sure he would've used the knife if he had gone that far off the deep end (or also if he had the legitimate need to shoot her, such as if she was murdering their kids with a chainsaw, these days you never know, he might've been the good guy!!)
(tis a nutty world we live in, we sell Sarin gas to saddam, and then he's a bad guy for using it, for the EXACT PURPOSE HE BOUGHT IT FOR! Sarin isn't for defense, or hunting, or overthrowing tyrants, its exactly for what it is sold... GENOCIDE!)
I was referring to adoption of said weapons by the USA. I don't recall the USA adopting the AK and I don't care about caliber that much.
I just have seen much to make me believe that the AR round doesn't have much killing power beyond two hundred yards and fragmentation velocity is near the three thousand feet per second for the lightweight bullet and is lost beyond that hence why the marines moved to higher weights of bullets in their carbines, of course the heavier bullet was slower hence it lost much more of the fragmenting capacity at long range, being already slower than the original 5.56 (hey, at least once you pass 60 grains, you can't claim its a 22 anymore since the 22 LR has a tough time pushing a 60 grain bullet, to my knowledge)
I actually prefer accuracy over range (50 bmg) since i hunt occasionally, I found that a good head-shot on a calm deer is fantastic with any.308 and 30.06, 300 WSM (overkill), etc. Are you NUTS, by the way? How can you be caliber crazy and claim shit like that to my face? Any idiot knows that a 50 BMG is for killing tanks and a 500 magnum's for killing elephants. Velocity, bullet profile, recoil, gun size, etc. What are you on man? Plus elephant cullings are done with 30 calibers, either on full auto or by well positioned marksmen.
Also, what makes you think I'm NOT familiar with the evolution of the SturmGewehr from its SMG to the FAL battle rifle (STG58 in Austria). If I recall, the guy who took over from John Browning took a real interest in the Assault Rifle idea, but gave up and made a full battle rifle.
Question for you:
If the carbine round is so lethal at five hundred then why are the snipers staying the hell away from it and why are police snipers using the three oh eight and the six eight and not the two two three? Can't tell me the.223 penetrates with more power than a.308 or a 6.8 mm.
And if you MISSED it, SOF hardnuts who swear by it, tend to be AR boys. I am neither. And I deeply regret getting drawn into an argument with a bunch of trolls. Sure you googled the wiki for 'Assault Rifle' but I wonder how much of that you knew off bat.
Personally I wouldn't waste cash on either an AK74 or 47, they're both shit guns for mudholes.
Please, tell me which russian rifle shoots the 7.62x53:) I want to buy one for collector value. All the ones that I've ever heard of shot the RUSSIAN 7.62x54 rimmed (and I've seen two chambered in 30.06 by nutty gunsmiths with too much time on their hands. I could be off by a bit.
Auto fire is for people fighting at short range.
Prime example. Minutemen fired 4 shots per minute in the revolutionary war, and hit 100% at 200 yards on british officers. Americans in Vietnam hit once in 300 shots on the 50 yard range (read this sometime ago when researching historical accuracy of various guns). We're improving again today. But not at the range and accuracy of the minutemen. (who were using IRON SIGHTS!) I can guarantee that those musket balls would change your views on caliber, right quick. I've shot muskets that friends own. Remarkable guns. Not good for tactical stuff, and smoky as hell, but you can reload those even without a cartridge factory available... and damn can they splatter stuff, like any good shot, aim at the noggin, deer or terrorist, they still go down. If you're not wearing armor, it will do a lot worse number on you at the same range as an AR/M16.
Look, I'm not a caliber nut, so bugger off from that subject, i'm simply saying that the AR isn't worth its salt. If it was then the whole world would be using them, but as I recall, demand for FAL's is back up (check the recent DSA sales figures, government operators want them, and gov is paying a pretty penny for pretty guns). All the FAL's i've seen on sale are 308. When you show me why one would be rebarelled in 223, I'll buy you a beer:) (if you're old enough to drink)
Perhaps if you had asked my view of Ollie North, who often columns on SOF, or of the fact that the SOF is wholeheartedly a believer in the authenticity of the war on drugs and war on terror.
I'm in no way a SOF junkie, but it helps to see where the military is getting their rags. And its quite popular, and occasionally has some remarkably accurate seeming articles (verified by my buddies, older and younger).
"Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics." (unknown to me who said this one):)
It is CONSTITUTIONAL slavery, its voluntary. Voluntary servitude. A free man, a truly free man is self sustaining, on his own property, not beholden to the lords and ladies and big corps for his food, clothes, medicine and basic needs.
Hang out with the Idahoans, and a few alpine types and learn how to survive. Then you find out that your cash spends better when you have less things demanded of you by lords and masters.
A nation of free holders IS possible, we almost had one, until the Founding Lawyers killed the Articles of Confederation and replaced them with the much more heavy handed Constitution.
