Posts by Drew Phillips3

Kimberly Cox59 said:Well, in North Korea, the official ideology is Juche, though I think they scrubbed most of the communist references a few years back. And honestly, the USSR and Cuba aren't actually communist states because, if you look at the encyclopedia definition, communism is supposed to be a society without a state, classes, or money, and none of those things existed in those countries.

Which specific elements would you use to establish communism, and what happens to people trying to trade for profit in a society like that?

Which elements? I mean, what even counts as an "element"? I guess the way it starts is through revolution, which would be led by the working class—not that I’m pulling that out of some political party handbook, because, man, I really can't stand parties 🤣).

Trading for profit wouldn't be possible anyway, since there wouldn't be any money. Period.

Gold?
You buy something for a bushel of wheat and sell it for two? That's just bartering, man.

Kimberly Cox59 said:That's not quite right... Communism doesn't even have a state. 😉

Oh, sure. North Korea, Cuba, the USSR... I guess there was never actually a state, a government, or anything even remotely close to it.
So, what specific elements would you actually use to define communism—and how would you handle people trying to trade for profit in a society like that?

urbanotter said:That's the point; those are communist nations.
But we are a capitalist country—certainly not socialist or communist by any stretch of the imagination😍—and if you choose to ignore the reality of how things work, then everything just becomes a dead letter on paper to you.😉😂

Just look at it as a single spectrum.
You start one end of the line at 0%, then pick a point on the other side where you mark 100%.
Now, look at it this way.

The 0% spot? That's anarcho-capitalism.
The 100% spot? That's communism.

Those numbers represent the percentage of GDP being snatched away from people to be spent by the Federal Government.

From there, just compare us to Singapore—you could call them capitalist, much like how we operate.

Sen fra my MB526 using Tapatalk 2

let me refuel here

restlesscrane152 said:Already gave you my take on this—just because non-smokers are the majority doesn't mean they're the majority in bars. If you just look at the drop in revenue, it's obvious smokers are still huge clients for owners, regardless of what the general population does.

Shifting the clientele isn't bad for business. In fact, it lets them pivot from the minority (who smoke their cigarettes while sipping coffee) to the majority (who just drink).

Pivot? You mean forces them to? If they wanted to, they could've pivoted to non-smokers without a ban, but for some reason, that's clearly not profitable, seeing as how much revenue is tanking right now. Hmm...

By the way: the "smoking ban" just happened to hit at the same time as the recession. That massive crash in furniture sales, appliances, cars, travel, etc., wasn't caused by the smoking ban. People weren't just smokers when they stopped buying appliances. The dip in bar revenue is largely due to the economy. Even without the "smoking ban," business would have tanked.

True, but the ban made things even worse.

And if you're implying that since I'm not an owner in the strict sense (like a hotelier, waiter, chef, or baker) that I should shut up because I don't know how hard life is for a bar owner, then please, explain yourself.

I assumed that since you're so quick to judge whether someone's job is hard or easy, you're obviously in the industry yourself and for some weird reason, it bugs you that you live "so well."

And who's an owner and who isn't is pretty simple—if you work in hospitality, you're in it. If you don't, you're not.

So, asking one more time—are you actually in the industry, which is why you think you can judge the job?

The key here is comparing that "hard life" to the hard lives of everyone else. Those who are also feeling the weight of the recession, who can barely afford school books or a bus pass—there are ten times more of them than there are bar owners, yet Fox or local news doesn't feature them in the headlines every single day...

Oh, awesome. If we aren't all winning, then everyone should just suffer and nobody gets a pass.

obviously you can judge a profession.

You can basically split all jobs into two camps.

1. The producers.
Doesn't matter if it’s wheat, software, specialized knowledge, car parts, or raw materials like timber.

2. Everyone else.
The restaurant owners, bankers, politicians, retail workers... you get the idea.

Group 1 actually builds things, while carrying the weight of Group 2 and the entire country on their backs.
And personally, I care way more about, say, a furniture factory with 100 employees going under than I do about 6,000 people working in the service industry.

Because once the smoke clears, Group 1 is what actually provides real value to the nation and its people... whereas Group 2 mostly just exists because automation has made manufacturing require fewer and fewer hands.

darkrider96 said:so I’m not really sure which thread this belongs in—maybe just asking here—but besides this forum, is there a phone number or something where I can actually get a hold of people? I saw some guys playing out on Maui a while back, running around in tactical gear and those heavy vests, looking pretty intense. Any info would be huge, thanks.

Sure thing, but first things first...

What part of the country are you calling home? Like, what city, town, or even just some random rural outpost are you coming from? 🙂

Check out this promo clip for Airsoft from the Airsoft Club and Opossum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfiJ7Mj2ixQ

Rocking the house. said:Hey everyone! Has anyone actually spent any real time messing around in AutoCAD 2005 yet? If you have, hit me up—I'm curious if there's actually much of a difference compared to the 2004 version or if it's mostly just hype.

