No one knows your situation, resources, background, and morals, like you do.
Pepper spray - good idea. Hurts like hell, good deterent without causing lasting harm. Ultrasonic pain field generators work also, and don't leave that chili smell in the carpet. If you don't want to drop the bucks for the ultrasonics (or can't locate one) a warbling high-decibel alarm works (coating the speaker cone with superglue stiffens it and makes it louder). Couple that with some strobelights and you've got a winner.
Dog - gotta be careful with this one. Some localities are passing laws against "vicious dogs". I speak from experience, my wife and I were attacked by a pit bull that got away from its drunken owner as their truck was driving by. I damn near killed both dog and owner (don't need gun, trained by VERY BAD people VERY LONG TIME and weigh over 200 lbs muscle). Best dogs I've seen were Great Pyrenese (Think Cujo) and neutered female Chow (looks like fuzzy teddybear, will eat a pitbull for snack, smarter than most crackheads).
Cameras and alarms - good luck. Cameras can help after the fact, if they're hidden, but then they aren't a deterent. I've known thieves that set off car alarms with rubber superballs until the owner got tired of "false alarms" and shut it off. Then they just broke in like normal. One guy used a sledgehammer on a rope to smash the windows out. Got a surprise when he hit a paranoid old womans car. Bullet resistant glass. He almost ate that hammerhead.
Martial arts - Hate to say it, cause I love 'em, but they are overrated for 'most' folks. People take a few classes and think they are Bruce Lee. Takes years to get very good, but when your ass is on the line, it may save you. Friend of mine was a brown belt, had a gun stuck in his face at a nice restaurant! He killed the guy before he knew what happened. Sat in prison for a year waiting to have a judge dismiss the case as self-defense (37 eye witnesses).
Last one. Guns. Serious weapon. Better get serious minded and trained if you get one. Your determination needs to be equal to that needed to learn knife-fighting or swordsmanship. If you do, learn practical marksmanship, not just the 25 ft bullseye shooting. Practice in dim and low-light conditions, practice moving targets, moving to cover or escape while shooting, and speed reloading (tip: coat the last rounds in the clip with phosphorescent paint - when you see them it's time to reload!)
If you can get a concealed carry permit in your area, get it, and carry! When the concealed carry law went into effect in Florida, the rate of violent crime dropped into the basement. Now the major victim of violent crime in Florida is out-of-state visitors, because they don't have concealed guns. The rental agencies had to stop putting their stickers on the cars because people were getting car-jacked befor they ever got out of the airport!
The bottom line is: how serious is this problem to you? How much effort, energy, and resources, are you willing to devote to it?
My brother-in-law is a young, but very well respected manufacturing engineer that graduated from one of the top 5 engineering schools in the US. He related to me that when he had to take the automotive engineering block, his design guidlines were to make it: modular, unrepairable, limited lifetime, and requiring an expensive machine tool infrastructure to build.
This was to prevent shade-tree and small shop mechanics from repairing/replacing/rebuilding parts, and force them to purchase replacement parts. I ran into this in the electronics industry also - you sell the device once, but only you can repair it for the next 20 years.
This sounds like one more unnecessary gimmick, like heated rearview mirrors, temp controlled seats, self-actuating shoulder belts, etc... When it works right, it will be very nice. When it doesn't, it will be very expensive. And let's not forget that Bose will have this entire system patented, and the control modules probably potted and rigged to wipe themselves if tampered with ("I'm sorry, your module is damaged, that will take 2 weeks and $700 to get a new one").
Thank god that there isn't a software equivalent to electronics potting compound!
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No one knows your situation, resources, background, and morals, like you do.
Pepper spray - good idea. Hurts like hell, good deterent without causing lasting harm. Ultrasonic pain field generators work also, and don't leave that chili smell in the carpet. If you don't want to drop the bucks for the ultrasonics (or can't locate one) a warbling high-decibel alarm works (coating the speaker cone with superglue stiffens it and makes it louder). Couple that with some strobelights and you've got a winner.
Dog - gotta be careful with this one. Some localities are passing laws against "vicious dogs". I speak from experience, my wife and I were attacked by a pit bull that got away from its drunken owner as their truck was driving by. I damn near killed both dog and owner (don't need gun, trained by VERY BAD people VERY LONG TIME and weigh over 200 lbs muscle). Best dogs I've seen were Great Pyrenese (Think Cujo) and neutered female Chow (looks like fuzzy teddybear, will eat a pitbull for snack, smarter than most crackheads).
Cameras and alarms - good luck. Cameras can help after the fact, if they're hidden, but then they aren't a deterent. I've known thieves that set off car alarms with rubber superballs until the owner got tired of "false alarms" and shut it off. Then they just broke in like normal. One guy used a sledgehammer on a rope to smash the windows out. Got a surprise when he hit a paranoid old womans car. Bullet resistant glass. He almost ate that hammerhead.
Martial arts - Hate to say it, cause I love 'em, but they are overrated for 'most' folks. People take a few classes and think they are Bruce Lee. Takes years to get very good, but when your ass is on the line, it may save you. Friend of mine was a brown belt, had a gun stuck in his face at a nice restaurant! He killed the guy before he knew what happened. Sat in prison for a year waiting to have a judge dismiss the case as self-defense (37 eye witnesses).
Last one. Guns. Serious weapon. Better get serious minded and trained if you get one. Your determination needs to be equal to that needed to learn knife-fighting or swordsmanship. If you do, learn practical marksmanship, not just the 25 ft bullseye shooting. Practice in dim and low-light conditions, practice moving targets, moving to cover or escape while shooting, and speed reloading (tip: coat the last rounds in the clip with phosphorescent paint - when you see them it's time to reload!)
If you can get a concealed carry permit in your area, get it, and carry! When the concealed carry law went into effect in Florida, the rate of violent crime dropped into the basement. Now the major victim of violent crime in Florida is out-of-state visitors, because they don't have concealed guns. The rental agencies had to stop putting their stickers on the cars because people were getting car-jacked befor they ever got out of the airport!
The bottom line is: how serious is this problem to you? How much effort, energy, and resources, are you willing to devote to it?
Good-bye, Karma points. It was nice having you.
Is caused by design.
My brother-in-law is a young, but very well respected manufacturing engineer that graduated from one of the top 5 engineering schools in the US. He related to me that when he had to take the automotive engineering block, his design guidlines were to make it: modular, unrepairable, limited lifetime, and requiring an expensive machine tool infrastructure to build.
This was to prevent shade-tree and small shop mechanics from repairing/replacing/rebuilding parts, and force them to purchase replacement parts. I ran into this in the electronics industry also - you sell the device once, but only you can repair it for the next 20 years.
This sounds like one more unnecessary gimmick, like heated rearview mirrors, temp controlled seats, self-actuating shoulder belts, etc...
When it works right, it will be very nice. When it doesn't, it will be very expensive. And let's not forget that Bose will have this entire system patented, and the control modules probably potted and rigged to wipe themselves if tampered with ("I'm sorry, your module is damaged, that will take 2 weeks and $700 to get a new one").
Thank god that there isn't a software equivalent to electronics potting compound!