And if you have read the right channels, you know there is another "Constitution" in the works, where any rights we ever had are "kaput".
Look around, the Clintonistas and the other CFR bunch proposed it in 1992. We are just lucky that the Constitutional Convention wasn't gone through with back then. Or we'd be seriously screwed. Tiannamen square screwed.
Protecting your country is your duty. Going overseas to attack some country on whatever pretext is generally known as "adventuring".
Draft IS slavery, in slavery someone who doesn't do that work expends your lifetime and production to enrich himself, in the Draft, someone who isn't involved in FIGHTING at all, is enriching himself by expending your lifetime and LIFE (sooner or later) the same way.
"The man whose choices are made for him is a slave." "He who produces to have his product disposed of by others without his consent is a slave." (I forgot who authored these, I think it was Thucydides, Socrates or Plato.)
If you don't believe that, spend some time in a communist country as a worker bee. Then come lecture me on the virtues of the draft.
Shouldn't you attack his source of Gas? Saddam was helped to power along with his family by the CIA. Shouldn't you attack his enablers?
WE, Americans MADE Saddam able to do his work. So shut up and learn history chief.
Did saddam invade the USA?? Last I recall Kuwait is just as Despotic as Saudi, just a different set of nutjobs.
And if Saddam had all those GAS CHAMBERS, where the hell did they go and convict him and KILL HIM for what?? Defending himself against a plot to assassinate him?? That was PATHETIC... why didn't they burn him on the gas chambers you so proclaim he used!!!!
Surely those experts at the CIA and NSA could've had live footage, given that they made the Saddam we all know (and hate, yes I didn't like him either).
I've lived under despotism son, don't tell me that crap... its you who should experience that. Try living under the Shah, we put him in power too. How about Stalin? And that Chicano sack of crap whose troops use surplus American gear... over in Mexico? How about those freedom loving Saudis we just sold a couple dozen F16's to? Yeah, go live under their freedom, since pro war voters, in this war, support the Saudis (they're just a religious version of Saddam).
Here's an idea, find a candidate worth voting for or STOP voting, it only encourages the assholes to keep running! Kerry vs Bush was as bad as Gore vs Bush or Clinton vs Bush Sr. Who the hell do you vote for? Preserve your soul, avoid both of them, they're scum. Vote in the local elections.
I don't rely on police, they bother me and waste my time and money, I don't rely on "public" "coerced" Prussian, John Dewey's schooling system, I don't rely on anything, I don't oppose the war as much as the fact that I have at one time paid taxes that paid interest to the Federal Reserve for the loan the government goons used to pay for the ordering of my buddies who were taken to the military to go and kill some poor bastard's family and make him want to kill us (on a large scale of LOTS of poor bastards' families).
Being required to invade a foreign nation, reservists maybe, but national guard?? Those are the Organized State Militia, (as opposed to every military aged male and female retired military being the Unorganized Militia At Large. I dont' recall state militias being lawfully REQUIRED to invade foreign nations at the behest of a nut at a podium. The army is his to play with, the national guard isn't, not that I know of. It may OPT to do so, but as I recall they weren't REQUIRED to do it.
I just found that SOME of their stories are good, and I run them by my buddies to see what they say.
I'm quite aware of the slant in SOF, hence why I have other sources. The army didn't want me, and the marines didn't either. I didn't want airforce or standard navy, so I took what I learned and moved on.
I'm glad you attacked the source of that comment. I don't defend SOF, I merely mentioned their take on it. Did I mention the fact that i've lived abroad and NOT on army bases behind heavy guns and other "defenses" ?
You are correct, there is "know" and there is "believe" I didn't say I KNEW SOF to be right, I merely stated their take on it. What I know and what I strongly believe comes from my friends and the time I spend talking to them when we go fishing, hunting, etc. Knowing involves personal experience, believing comes from second and thirdhand experiences. We all choose to believe many things (for example that seat belts work, that bullets kill you instantly, that man walked on the moon, etc). We certainly do know if seat belts work, if we have an accident and survive it, we know if bullets kill instantly if we see it happen, and that man walks on the moon if we DO IT OURSELVES... otherwise its BELIEF. Videos and stories CAN be doctored.
Some issues prevented me from joining up, and couldn't be rectified, however a large majority of my friends are either WW2, Vietnam, Korea or Desert Storm vets. Some of my closer friends are quitting in droves (by quitting, it means they are NOT taking the 40k offered reenlistment bonus and they're going into anything but reenlistment). One was a genius, took the money, his guns, his yacht, and his girlfriend, and ran for the open sea. Again, can't see as I blame him, I would've left this place behind, but I can't think of a single place that isn't worse already (massively more surveillance in europe than here).
"Assault Rifle" M16, 5.56 MM NATO or.223 caliber american, referring to the automatic or semi automatic small caliber carbine for 250 yard or lesser shooting, known as "Assault Rifles" (term coined back in the vietnam days whe the airforce swapped to 223 carbines and some "genius" swapped the marines to 'em too, they're crap, they always were crap, and it was proven they are crap many times over.)
