Posts made by 221B Baker Street

A Power Asia bid…Interesting.  I’ve never tried this or heard much about this concept, does anyone have any experience with this?

Regarding how far it is possible to go with your garage lab, consider the following:

http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/Radioactive-Boy-Scout1nov98.htm

Personally, small-arms should be enough to make the King of England think twice.

Or Prime Minister Tony Blair, as we are seeing in Iraq    :-D

Where do we draw the line on what’s legal?

Good question, Mary.

I personally think the legal level should be around or just above what would be readily feasible to manufacture in one’s garage.  For example, I am pretty confident that I could make a crude gun in my garage.  None of the components necessary would be difficult to obtain or fashion into the shape/form I need.  Of course there is always the chance you could kill yourself and others by trying this (which is why I won’t) but if you were desperate, then you might take this chance anyway.

As far as explosives, go back 50 years or so and you will find that you could buy dynamite at the local hardware store (its not too terribly difficult to make explosives in your garage, as Timothy McVeigh did, for that matter) no questions asked.  In fact, after my grandmother died and my relatives were cleaning out the house, they found some blasting caps  :-o, which my dad disposed.  I think we had less of a problem with explosives then than we do today, and there is no question that there were fewer problems with guns - because people were responsible with these items.

And this responsibility on the part of the general public is what is needed, IMHO, to prevent accidents and problems.  More laws and restrictions aren’t going to work.

Interesting question, switch.  I would say this depends on the situation.

If the Axis are approaching an economic victory, this is generally a good way to beat them back (though not as good as Africa usually is, but that is for another thread).  Also, if Japan has left open the possibility of doing some severe damage to them, such as the possible breakthrough to recover the territories in S. Asia and China, then it might be a good thing to do as this will set them back to the point where the Axis will never recover.

However, Linkon also makes a good point that you should take out Germany as your first priority since this is generally the best way for the Allies to win the game.  To weaken you attack on Germany might extend the game unnecessarily for the Allies.

Of course, if you have already won the game (either side) then party on  :mrgreen:.  I remember I once had taken Russia as Germany, but the Allies continued to play.  I built a navy in the Med to go after UK, and sent it into the Altantic.  I later built a factory in W. Europe so that I could directly reinforce my navy (taking losses from both Allied ships and planes) and still maintain pressure on the UK (keeping US transports from landing reinforcements).

Factories are generally a bad idea for either side.  It may make sense in India or Sinking, but even then I think it is substandard play as the UK/US can simply pump troops into Asia via Karelia-Moscow-Novo if desired.  Japan might be able to use an India IC to push troops to Africa, but I think it is better for Japan to concentrate on Russia/Asia instead or if you are determined to go to Africa as Japan, you can simply send them from FIC which is within reach of transports.

Purchasing factories results in the following bad or inefficient things:

– At the same cost as two transports, it can deliver fewer infantry (although more tanks - but infantry are generally a better buy).
– It can be strategically bombed for free by the other side (want to spend another $5 for an AA?).  While in theory transports are also vulnerable to attack, it just doesn’t happen often in practice as attacking them after R1 or R2 costs more for the attacker than it is worth.
– It does not have the flexibility of transports, i.e. the units may only be delivered in one location.Â

There is no reason for either side to buy an IC as they can do the same or better with two transports.

I hear you Janus.  I was in San Deigo once with the temperature at maybe 68 degrees (aprox. 20 C) and people were wearing jackets and shivering.  In New England, this is weather for t-shirts and shorts.  Part of it is what you are used to (as in my case) and part is what you are prepared for (clothes, equipment).  On the plus side, I was able to eat outdoors in the nice weather pretty much by myself even though the restraunt was crowded.

Everything that is closer (like to your head) you can disarm before the guy has a chance to react and pull the trigger.

You’d better be quicker with your martial arts than the gunman’s trigger finger… in the event of a tie, you still lose.

IL,

Yes, thise ideas are good - andit is more compassionate than those who would enable this behavior.

This plan doesn’t seem to be optimal play to me.

I think instead of sacrificing the Axis fighters to sink the UK navy for a 2nd time, delaying the Allies for only a turn, you would gain more over the long term with the defensive hits the fighters provide during Allied strafing runs on E. Europe.  Potentially on W. Europe as well if the Allies go into Spain (though I might choose to give up W. Europe for a turn rather than lose my fighters defending it and take it back the next turn).  Again, in the later stages of the game, Japanese fighters will be helpful in defense here as well as being able to provide offense to Japan against Moscow.

In addition to defense, keeping the fighters will also provide:

More offense if trying to take out Russia in an Axis pincer.

Offense in cheaply trading Ukraine as discussed already.

Potential offense and defense for operations in Africa to extend the German IPCs gained on that continent.

Also, having this airforce will force the Allies to never send a transport or two undefended within range of the airforce - they will have to protect it with a capital ship - which reduces their flexibiliity.  Otherwise, I can easily pick off these transports.

And finally, in the event of rolling for technology, it is nice to have the airforce to be able to use HB, LR, or Jets.  Otherwise you cannot use this technology without additional purchases.