Forget about 2005—just grab 2006 instead. There’s actually a pretty massive difference between them (in a good way)—for instance, the way it handles trimming hatches is way smoother.

Anyway, the 2007 version is finally hitting the market.
Generally speaking, everything up until 2005 was solid—all those odd-numbered releases like 13 or 2003 were absolute garbage, honestly—so now we just wait and see if 2007 actually pulls its weight.

driftingorca9 said:So, you want to draw a line at a specific angle—no guesswork involved, just straight-up precision. Here’s how you handle that in the software.🙂

line
Where exactly does that line run?
So, I’m looking at this line—it's sitting at 25.16 units—and it's angled at exactly 32°.

So, when you first fire up AutoCAD—let's say you're running something like AutoCAD 2006—your first move should be to type in "startup." By default, that thing is sitting at zero, so just bump it up to one. Next time you launch the program, you'll see the Advanced Wizard pop up—it’s pretty straightforward—and that’s where you can actually dial in your preferences, like setting your default angles or deciding whether your positive rotation goes clockwise or counter-clockwise. It's a small tweak, but definitely worth doing right away to save yourself some headache later.

I tried running the units command too, but honestly, nothing’s working for me—not that I’ve spent a ton of time messing around with it anyway.
Honestly, just make sure you check the box for Express Tools when you're running the installer... it’s a total lifesaver.

Isildur said:Airsoft is a war SIMULATION! John Doe is a SPORT!

Seriously, John Doe is a sport—Airsoft is a simulation of WAR

The whole point is that Airsoft and John Doe are two completely different universes.

Let's stop comparing apples to oranges here.

Here is what actual John Doe looks like!

So please, stop mixing up John Doe and Airsoft once and for all.

I mean, which part of this is actually confusing?

Handball—you play it with a ball.
Basketball—you play it with a ball.

They aren't the same thing, right? In reality, they're totally different beasts.

So just apply that same logic to the comparison between John Doe and Airsoft. 👍

Check out those videos above showing how John Doe works.

And this one is an Airsoft fight from the USA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyd_h...elated&search=

Eric Jackson43 said:From what I can tell, they use snipers too—which I’m assuming are basically one-shot deals—so if someone is just a few steps away from their target, the real question is whether they’ll actually admit they got hit.

Yeah, but sniper setups have way higher muzzle velocity than your standard rifle... plus, you aren't really sniping someone mid-sprint anyway, so there shouldn't be much of an issue with calls (and I say "shouldn't" because, as far as I know, 600 fps is pretty low for a sniper, and even fewer people actually know how to use them properly)—though you see plenty of snipers out there who just don't have a clue what they're doing.

Eric Jackson43 said:Actually, as far as I can see, the difference is really just down to the gun (and maybe the mask). If I'm not mistaken, nothing stops someone from grabbing a Paintball marker and playing an Airsoft-style scenario with it.

Well, in theory, there wouldn't be a difference—they even run MilSim (military simulation) events in Paintball—but then you run into certain headaches that I honestly don't feel like typing out right now...

crimsonwolf5 said:I'm grabbing a Marui Colt M4A1 and I'll probably pick up a scope—likely a red dot—down the road, but for now, just the rifle and some accessories.

Honestly, if you're dead set on getting a rifle like that, I’d suggest checking out the M16A4 Carbine...
It's all metal and it's a proven winner. It costs a bit more, sure, but it's definitely beefier and tougher than the stuff from Tokyo Marui. With the Marui, you're dealing with more plastic, which some people don't mind, but others find a bit flimsy.

Eric Jackson43 said:Airsoft sounds pretty cool, but I’m wondering if you can actually rely on people being honest about getting hit. Have there been cases where someone refuses to admit they were hit, or maybe someone falsely accuses another player of dodging? It seems like even when everyone is playing fair, misunderstandings happen. Also, is it always obvious if someone was hit—like, what if they don't feel the BB because it hits their gear or a strap?

- Yeah, it happens—those "uncalled hits" are usually just misses 80% of the time, at least in my experience... most of the time it's just an accidental miss because a guy is sprinting or something and he genuinely didn't feel it.
- Look, those issues exist, but basically, almost every "uncalled hit" is just that "maybe I was, maybe I wasn't" vibe... so you don't really get direct accusations.
- As for misunderstandings, we'll handle that through universal rules once the association is officially set up (should be in a few months).
- It's possible to miss one shot, but these guns fire up to 20 rounds a second. So even if you miss one, the others will catch you... plus, you can hear them hitting the gear.