"Battle Rifle" M1, M14, FN-FAL, HK91, G3, etc..308 and other semiauto or auto rifles are referred to as "battle rifles" or "main battle rifles". Very uncommon now, because we need to attract women, and despite the fact that my grandma can shoot a.308, it seems its politically incorrect in today's army to have deadly weapons used by the masses of soldiers. Guess copper jackets are expensive nowadays. These really reach out and touch someone, hence forth most designated sharpshooters use M14's in.308. Damn accurate guns for a 70 year old design...
"Sniper Rifle" Any military purpose anti personnel rifle in any chosen caliber, semi auto or bolt action, from 5.56 rifles to 6.8mm (SWAT) to.308 to the vaunted.338 Lapua and even the (now banned in the US of A) 14.5 mm Russian Anti Tank Rifle (makes a.50 BMG rifle look weak, double the muzzle energy and insane range).
Hope that helps.
Anyways, I was shortening it, its a 6 page article and tons of letters and write ins... its been a 2 month to 3 month running series, with lots of snipers and various soldiers, current and retired writing in. From the sounds of it, they're using the snipers mostly to draw fire and patrol. Theyre placing them as "deterrents" as if some insurgent will not take a shot at a sniper if he's like a classic "sitting duck". Would you pass up the opportunity to wax an "enemy" sniper if you were in a combat zone? Even an inexperienced "insurgent" would know enough that the guy with the scoped rifle is the first one you pop.
As a historical side note, in World War II, and in Vietnam/Korea, soldiers with SCOPED rifles (in those days they were the snipers, no AIM point devices or scout scopes or any of this stuff, back then scope meant sniper) were NEVER taken prisoner. I wonder why?
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How many 6.00 to 9.00 / hour users have more than 90 bucks in their pocket at the end of a payday?
.wmv porn archive or whatever other "important" software they might have had).
:)
How many of these people will have so much crap on their hard drives and want to install anything and everything and run it unrestricted? (Some will not even have enough space to run defrag, others will find that some "special" program is wiped out by antispyware, or that disk cleanup wiped out their once a month or such porn downloader, or infected
How come you took that sentence of mine, that you quoted out of context? Yeah, exactly. Thanks for listening but not hearing, reading but not comprehending. It is alright, I'm not here to convert anyone, merely to find a few people I can talk to further.
Speaking of automatic log management and "professionals" remotely watching everyone's systems... You weren't around for those Symantec Zero Day hacks some years back (2005/2006)? I recall that "pushing" anything even on corporate networks was a challenge from an infected server or to infected systems. And no, I don't recall being able to order things for my clients if they weren't willing to write the check or whip out the cash, it is called sound business. Anything good is doable with a group of users willing to let me run their shop, the problem is them being willing AND ABLE to pay, and that only works in huge corporations. Small shops and lone or home users don't like being unable to install Weatherbug or Callgirl 3.0 or whatnot. When the choice is between porn and trojans and security or productivity, users tell you their priorities damn quick, through words OR actions. So I let them hang themselves after having printed my advice to them on my last invoice, in non embarassing manner. No way to deny that I warned/advised them of a course of action. If they disapproved, tough tamales. I drove more bad clients away than most people get... but for good reasons, "no customers is better than bad customers"... only desperation will make me work with someone I deem unworthy of my time nowadays... and as a result I lead a much stress free business life
I just posted about something like this elsewhere in the thread.
... go away. Strange that. Commercial companies can't be bothered to write good drivers anymore, but a bunch of geeks, paid or unpaid, can. Sad day in the unFree market.
Not only do the cards do better in Linux, but the various IDE chipsets do remarkably well, especially in nVidia's case where they recommend using the MS drivers unless you want software RAID... I've had similar results with the ATI IXP chipset's IDE controller. It has major issues with networking, power saving, etc. Put it under Linux, and the problems just
Don't feel left out, the ICH isn't the only chipset with issues. I have a K8Neo Platinum with the Nforce 4 SLI and Soundblaster 24bit, in windows it is a dream, in linux, once I finally got a good set of drivers for my Geforce, it did the riverdance around my windows setup and left it in the dust... I had a similar issue with the Radeon on this laptop. (Running ATI IXP chipset with a 200M) once I got it properly compiled, it was a screamer... other than in the graphics department, where the GPU was no less clunky than in windows. The drivers run far smoother with the linux IDE drivers for the IXP though. Back to the gaming rig... the problem is that the IDE drivers for the nforce4 in windows are not optimized, and you're stuck using emulated drivers off the driver disk, or the windows IDE drivers (which nvidia recommends during the downloaded software setup from their site). I've tried both, and they are both lame, at best. Linux seems to not have this issue, hence actually running this board at a speed I find, "reasonable" if not outright "good". (heh heh, and then there is hdparm :D
:)
:) thing still copies files, large or small, locally or over network, far faster than a P600 with a better motherboard, more ram, and equally slow hard disks does in windows 2000/XP (I have lots of free time to test stuff out)).
