colinjallen

True; however, that is for the site to deal with.

CO2 weapons have been banned at Ace Combat for years, due to concerns about the potential for them to be overpowered on the first shot or two from a fresh bulb and about the potential for a gun suddenly going hot due to system problems. Are those reasonable concerns? Discuss. I cannot think why anyone would play there; it is a small, flat, boring site. That is an argument for proper chronoing of CO2 pistols, not for banning them.

This seems pretty pointless; most players only have experience of a very limited number of sites so cannot meaningfully vote for the best site in the UK. I know which site I would vote for; I would vote for it because it is the best site that I have been to. However, is it better than a site I have not been to? I have no idea.

https://www.davescustomairsoft.co.uk/pre-order-expected-jan-feb-2022-lct-steel-dragunov-svd-with-real-wood-furniture Ouch!

Constructing fictions and accumulated unspoken inconsistencies is what humans do; we create our own versions of events and our needs according to our own perceptions, biases, interpretations, needs, culture, whatever in order to support our inner narrative. That is reflected in your point that, at least until very recently, we generally regard ourselves as never having been better off despite the spiralling cost of both rented and owned housing, which is putting the possibility of owning their own home beyond the capability of many people. It is also intrinsic to how political and other organisations appeal to people; if they can understand what people feel is of value to them, whether materially, in terms of their self-perception and with regard to their perception of the world external to them, they can get their support, whether in terms of votes or donations to a cause. I take your point on tax and spend now that you have expanded on it. Taxation is a curious tool in that it can have unforeseen impacts on revenue; the same does apply to a large extent to government spending where the impact is often not what was expected. However, I am not quite convinced that the finances of a state do not resemble those of a household, at least not in all cases given how many households are funded by virtually unrepayable debt. This could, of course, lead into an interesting discussion about fiat money and whether it really is credit money or whether there is no real difference between the two.

Cancel culture?

That's good; pearls before swine and all that.

Yes, that is all very true; I should probably have added "dealing with the logistics of providing a very large amount of equipment at extremely short notice" in my list of things that the government was trying to balance, along with "maintaining public morale". While it was clearly what you rather nicely describe as a benign lie for the common good, I hate to think what the public reaction would have been if the message had been that masks are essential in reducing infection but we don't have enough and need to provide them to frontline healthcare workers, so good luck. I suspect that the political calculation involved the possible impact on getting re-elected.

Bye then.

It did surprise us, to the extent that we queried it with several of the companies, explaining the issues to them.

Keep trying.

Did someone piss in your Cheerios?

Thanks; very helpful.

Regarding the non-chronoing element of this, when we were looking around for airsoft insurance a few years ago, every company that we contacted had a clause that stated the following or something very similar: "The Insured must chronograph the gun the first time the member plays at the site and after any modifications to ensure compliance;". Sites that do not do so have invalidated their insurance, which leaves them vulnerable in the event of an accident; they would also forfeit their UKARA registration. This site is not alone in not-chronoing; during the time that I played at Ultimate Wargames, no guns were ever chrono'd. On one occasion, I asked if I could borrow the chrono to check a gun that I had been working on; they did not have one. There were other issues around safe zone safety, hit taking, removing eye pro in the field between games, and casual racism from the owner. It was a shame because it has the potential to be a great site.

While I would agree that governments and special interest groups create "fictions and accumulated unspoken inconsistencies" that suit their own needs, with Brexit possibly being the most impressive of these in recent UK history, I am not convinced that there has been "a plainly consistent denial of the quantitative, as announced by those who announce the quantitative itself, to an audience plainly experiencing the contrary", at least with regard to COVID-19. I think that one of the problems with such an assertion is that "the audience" only experience what they experience, which is narrow and limited; another, when directed at the pandemic, is that "the quantitative" is, of necessity, historic, rather than being current or an entirely reliable guide to the future. People, even (or perhaps especially) experts, will interpret that data according to their own specialism and training; for example, public health specialists will generally err on the side of actions that they perceive as protecting public health. Regarding your edits: [what is perceived as]: Perceived by who? Would letting the virus at its height (or what was hopefully its height) rip through an unvaccinated population have been better for public safety? In the purest sense, we can never "know" that. [finance sector of the]: Disagree; all the sectors that are either of "interest" to members of the government and those who fund them or which are perceived as being essential to maintaining the support of their voter base. However, the finance sector may well be the most significant of the former. [insider]: Yes, especially the back benches, which the current government seemed to think it could take for granted. We now see the wonderful spectacle of the potential successors to the fornicator-in-chief being told what to do by the 1922 Committee and others in order to gain their support. Essentially, UK government policy on the pandemic is now being formed by a group of backbenchers. [by maintaining the fiction that tax and spend actually happens, and that this is being managed responsibly]: tax and spend does happen, so that part is far from being a fiction. Is it managed responsibly? That is arguable with individual answers probably being dependent on one's political and economic viewpoints.

I am not quite convinced that it can be viewed entirely through a situationalist lens, possibly because I have never been convinced by the concept of "the spectacle".

Simple answer: politicians who are trying to balance public safety, minimising the damage to the economy, keeping various pressure groups happy, maintaining or improving their chances of getting re-elected and trying not to get deposed by their own party. I am sure there are more complicated answers.

Would you care to expand on that and how that difference between choice and necessity should impact on policy?

Given that data (rather than assumptions, politically inspired talking points or moonbat conspiracy theories, none of which I am suggesting that you are using) strongly indicate that those who have received the vaccinations are far less likely to end up in hospital or dead, vaccination is far more than just a ritual. However, many people do seem to believe that vaccination will prevent them catching the virus or passing it on. Given that the official messaging has suggested, although not actually stated, that vaccination does indeed prevent spread, despite none of the manufacturers making that claim, it is not surprising that many believe that. Do we really expect logical and coherent policies from politicians?

Yawn...keep going.

Come back and have the discussion when you have grown up.

To be fair, 60 Minutes is a well respected current affairs programme in Australia. However, it can be somewhat sensationalist.

Imperium run defined types of events: skirmishes, Ground War and Battlesim, along with the occasional Milsim. Each has its own set of rules on mag types, ammo limits etc and different levels of command and control. There is a core set of players who tend to attend all of them, but also some who only attend one or two types.

Dear old Lem would not have been happy with that. I don't think bad taste quite captures it.

Are you really that overly sensitive that you perceive someone else's view of you as a personal attack? You do seem very insecure.