Rogerborg

Oh, I'm agreeing with that, it's nonsensical and would just be making a rod for their own backs. Apologies if I'm missing context, I've long since stopped reading Mr jallen's diatribes.

We'll never know now, although given the toilet paper hoarding that occurred as well, I suspect that you may be right that we can't be trusted to do the right thing. I'm not actually disagreeing with the use of propaganda, by the way. That "viral" (i.e. nudged) video of a tearful and slightly milfy nurse begging people to stop panic buying was pretty effective. I'm not surprised by it. What I am doing is documenting a specific example, and suggesting that we shouldn't let ourselves get fooled twice, let alone over and over and over again for years. It's disheartening that so many people are still putting unquestioning faith in whatever we are being being told by strangers who view us, and - as you say - their own diktats, with such utter contempt. Even if they're collectively right that we're little more than instinctual animals who need to be herded, shouldn't we as individuals strive to be better than their bestial assumptions? Do our own research, and make up our own minds, rather than following the orders of people who don't follow them, and who we claim to not trust? That... doesn't seem particularly rational, or replete with moral integrity.

We check that everybody is prepared to drive at the speed limit when they pass their test. I don't know why we go to all the cost and bother of speed cameras, having ensured compliance.

A gentle reminder that if you actually think someone on the internets isn't worth arguing with, you can remedy that with a couple of clicks.

My primary problem with how this has been handled is the benign lie for the greater good. Do we all recall when we were advised by the State broadcaster against wearing face masks because "the virus isn't floating around in the air"[*]? This came as a surprise to anyone reading contemporaneous studies clearly warning about airborne transmission - that's when I invested in respirators. Then it became tacitly acknowledged that the initial no-mask message from the WHO, and loyally echoed by UK government and media - but not by the US CDC and NIH - was intended to preserve respirators and medical grade surgical masks for frontline health workers. Right at that point, I lost trust in the (collective) State, because it showed no trust in us. We could have been told the honest truth, but they chose a different way, of "nudging" us into the desired behaviour. When the advice changed, and later became mask mandates, it wasn't that the science changed, it was simply a case of timing the message to keep supply and demand balanced. [*] WHO, BBC: March 2020 no masks, "the virus isn't floating around in the air". NIH: April 2020 airborne transmission reported, masks recommended (and see the earlier reports cited there) CDC: April 2020 masks recommended, but not ones intended for medical use (see box 1). WHO, BBC: July 2020 maybe we should rethink masks After that, why trust anything that you're being told by any particular talking head on your Telescreen? There's a difference between being informed, and being instructed.

True. But what's the relevance to the policies? If the infection control argument holds for care home staff (reduce few-to-many transmission), why apply the opposite policy to nightclubs? There's a argument that vaccine passports were introduced more to nudge/coerce younger people into getting vaccinated, not primarily for infection control. But if that's the case, why did Queen Nicola just shut down the nightclub industry for three weeks, thereby removing that incentive, and fairly inevitably shifting socialising to house parties or ad hoc raves without any "Papers, please" gatekeeping. To be clear, I'm not expecting answers here, just scratching my head while trying to find consistency in the apparently arbitrary reasoning. It's rather hard to Trust The Experts when there appears to be scant evidence or explanation behind such contradictory actions (or knee jerk reactions).

Some to some, not all to all, pretty clearly. But that's not what you're really interested in. Good call on binning of the Specna grip, that quick-drop base-plate is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. All I'll say is that one of these fine looking fellows fits my SA-EO2 Edge, with the motor angle seeming OK. I don't remember having to file anything off to get a good engagement, although I may have done so without registering it as a significant event (airsoft, after all). AliExpress, "Tactical M4 M16 AR15 Pistol Grip", doesn't appear to be brand-named in any way.

That's the first time I've seen a rental package mean that you're actually just renting the bottle. I'm surprised they didn't make you go out and scrape up up few thousand BBs to put back in it. Future prediction: "Rental packages now include a sandwich bag half full of largely-intact BBs"

It's the exception rather than the rule, we just remember both the high- and low-lights more. I've always had better experiences in CQB, for one thing because the marshals are closer to the malefactors and can calm things down more effectively.