Just thought I'd let you know you're not alone in your experience with IDE drivers
(as an aside, I have a toy file server/backup that runs on a Celeron 300, last uptime was about 400 days with breaks only when power went down and the power backup ran out
I agree on this, I actually still used it at my last IT job, in a Windows Partner Gold shop :) That shop even went Platinum and I still did all the work on OSS programs.
:)
:)
And you know what, the boss liked it, but didn't want to develop a selling method for it, since windows was easier to sell, what with all the corporate IT departments knowing all the buzzwords and the FUD. He talked about how it was cheaper to develop stuff through a subcontractor (I did IT work but in spare time between billable hours, I worked on promotional material, graphics work, etc...) Saved the man at least my yearly salary doing things in house. He appreciated it too, talked smack about my "using competition software" but didn't blink at giving me a raise or helping me out with extra days off and even a paid vacation or three (wasn't in my contract)
I like the monoculture, since windows is such a clunky beast, I hope it spreads, because then I can see more suffering among the cattle, and perhaps, when the pain is great enough, they'll stop treating the symptoms (buying a new version of Windows and downloading a new Service Pack) and they'll excise the tumor instead. But then again, there will always be a majority, and the majority has ALWAYS been told what to think or do, so if working a 10 hour day to pay the CompuShop guys to defrag and virus scan your machine is what the majority want, then that's their prerogative... I, for one, can do all that while getting other work done on other machines, or enjoying reading a book, making love, sailing, cruising, chatting or even, *gasp* posting on Slashdot. I even taught non techie friends of mine how to select parts and build game rigs. Fixing problems is still tougher, but I don't get the blank stares anymore and all it took was a couple of beers, and honest discussion. And nobody died
Yeah, but I had the benefit of having bought the commercial edition (CD, windows, mostly because I support ID's choice to make them posix friendly/compatible). I didn't have the patience to download the hacks at the time, so I just tweaked it for WINE, about 5 minutes of "hard" work. And about 95.00 USD saved for other expenditure :) instead of paying some drone at the local compushop to tell me they have no clue, because they don't use "Lie-nax".
:)
*chuckle*
So yep, it is against my principles to pay for anything I don't need or want
Nah, its a full time system, running everything from apache, samba, vsftpd, dns and network time in the background, gaim (pidgin now) browsers, a couple of reader tools and iptables (custom rulesets because of the gaming aspect). It is the service system for my work laptops. It just happens to serve as a gaming rig because it is the only really powerful system I got anymore. The laptops are all Turion 64's running Gentoo and BSD. This is the only one still running windows, and it is having far too many problems with the power saving... something the Linux rigs have no issues with. Curious that (its an HP, and I've found other ppl losing their network when returning from standby, MS and others have articles on it, nobody's fixed it, but thankfully, Linux and BSD don't suffer from any of those issues :)
:) I'm just here to rile up the mud to see if there's any precious gems left among the chaff.
Actually the only thing I'm saying is that (especially in response to the AC above saying "no thanks" is EXACTLY THAT... if you want it, DO IT... if you don't want it, then why bitch?) Wanting something hasn't stopped me from DOING it in my life, and every time I looked back at something where I hesitated, the only thing there is regret... regret because fear or laziness beat me. We are a culture of majority because hiding in the majority comforts cowardice. Doing your own thing is hard, difficult, nigh impossible in today's fear driven culture, even more so than in the fear driven cultures of the kings and queens of the past. If you don't plan to stand on your own feet, all I'm saying is "stop expecting to stand on someone else's shoulders"... corporations won't save Linux anymore than they "saved" BSD... neither will governments (which, if you translate their charters using Black's Law Dictionary, you'll find that governments are STILL corporations). BSD was saved by the fact that people believed in it, just like religions, just like windows "ease of use" (tell that to my father and his friends, to whom anything beyond punch cards is "difficult" and "clumsy interface", he hates Linux, Windows, BSD, MAC OS, and anything beyond the old CP/M).
As far as I'm concerned, Linux works as much as windows does (I simply feel it is better for me)... each has equal rewards for your trouble. If you get more involved with your own needs and desires, you get more out of it, if you expect someone else to solve it, you get what you deserve, working your days away to pay someone else to fix your rig and do a half assed job of it (I worked IT for someone else before running my own business the way I wanted to, so I can attest that if you do a thorough job, you can't finish as many customers, and won't get as much return business from the same client, and someone else gets the promotion and the raise)... so in the end, you get the proverbial shaft. This has been the case since people started importing food while living on farmland, and voting for someone else to send someone else's kids to die in wars of someone else's making and demanding that other people pay taxes so they could benefit (healthcare, cops, zoning) from the robbing of those people of their efforts (wages/profits) and their property (land through zoning). I call it just deserts and, for one, will have no conscious part of it. What each of you choose for yourselves is your own thing
I have Windows XP and Gentoo Linux running side by side, and strangely, Gentoo scores 10 to 12 FPS faster in World of Warcraft, Warcraft III and even Doom 3. Granted they are commercial games, but if they can run in WINE that fast, I wonder what a direct Linux implementation would do. I just love seeing folks buying the headlines instead of blazing their own paths.