IL,

Yes, you can pity these people.  Yes, they made a choice that put them there, perhaps a wrong choice.  And yes, you are correct, we do not want to become an “enabler” for their destructive behavior.  But sadly, I do not see any compassion on your part and some other posters here.

This is a real tragic event, the more so as it could have (in theory) been avoided.  I would not want my worst enemy to freeze alone on the street as these people have.

Janus,

I don’t deny that your case does happen on occasion.  But I think it more likely the girl will instead claim nothing happened on the date rather than that she was raped.  She could say many things as to why she didn’t come back to the dorm that night … I was too drunk to drive home …or I passed out on his couch…as examples.  This would result in the girl both keeping her reputation and avoiding the stigma/problems on her for being raped.  It also results in the guy not having to deal with this issue, and possible retaliations on her from his friends which also happens.

The more likely reason women claim false rape, IMO, is not on a one night stand but when there are problems in the relationship, such as when he breaks up with her or she finds he has been cheating on her.  And sometimes it is because the woman is nuts   :wink: .

Of course sometimes the guy is a rapist too :x .

AFAIK, 10 gauge isn’t military.  I don’t think the military has much use for shotguns.

It is a rare type of civilian shotgun make.  It is rare because 12 gauge is more than enough power for anything you will be hunting with a shotgun and the problems with shotguns (kick during firing, weight, ammunition cost, etc.) are worse with the 10 gauge.

Certainly bow hunting is more challenging that with a rifle/shotgun/pistol and thus could be considered more “sporting.”

SS:

I don’t understand why letting Russia keep territories (= more $) for longer will help with defeating Russia.  I think you are just making the capture of Russia harder as it will have more infantry.  While it can take time to breakthrough Yakut, SFE is usually easily taken early and deprives Russia of 2 ipcs per turn, almost an infantry.  And if you are in Sinking, you have easy access to Kazahk, and Novo,is this what you mean?  If so, then consider taking Mongolia (for $3) which does the same thing but without losing the infantry you have on the mainland.  Please elaborate on this strategy more regarding how this helps bring Russia down.

Also, please clarify what you mean by attacking HI and Midway.  Sinking the US fleet in HI on J1 is pretty common.  Taking HI with a couple of infantry is a reasonable option.  But there are no ships at Midway, and its not worth any ipcs so this is a waste of Japanese time and resources IMO.

Give them the CD to play around with (it also has a short tutorial).  Sure, the AI is weak but they will learn the basics of the game with it and you won’t be wasting game time telling them how to load and unload transports.

A smart homeowner will properly safeguard all potentially dangerous things from children.

This will include:

1. any guns (have a locked gunsafe for crying out loud)
2. chemicals that may be consumed such as household cleaners, insecticides, etc.
3. Are the smoke/CO2 detectors working?  Are the matches (and gasoline) kept in a safe location?  What about candles?
4. trip, fall, and other mechanical hazards within our home.

Gun safety is only one aspect of safety in the home.  More children are injured and die from various non-gun related problems.  For example, why do we not require helmets when our kids play soccer?  Or enforce helmets when they ride bikes?  Do we always wear our seatbelts?  Do we never speed or run “pink” (yellow turning to red) lights?  I think we are over concerned with the dangers or guns and ignore what are bigger hazards in our lives.

My (now deceased) 88 Yr old Great uncle once chased a burglar out of his house with a firearm.  Without it, who knows what would have happened.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051118/ap_on_go_co/congress_budget_cuts

Its so very difficult to cut just $50B from the deficit (a drop in the deficiet bucket), how will we ever balance the budget?

Cutting taxes does spur economic growth, but as this growth increases revenue, the extra revenue gets spent.  I’m against new/raised taxes because this will just get spent by our dedicated congress as well…hardly a solution.  It worked under Clinton because the Republican controlled congress was still against big spending, but it seems they are now wanting to spend like democrats.  How can we control our spending problem?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051117/wl_nm/france_riots_dc

Things are now “back to normal” in France  :-D  Excellent - although I find it disturbing that normally 100 cars burn every night.  Is this normal for all western nations (in per capita terms that is)?

Hopefully the leaders and people in France will be able to do whatever is necessary to keep this from happening again (no, IL, I’m not talking about deportations here!).  Probably some form of anti-discrimination laws ??  I really do not have the answers for this problem.

Unfortunately, I think it more likely that these people will be swept under the rug again and this event forgotten - until the next riots.

India is either free or it only has 1 ftr defending it. If there is 1 ftr, I attack with the trn and 2 inf from the Phillipines and the ftr from Burma. If the ftr is not in India, then I use only the two inf from the Phillipines. Then I attack Kwangtung with 1-2 inf from Burma and the ftr from the Phillipines (note that this ftr can reach a battle on the mainland if Kwangtung was taken) and possibly the ftr from Burma.

A problem with this is that the Jap transport is left unprotected.  An allied bomber or fighter will easily destroy this - and Japan cannot afford to lose transports early.  Even if the transport survives, it is out of position to send further troops to the Asia mainland, costing the Axis valuable time (which they do not have).