Maybe. Or maybe by being vaccinated they're raising their likelihood of becoming asymptomatic spreaders, as per the multiple fully-vaccinated cruise ship outbreaks (ibid). See whooping cough for an example of asymptomatic spread despite near universal vaccination (and for the avoidance of any doubt, this is not an anti-vaccine position, it's actually an argument for even earlier vaccination). I'm really struggling to find any data for reduction in infections or transmission. Remember, all of the current vaccines only claim to reduce death and severe illness in the recipient. None of them made any claim, or even attempted to collect evidence, regarding reduction of infection or transmission. As far as I can tell, we just assumed that, and it's become asserted as a tenet of faith. The policy for care home staff is one PCR test a week, lateral flows every two days or on a change of location. This is current advice, 23rd December 2021, with what should now be fully vaccinated staff. This is a tacit acknowledgement that vaccination is not sufficient, as supported by the cruise ship examples. So why is it necessary? I know, precautionary principle, you can't be too careful, every little helps. Absent any evidence though, it seems more like ritual than science. And there's the other curious thing: patrons are required to be vaccinated, but staff aren't. Why have opposite policies for care homes and nightclubs? The few-to-many relationship applies in either case. It gives me a pain in all the logic diodes down my left side. I'm minded of an anecdote that I saw on social media (100% guaranteed factually true, and anecdote is the singular of data, right?) about a technician working the club and theatre circuit claiming that staff physically recoil from him when he presents a recent negative test result rather than evidence of prior vaccination. I'll leave parsing the rationality of that as an exercise for the reader.

Agreed, and there does seem to be something like a consensus forming here that ammo limits are a decent way to mitigate ROF issues. I really enjoyed a light-hearted Narcos themed filmsim series run by a local site (camo vs 1980s casual, medic tokens, ammo limits), it worked very well indeed. However, by the third day of three they'd dropped some of the sim rules because it was just so much work to script, organise and especially marshal compared to a regular "shoot that way" skirmish day.

Mine are 10A... unfused. <dramatic-gopher.gif>

Agreed, that's about what I'm seeing, but that's under no-load. Under any load, back-emf kicks in and it gets... <animated-equations.gif> There's really only one way to find out, and I do have a spare multimeter. If you don't hear from me, I burned the house down.

Genuinely: what data? Real talk, my day job is data analytics. But that needs input, and I can't find any. I'm struggling to think how you'd even measure a reduction in community transmissibility given the near impossibility of finding control groups or making like-for-like comparisons across nations and populations. Does it reduce transmissible infection at a community level? I mean, "it's just common sense" that it must, but that's for any given individual. But remember that the big problem with SARS-COV-2 is asymptomatic transmission, and that super-spreaders are a thing. I could make a "common sense" argument that having a viral load just high enough to be transmissible, but not high enough to be symptomatic, might be the worse case for community transmission in a highly vaccinated population. You can look at the continuing spread in (e.g.) highly vaccinated Gibraltar, or on highly/fully vaccinated and negative-tested cruise ships, and declare that it would obviously be worse with a lower rate of vaccination. But that's just assertion. Against what would you compare them to determine whether... Triggered. "Significantly" has a specific statistical meaning, and I've yet to find anything approaching data for it. Now, there I fully agree. Since I can't find the evidence for transmissibility, and since at this point the "we're all in it together" argument has clearly failed to convince the last unvaccinated, I'd hammer on the purely selfish benefits of it. "Do it to protect me" isn't having much traction with the screw-you hold-outs, and may be entrenching their resistance. For some, that's the concern. I'm not anti vaccine, but I do have some specific concerns about why vaccine passports are being introduced, and what they might mutate into. I very much hope to be wrong about that. And there are people who are genuinely more scared of vaccine reactions than of covid. In younger, haler age groups, for non-flabbies with no-comorbidities, they may even have a point. Remember that the JCVI has not recommended general vaccination for healthy under 18s, but we've gone ahead anyway. Tin-foil hat firmly off, I make it 1164 AZ deaths, 666 Pfizer deaths (oof), 23 Moderna deaths, 36 unspecified. No, not from a conspiracy site, from gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions Strong caveat, that's with vaccines, not from vaccines, but of course that also applies to with/from covid. Care home workers have already been fired for being unvaccinated, with NHS workers to follow. Nightclubs and large venues are denying entry by law, and some smaller venues by policy. You can argue that's not "discrimination", but that's a semantic argument that will be cold comfort to those out of a job. By the plain meaning of the word, it is segregation. Now, you may view that as a good thing, and I'm not even necessarily going to disagree, but we should strive to be honest about language, goals and intentions. Not unconditionally or absolutely. I'm seeing a lot of "Debate over" / "end of argument" / "you can't question The Science" / "you don't even need to think about it, dude" and similar statements, and they make me rather uncomfortable. I prefer nuanced analysis of relative risk, constant questioning, and honest, evidenced answers to those questions. If the evidence is there, then the questions should be easy to answer, right? But if you can't show a healthy 18 year old the evidence that being vaccinated will reduce their transmissibility (I'd genuinely love to see it); nor that it will lower their own personal risk (JCVI says not), then what argument would you give in favour of them getting vaccinated, let alone forcing them to do so?

Ahoy and welcome. Are you an active airsofter, or is this more what you'd call... historical interest?