That's why the world is in the shape its in... the majority is always waiting for someone to save the day. You want desktop Linux? Then make it your desktop. Otherwise stop bitching and post some valid comments.
Every government is corrupt, the fact that you haven't seen this yet speaks a lot. Eyes open, but not yet seeing the picture. No biggie, sooner or later everyone gets it :)
The upside is this. Patenting DNA based music has to do with that lovely 95 to 96% of the unknown DNA, that scientists, like those "world is flat" guys before them, are calling "junk DNA". I.E. "we don't know or won't tell you what it does yet, so we're going to call it junk, and you'll believe us, because we're *experts*".
Its information storage... and there are those who know how to read it, they won't tell you or me they can, but there's enough in there to make someone very wealthy if they exploit it without allowing "competition". Patents on "information" are as idiotic as they were when they came about.
If someone with a strong mind had patented stupidity and gullibility, would the world be full of brilliant free acting individuals instead of gullible sheep, just because they'd have to pay to be stupid and gullible? Since almost 99% of city dwellers have cable TV, I bet they would also pay to use a "stupidity" patent.
Where I live now, is far enough away from "the big city" (and all you lame government interventionists, conservative or "liberal" alike).
Here, kids are taught that a BB gun is merely what they use until they can handle the recoil on a REAL gun. Adults use BB guns to teach kids to be responsible with tools... after all, whether you're using a nailgun to nail boards to a wall, or shoot squirrels, that tool remains only that, a tool. Guns are no different, and neither are computers.
If that idiot with the BB gun pointed a "GUN" at any house here, and someone noticed, he'd likely be shot, and the sheriff would say "if he survives, would you like to press charges?"
After all, those taught responsibility with tools, weapons, computers, etc, know that you don't point a barrel or the aggressive/business end of something towards someone who refuses your offer. Whether that offer is to point a knife or gun at them (attack their life) or demanding their wallets (attacking their property) or a molotov cocktail at their house (attacking their home/property).
This is lacking in "big cities" because there, everyone expects everyone else to "play by the rules", and the only deterrent is a police department, which, as a friend of mine on the force once said "you'll be lucky if they show up on time 1% of the time, and then actually CATCH the bad guy".
Week after I left my last big city residence, there were nearly two dozen reported unsolved murders (only 3 with guns, an irony for those of you "for gun control", the rest with bare hands, knives, screw drivers, and household appliances). Nevermind the rest that were "solved".
This story, like everything I've listed above is simply "lack of responsibility". This will only get worse, not better, until the young and adult jackasses receive equal reply to their offenses. Waiting for the cops only guarantees you become a victim of the criminal. The government will NEVER solve this problem, because it is of their own making, just like every other "criminal activity". Lawmkers keep passing laws, and cops keep giving tickets, but that has yet to stop speeding. Cameras didn't do it, tagging people like cattle won't do it. Nothing will... because nothing ever has.
Only "real" crimes are aggression against the freedom, life and property of an individual. If someone, whatever their excuse (whether Crip gangbanger or Gestapo/Komitet thug) attempts to take your life, your liberty of action/thought or your property (including your body, if you see your life and limb as your own property instead of someone else's property), you have every right in creation/evolution (as your preference may be) to defend those things with equal or greater force to that of the aggressor.
If that was the lesson taught in school instead of "don't fight, let the teachers/authorities solve it" then we wouldn't be a nation of cowards, indifferent than any other nation of cowards on this globe, always begging someone else to "handle" or "manage" or "solve" what we collectively call, "our problems".
Until the mindset changes, the idiots will continue to believe that we're supposed to "call the cops and wait". Tell that to a woman about to be, or already being raped by someone, whether friend or foe regardless... If the animals of our society know that Joe and Betty and Jane are all willing to deal with aggression immediately and decisively, we won't have "threats" anymore. Threats are treated just like attacks.
Which brings me back to this story. The lady on fox (Mr. Chubby "Lives life on Myspace"'s mom) decides to get what? An electronic security system and a surveillance tripwire? To stop who? Supposed masters of electronic deception?? Isn't that an oxymoronic "defense"? If instead she had locked and loaded a 45, learned to use it ahead of time and carried it everywhere, she would know that its another situation like everything else... bad guy has to learn that his actions have consequences, worse ones than a stint at the prison book club
Slavery is defined as servitude, voluntary or not, in the constitution's ammendments. Guess what? That means that if I force you to serve me, its slavery.