@ casualmarlin9

Airsoft isn't a sport, and hopefully, it never becomes one. The whole point is different; personally, I don't do Airsoft for the sake of competing.
There's a perfectly good thread on Paintball, so go post there—these are two completely different things...
One is a hobby, the other is a sport... and even if it were, you can't compare them.
The approach, the tactics, the uniforms, the tactical gear, the replica rifles... it all boils down to military simulation, which is exactly what Paintball moved away from.

Don't mix apples and oranges.

So, which rifle are you grabbing?

wanderinghawk17 said:I’m sensing some major insecurity here... Who actually said Paintball is better than Airsoft?

That’s kind of like saying handball is better than basketball... I mean, nobody really thinks like that...

Look, I didn't say that. All I did was point out that a ton of people have been switching from Paintball over to Airsoft—which is more like saying a bunch of guys moved from basketball to handball. I'm not putting down Paintball, nor am I talking trash about it.

I’ve got my own hobby/sport and I'm perfectly happy with it. Like I mentioned earlier, I really don't want to see these two compared because even though they might look similar on the surface, they're fundamentally different things.

What exactly do you mean when you call someone a chairsofter?

It looks like there’s a bit of a gap in info regarding this hobby here.

Paintball—well, the tactical version—is really designed as a team sport; you can't just go Rambo on everyone and expect to win. The replicas are basically 1:1 scale copies of real gear, and they use magazines that function just like the real thing—meaning you actually have to swap mags mid-fight. Generally speaking, the crowd involved is pretty decent too; people call their hits, which tells you a lot about the type of folks getting into this...
As for the cost of gear... look, for maybe $500, you can pick up a pretty solid replica and enough basic kit to keep you going for a few years. Bigger events usually happen every month or two. For ammo, you're looking at roughly $33 2500 BBs per batch.
Most of the action happens out in the woods, though lately we've been doing more CQB/urban stuff. Between the tactical options and the gear being used—which is often actual military surplus aside from the guns—you get a massive range of playstyles and training setups. In some countries, they even bring in helicopters, armored vehicles, and paratrooper drops via military sponsorship. Honestly, a lot of people who are fed up with standard Paintball—at least the kind played in those tiny 100x100 meter patches where you just burn through paintballs for no reason—tend to migrate over to this...

The "field" is never smaller than a square kilometer or so; you need that kind of space to actually pull off any tactics. Most of the skirmishes simulate commando or diversionary raids since we don't have artillery support or much manpower, and we're always on a clock—so that's how we fight. Some games have respawns, some don't, and others run medic rules. The scenarios themselves are pretty complex—way more involved than something like Capture the Flag—and they require you to actually know how to navigate the woods, judge distances, and all that jazz...
We use topographic maps with elevations and routes marked out to make sure everything gets finished properly.

Right now, there are several teams operating across the States... our main hub is www.airsoft-america.com where you can hit the forums to ask about anything. You can usually arrange to rent a rifle for a game, and that's also where new events get posted. It's easy to jump into technical gear discussions or just reach out to someone more experienced if you're lost.

The rifles themselves work by using a battery to tension a spring, which then pushes air to fire the BB forward. You can find almost any modern iconic weapon available... with a standard battery, you can usually dump about 2000 BBs before you run dry, which is plenty.
Pistols are gas-powered and have a slide that cycles just like the real thing—they behave exactly like it, too (you'll need to rack the slide, etc.).

If anyone is seriously interested, I could put together a gear presentation, but I'd also suggest just logging onto the forum, checking the A-H sections, and renting a rifle for a match before you go out and drop a ton of cash on your own setup.

I can already see the forum trolls coming for me, so let me just clear a couple of things up:
1. We aren't "militarists"—as in, we aren't cheering for wars in Iraq or Afghanistan or whatever. Anyone who plays this and sees it as a realistic combat simulation knows firsthand how easily you get taken out. If more people spent their time doing this, there'd probably be fewer actual conflicts!
2. The BBs we use are completely biodegradable within six months, so they don't mess up the environment (unlike all the trash and junk people leave behind in the woods).

EDIT: Forgot one thing... the most important piece of equipment in the whole kit is your eye protection. You can see it in that photo above where the guy is holding the M4... you never, ever take those goggles off during a fight.

1. Hits aren't really called out that much anymore since most replicas can dump a full burst—we're talking 10 to 20 rounds a second—and you're just hitting people with 6mm plastic BBs. Range is all over the map depending on what gear you're running, but your average stock setup usually has an effective reach of maybe 130 feet or so. So, if someone decides to play dirty and ignore headshot rules, 😈

2. I’m really not a fan of people grouping this hobby in with paintball. Even though they look pretty similar on the surface, there's actually very little overlap between the two communities here in the States