I've never even dared to try and sell anything via eBay in... [checks] wow, in 21 years. It looks like a mug's game at the moment. If I did, I'd be damn sure to create a new selling-only account, and probably burn it on the first negative. I mean, there are mong buyers on there who will actually leave negative ratings with "gr8 sellr thnx wood use agin". I've had a seller do that, when I said something like "Not real Lewis leathers, obviously, but surprisingly decent for the price", a completely true statement (£45 jacket, Lewis leathers cost 20x that much). Complained, had it wiped, with no way to appeal, amend, or follow up. Curious thing to do, given how unlikely it is that anyone would even bother to read it. Anyway, it's good to hear that eBay are at least aware of the issue of sellers getting ripped off, although whether they actually do anything about it is a different question.

It is actually a useful thing to know about, I got stuffed by my local getting locked down then closing down, and lost my UKARA for a year. Gun looks great, and since the defence for modification is future intent, having a game day booked should satisfy it regardless of any membership. Just between us (and the public record), I bought two-tones after my first day then had the paint stripped off within an hour of receiving them on the basis of having further days booked. Rub, rub here Rub, rub there Whether you're tin or plas-tic That's how we keep you realis-tic In the merry old land of Boz.

Did you ever learn the right incantation to get the magic smoke back in? Genuinely though, I wonder if 10A would be enough, or have I just found an excuse to buy a clamp meter.

Technically "mortors". Nah, I haven't tried those, but I am intrigued by the potential for deicide. How's the response and ROF? My Big Dragon M140s are significantly better at both than any of my stock CYMA, JG, Galaxy or Specna Arms motors. Hmm, I wonder if the 10A circuit on my cheap multimeters would be sufficient for measuring airsoft motors under load. I've got some project time scheduled, I might wire up a couple of Deans connectors and banana plugs and see if I can blow the bloody doors off my backup meter.

I'm the other way around. Even with waning efficacy of the current vaccines versus omicron and beyond, it seems clear that they're continuing to offer protection. Although the HSA (and BioNTech) are implying that we're looking at re-doses every 90 days or so, which comes with a moral hazard[*]. Masks, I haven't found any compelling evidence for community efficacy (as opposed to careful use in clinical settings). I mean, "it's just common sense", but my common observation is that many-to-most are being worn performatively rather than diligently. For context, I bought and used a box of FFP3 respirators in early March 2020, "responsibly stockpiling" before the panic buying started. I have no problems with measures that work, my issue (as with chrono!) is performing ritual safety theatre without any real benefit. That's an argument in favour of better mask wearing, but it's probably a futile one, given that the same talking heads exhorting us to wear them generally don't even bother when they think they're off camera. Coronaviruses mutate rapidly, that's why they're so successful and tenacious. We've never had a vaccine - or persistent herd immunity - for the common cold, as the several coronaviruses that cause those symptoms keep tweaking themselves just enough to escape immunity. SARS-COV-2 is likely to do the same, vaccines or not, and the significant difference between 1 and 2 is asymptotic transmission. That means variants are likely to spread because they'll already be out of the country before they're recognised as existing, or novel, let alone been sequenced and having a specific test created. [*] Out of interest, what's your thoughts on the WHO's position that richer countries should be sending doses to poorer countries rather than engaging in universal booster campaigns? If it was an either/or, would you prefer to get your third or fourth, versus a rural South African community nurse getting her first or second? https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/who-head-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-admonishes-countries-with-blanket-booster-programs/vi-AAS4mkw

This should be the default at sites. You could skip most of the briefings, just point at the board and say "Read it, no excuses." The eye-twitcher for me is when you ask a marshal (e.g.) "Oh, do gun hits count here?" and they go "Uhhhh..."

With respect, I have to note that two doses didn't protect you from being sick and symptomatic, so demonstrably can't prevent infection and transmission. Do I think people should be vaccinated at this point? Yes, I do. I even agree with Tony Blair (on this point only) that it's idiotic not to be. But do I blame the unvaccinated for the ongoing spread? No, not really, they're mostly harming themselves at this point. Given the dwindling numbers of unvaccinated versus the rising numbers of cases, it becomes harder to argue that this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, let alone because of them. Stupid people, yes, not plague rats. At the risk of broken drumming, who are the Gibraltarians blaming for cancelling Christmas? It's perfectly understandable to want to blame a human agency for harming you, even when the damage is being done by something with no ill intent that's barely even a lifeform. And pre-coofs, I was always the guy in the office shouting at plague rats stupid people bringing their coughs and sniffles in with them. I haven't changed that opinion one iota - symptomatic people need to learn to bloody well isolate themselves, regardless of what they have or think they have. However, I prefer to reserve my real ire for the people who ordered, funded, and carried out the gain of function research in Wuhan.

I was DMRing. Player-marshal was not. You think he'd know better. He did not.