If it is voluntary, it is CONSTITUTIONAL... it can still be slavery, but if you submit to it, its constitutional.
If I threaten to take away your toys, and your kids and your house and everything you love, or like, or need, if you don't pay TAXES, then you are still a slave to pay them, a voluntary slave (even if you can do EVERYTHING I claim to provide for you by yourself, from surgery to protection of your property line, which you have fenced in BY YOURSELF, without my funds given to you).
Are you not a slave? How about this, if you try to leave my system (aka, Waco, Ruby Ridge) then perhaps I'll send my thugs, not to cut off your foot, but to shoot your son in the back, your wife in the face, harass you about it on loudspeaker (Ruby Ridge, Idaho) or perhaps to drive tanks into your church on trumped up charges, and burn all but 6 residents with CS gas (whoever hadn't been shot or ripped apart by tank treads already). Then i'll say its "for the children".
Wow, thanks chief, I needed that clarification.
:)
So mass troop concentrations deserve wiping out with Weapons of Mass Destructions, so long as the people being massacred are not our allies (but are being supplied by the same people as our friends, i.e. US
Gotcha chief.
Just wanted to make sure the hypocrisy ran all the way around. Thanks for clearing that up chief. Its only Genocide when THEY do it without us telling them to!! Got it, thanks!
Last time a doctor said to me : "Lets get you started on **** drug and see how you feel after 3 weeks." I left and started to treat myself.
:)
When my mechanic says : "Lets try this new part from a Diesel engine on your Gasoline engine, and see how your pickup runs in 3 weeks." I will simply find a new mech, or spend the time and do it myself.
Seriously, if some "scientist" from the churchmen's time said "earth is FLAT! kill anyone who disgrees". The "scientists" of the time, those of the establishment school of thought, would have immediately gone ballistic in their attempts to prevent everyone from speaking and thinking outside their (typically fear driven) paradigm.
My suggestion is to let the Mavericks who say "the earth is round" have their say. It has always been the few, the pioneers who were right, and the "many" who were always lead along, with the proverbial carrot on a stick. Majorities are always stampeding herds of bovine creatures. In the case of humans, they're merely bipedal bovines
Or just the usual circular reasoning bug?
I said, a draft is simply the worst because you're sent to likely DIE.
Work is not slavery, you can work for yourself.
Employment is slavery, but it is constitutional, if you READ the "anti slavery ammendment" (13) it reads that only "unwilling" or "coerced" servitude (involuntary) is banned. If you indenture yourself, tough tamales.
I don't see how that is hard to grasp.
Most kids aren't taught that they can skip on the draft, that the law doesn't REQUIRE they sign up for the draft (so long as they can stay clear of government free bees that demand exchanging that vow/signature).
That is it.
Glad at least someone knows how it works. If you ever have a chance, visit the "free" eastern european countries. Take the "un-guided" tour.
Kleptocracy 101, is what that place should be called.
I was being sarcastic, I repeat, SARCASTIC...
Sheesh. Sides, if he shot her, there were deeper factors than the Glock, I'm sure he would've used the knife if he had gone that far off the deep end (or also if he had the legitimate need to shoot her, such as if she was murdering their kids with a chainsaw, these days you never know, he might've been the good guy!!)
(tis a nutty world we live in, we sell Sarin gas to saddam, and then he's a bad guy for using it, for the EXACT PURPOSE HE BOUGHT IT FOR! Sarin isn't for defense, or hunting, or overthrowing tyrants, its exactly for what it is sold... GENOCIDE!)
I was referring to adoption of said weapons by the USA. I don't recall the USA adopting the AK and I don't care about caliber that much.
.308 and 30.06, 300 WSM (overkill), etc. Are you NUTS, by the way? How can you be caliber crazy and claim shit like that to my face? Any idiot knows that a 50 BMG is for killing tanks and a 500 magnum's for killing elephants. Velocity, bullet profile, recoil, gun size, etc. What are you on man? Plus elephant cullings are done with 30 calibers, either on full auto or by well positioned marksmen.
.223 penetrates with more power than a .308 or a 6.8 mm.
:) I want to buy one for collector value. All the ones that I've ever heard of shot the RUSSIAN 7.62x54 rimmed (and I've seen two chambered in 30.06 by nutty gunsmiths with too much time on their hands. I could be off by a bit.
:) (if you're old enough to drink)
I just have seen much to make me believe that the AR round doesn't have much killing power beyond two hundred yards and fragmentation velocity is near the three thousand feet per second for the lightweight bullet and is lost beyond that hence why the marines moved to higher weights of bullets in their carbines, of course the heavier bullet was slower hence it lost much more of the fragmenting capacity at long range, being already slower than the original 5.56 (hey, at least once you pass 60 grains, you can't claim its a 22 anymore since the 22 LR has a tough time pushing a 60 grain bullet, to my knowledge)
I actually prefer accuracy over range (50 bmg) since i hunt occasionally, I found that a good head-shot on a calm deer is fantastic with any
Also, what makes you think I'm NOT familiar with the evolution of the SturmGewehr from its SMG to the FAL battle rifle (STG58 in Austria). If I recall, the guy who took over from John Browning took a real interest in the Assault Rifle idea, but gave up and made a full battle rifle.
