Rogerborg

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.

It's not going away even with complete vaccination. If it were, it wouldn't exist in Israel or Gibraltar. And given the HSA report today that protection from the mRNA boosters wanes after just 10 weeks, I'm becoming less convinced that "vaccine" is the correct term. Temporary prophylactic might be closer. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not saying that the current mRNA jabs aren't working. I'm saying that they work as well as they work, and no better. They're not a panacea, and it seems clear that they need to be updated to target more recent variants. Given that omicron is turning out to be milder (as we'd expect), it's not unreasonable to ask: how many more doses, administered how frequently, and for how long? In the context that we're never going to have zero SARS-COV-2. It's never going away. They do provide some protection against infection and transmission, but much less than we'd hoped. And they've never claimed otherwise: all the trials only looked at protection from serious illness or death for the subject, not transmission (and I can't think how they could have done so). On masks and preventing transmission, the only large scale community study done is the Bangladesh one. The headline: Masks work. The details: unlimited amount of free, disposable, surgical-grade masks, in conjunction with a campaign to wear them and instructions on how to use them properly, reduced community infection by an amount just barely on the cusp of statistical significance (96 fewer cases out of a sample size of 106,201, p = 0.043). Cloth masks, even with the same campaign and instructions, did not (11 fewer cases out of 54,122). https://www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publications/Mask_RCT____Symptomatic_Seropositivity_083121.pdf Cato Institute also says no on cloth masks. https://www.cato.org/working-paper/evidence-community-cloth-face-masking-limit-spread-sars-cov-2-critical-review Am I against masks? Not as such. It seems common-sensical that they would serve a "nudge" purpose to remind us that there is still a hazardous virus going around - although the Bangladesh evidence doesn't even support that. What I'm against is people getting nudged to the point of fury at the absence of them, given the thinnest of evidence that even the best types actually have any benefit in the community.

Fraud requires gain for yourself or loss for another, which would be a hard argument to make unless you consider a potential fine as a loss. You might stretch it to conspiracy to commit an S36 offence, which would be rather bizarre as if you just walked in and said "Sell me a RIF" without providing any reason why, there could be no mens rea. This just further illustrates how bonkers the whole legislation is, although I wouldn't expect any changes to be in our favour. Every time some skip-licker goes postal with a RIF, I wonder if this will be the time when Fleet and Downing Streets decide to call time on our hijinks. OP's fine rather than fined though, I'm really just jealous of that go-faster pistol.

Huh. Well, that's one way of doing it. With no disrespect to you - you're not the one committing any offence - it's an absolute cad's trick by the retailer, and ill advised of the MVT to allow unvetted membership if it's being abused like this. The retailer knows fine well that they're selling this for airsoft use, not reenactment. There's no reasonable way they could claim that defence, for that pistol. It's a cynical box-ticking exercise, and if they're going to accept a bogus defence that won't actually protect them if legal push comes to shove, then I'd note that JustCos is only £20. Sorry, that rant isn't aimed at you, but at the whole farcical system. You've just illustrated how utterly pointless it is.

I meant, having fun by waving at them when they were falling short. In those situations, most of the time the person shooting at you will be convinced that they're hitting you (their gnu shoots 200m like a laser, legit), so they've already flagged you as a cheater. So: stand there and shoot back; head for cover in case they figure it out and raise their aim; or wind them up more with a wave? It's very wrong to do the last one, and I certainly would recommend it. Why, if you did it to me, I'd be livid. Nobody pays attention to the objective.

Is it fair to collectivise the views of all mask-sceptical and vaccine-hesitant people as being reflected by a loony-tunes lizard-people Q site?

Is your ex-fiancé ready to move on yet? I'm going to have to ask: MVT? Wow, that is pretty tacticool. I like the ghost ring iron sight, I might put some white or luminous paint on that for dark CQB if it doesn't already have some.

RIP, buddy, fliing hi wit de angles now. I guess we didn't get a Christmas miracle from either seller? I got a small one of my own though. The solid stock that rattled around inside Chyna, apparently got returned to sender there (twice!), then sat in UK Customs since November 26th got put through my letterbox yesterday. No sign that Customs had opened or inspected it, it seems it just sat on their desk for weeks for no apparent reason while they stared at it and regretted their life choices.

And a sight protector and a tracer unit and single, two and three point slings and a forward grip and a different pistol grip and a CQB stock and... Cancel your wedding plans now, you won't be able to afford it. Ahoy and welcome though. We're so-so on those Bulldogs, but they seem to be pretty standard V2 gearboxed M4s so anything that does go wrong should be fixable without too much drama. It'll doubtless migrate to become a loaner / backup / tinkering gun if you stick with the hobby.