Question for you:
If the carbine round is so lethal at five hundred then why are the snipers staying the hell away from it and why are police snipers using the three oh eight and the six eight and not the two two three? Can't tell me the
And if you MISSED it, SOF hardnuts who swear by it, tend to be AR boys. I am neither. And I deeply regret getting drawn into an argument with a bunch of trolls. Sure you googled the wiki for 'Assault Rifle' but I wonder how much of that you knew off bat.
Personally I wouldn't waste cash on either an AK74 or 47, they're both shit guns for mudholes.
Please, tell me which russian rifle shoots the 7.62x53
Auto fire is for people fighting at short range.
Prime example. Minutemen fired 4 shots per minute in the revolutionary war, and hit 100% at 200 yards on british officers. Americans in Vietnam hit once in 300 shots on the 50 yard range (read this sometime ago when researching historical accuracy of various guns). We're improving again today. But not at the range and accuracy of the minutemen. (who were using IRON SIGHTS!) I can guarantee that those musket balls would change your views on caliber, right quick. I've shot muskets that friends own. Remarkable guns. Not good for tactical stuff, and smoky as hell, but you can reload those even without a cartridge factory available... and damn can they splatter stuff, like any good shot, aim at the noggin, deer or terrorist, they still go down. If you're not wearing armor, it will do a lot worse number on you at the same range as an AR/M16.
Look, I'm not a caliber nut, so bugger off from that subject, i'm simply saying that the AR isn't worth its salt. If it was then the whole world would be using them, but as I recall, demand for FAL's is back up (check the recent DSA sales figures, government operators want them, and gov is paying a pretty penny for pretty guns). All the FAL's i've seen on sale are 308. When you show me why one would be rebarelled in 223, I'll buy you a beer
Perhaps if you had asked my view of Ollie North, who often columns on SOF, or of the fact that the SOF is wholeheartedly a believer in the authenticity of the war on drugs and war on terror.
:)
I'm in no way a SOF junkie, but it helps to see where the military is getting their rags. And its quite popular, and occasionally has some remarkably accurate seeming articles (verified by my buddies, older and younger).
"Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics." (unknown to me who said this one)
It is CONSTITUTIONAL slavery, its voluntary. Voluntary servitude. A free man, a truly free man is self sustaining, on his own property, not beholden to the lords and ladies and big corps for his food, clothes, medicine and basic needs.
Hang out with the Idahoans, and a few alpine types and learn how to survive. Then you find out that your cash spends better when you have less things demanded of you by lords and masters.
A nation of free holders IS possible, we almost had one, until the Founding Lawyers killed the Articles of Confederation and replaced them with the much more heavy handed Constitution.
And if you have read the right channels, you know there is another "Constitution" in the works, where any rights we ever had are "kaput".
Look around, the Clintonistas and the other CFR bunch proposed it in 1992. We are just lucky that the Constitutional Convention wasn't gone through with back then. Or we'd be seriously screwed. Tiannamen square screwed.
Protecting your country is your duty. Going overseas to attack some country on whatever pretext is generally known as "adventuring".
Draft IS slavery, in slavery someone who doesn't do that work expends your lifetime and production to enrich himself, in the Draft, someone who isn't involved in FIGHTING at all, is enriching himself by expending your lifetime and LIFE (sooner or later) the same way.
"The man whose choices are made for him is a slave."
"He who produces to have his product disposed of by others without his consent is a slave." (I forgot who authored these, I think it was Thucydides, Socrates or Plato.)
If you don't believe that, spend some time in a communist country as a worker bee. Then come lecture me on the virtues of the draft.
Shouldn't you attack his source of Gas? Saddam was helped to power along with his family by the CIA. Shouldn't you attack his enablers?
WE, Americans MADE Saddam able to do his work. So shut up and learn history chief.
Did saddam invade the USA?? Last I recall Kuwait is just as Despotic as Saudi, just a different set of nutjobs.
And if Saddam had all those GAS CHAMBERS, where the hell did they go and convict him and KILL HIM for what?? Defending himself against a plot to assassinate him?? That was PATHETIC... why didn't they burn him on the gas chambers you so proclaim he used!!!!
Surely those experts at the CIA and NSA could've had live footage, given that they made the Saddam we all know (and hate, yes I didn't like him either).
I've lived under despotism son, don't tell me that crap... its you who should experience that. Try living under the Shah, we put him in power too. How about Stalin? And that Chicano sack of crap whose troops use surplus American gear... over in Mexico? How about those freedom loving Saudis we just sold a couple dozen F16's to? Yeah, go live under their freedom, since pro war voters, in this war, support the Saudis (they're just a religious version of Saddam).
Here's an idea, find a candidate worth voting for or STOP voting, it only encourages the assholes to keep running! Kerry vs Bush was as bad as Gore vs Bush or Clinton vs Bush Sr. Who the hell do you vote for? Preserve your soul, avoid both of them, they're scum. Vote in the local elections.
I don't rely on police, they bother me and waste my time and money, I don't rely on "public" "coerced" Prussian, John Dewey's schooling system, I don't rely on anything, I don't oppose the war as much as the fact that I have at one time paid taxes that paid interest to the Federal Reserve for the loan the government goons used to pay for the ordering of my buddies who were taken to the military to go and kill some poor bastard's family and make him want to kill us (on a large scale of LOTS of poor bastards' families).
Being required to invade a foreign nation, reservists maybe, but national guard?? Those are the Organized State Militia, (as opposed to every military aged male and female retired military being the Unorganized Militia At Large. I dont' recall state militias being lawfully REQUIRED to invade foreign nations at the behest of a nut at a podium. The army is his to play with, the national guard isn't, not that I know of. It may OPT to do so, but as I recall they weren't REQUIRED to do it.
I just found that SOME of their stories are good, and I run them by my buddies to see what they say.
I'm quite aware of the slant in SOF, hence why I have other sources. The army didn't want me, and the marines didn't either. I didn't want airforce or standard navy, so I took what I learned and moved on.
I'm glad you attacked the source of that comment. I don't defend SOF, I merely mentioned their take on it. Did I mention the fact that i've lived abroad and NOT on army bases behind heavy guns and other "defenses" ?
You are correct, there is "know" and there is "believe" I didn't say I KNEW SOF to be right, I merely stated their take on it. What I know and what I strongly believe comes from my friends and the time I spend talking to them when we go fishing, hunting, etc. Knowing involves personal experience, believing comes from second and thirdhand experiences. We all choose to believe many things (for example that seat belts work, that bullets kill you instantly, that man walked on the moon, etc). We certainly do know if seat belts work, if we have an accident and survive it, we know if bullets kill instantly if we see it happen, and that man walks on the moon if we DO IT OURSELVES... otherwise its BELIEF. Videos and stories CAN be doctored.
Happy?
Some issues prevented me from joining up, and couldn't be rectified, however a large majority of my friends are either WW2, Vietnam, Korea or Desert Storm vets. Some of my closer friends are quitting in droves (by quitting, it means they are NOT taking the 40k offered reenlistment bonus and they're going into anything but reenlistment). One was a genius, took the money, his guns, his yacht, and his girlfriend, and ran for the open sea. Again, can't see as I blame him, I would've left this place behind, but I can't think of a single place that isn't worse already (massively more surveillance in europe than here).
I'll presume you refer to these:
.223 caliber american, referring to the automatic or semi automatic small caliber carbine for 250 yard or lesser shooting, known as "Assault Rifles" (term coined back in the vietnam days whe the airforce swapped to 223 carbines and some "genius" swapped the marines to 'em too, they're crap, they always were crap, and it was proven they are crap many times over.)
.308 and other semiauto or auto rifles are referred to as "battle rifles" or "main battle rifles". Very uncommon now, because we need to attract women, and despite the fact that my grandma can shoot a .308, it seems its politically incorrect in today's army to have deadly weapons used by the masses of soldiers. Guess copper jackets are expensive nowadays. These really reach out and touch someone, hence forth most designated sharpshooters use M14's in .308. Damn accurate guns for a 70 year old design...
.308 to the vaunted .338 Lapua and even the (now banned in the US of A) 14.5 mm Russian Anti Tank Rifle (makes a .50 BMG rifle look weak, double the muzzle energy and insane range).
"Assault Rifle"
M16, 5.56 MM NATO or
"Battle Rifle"
M1, M14, FN-FAL, HK91, G3, etc.
"Sniper Rifle"
Any military purpose anti personnel rifle in any chosen caliber, semi auto or bolt action, from 5.56 rifles to 6.8mm (SWAT) to
Hope that helps.
Anyways, I was shortening it, its a 6 page article and tons of letters and write ins... its been a 2 month to 3 month running series, with lots of snipers and various soldiers, current and retired writing in. From the sounds of it, they're using the snipers mostly to draw fire and patrol. Theyre placing them as "deterrents" as if some insurgent will not take a shot at a sniper if he's like a classic "sitting duck". Would you pass up the opportunity to wax an "enemy" sniper if you were in a combat zone? Even an inexperienced "insurgent" would know enough that the guy with the scoped rifle is the first one you pop.
As a historical side note, in World War II, and in Vietnam/Korea, soldiers with SCOPED rifles (in those days they were the snipers, no AIM point devices or scout scopes or any of this stuff, back then scope meant sniper) were NEVER taken prisoner. I wonder why?