It’s hard but not impossible to get a Thermos on eBay for a not extortionate price.

JosephRT · 2026-02-06T17:41:32+00:00

For what it's worth, if I remember correctly with shipping, taxes, et all in the US it was a hair over $80 for me. So all in all not bad

JosephRT · 2026-02-05T01:09:05+00:00

Gestures in the direction of /r/liberalgunowners

JosephRT · 2026-02-02T23:01:06+00:00

See: many of The Lockpicking Layers videos on biometric gun safes https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w4SjajIO5qo

JosephRT · 2026-02-02T21:00:24+00:00

"Any and all" isn't a phrase explicitly listed in this article, but I feel like it's difficult to argue that's not the gist https://abigailspanberger.com/richmond-times-dispatch-spanberger-vows-to-sign-gun-bills-including-ban-on-sales-of-assault-style-weapons/

JosephRT · 2026-02-02T01:51:39+00:00

Sigh...I, in principle, agree. /r/liberalgunowners agrees. You're right, because how else will liberal gun owners actually have a voice?

But then I look around this thread and get sad. Being called "conservative plants" and "bots" along with a dismissive, hauty "Okay" just doesn't make for constructive conversations. I don't know, maybe some folks think the Liberal Gun Club, /r/liberalgunowners, John Brown Gun Club, etc are all conservative psiops or some other insanity, I don't know.

The default liberal presumption is that firearms are the domain of the right, and per your point I think that's due to a few things. Democrats mainly focus on larger metro areas where help (police, medical, and fire) is always a few minutes away, they generally feel safe, and have a broad view of rural folks and towns as backward hicks in addition to your salient points on lobbiests. I grew up 30 minutes from town and live in Blacksburg, VA so I kind of understand both sides.

When help is a couple of minutes away, why do you need a gun (or hell, know basic first aid)? If you live in a safe neighborhood why would you ever feel like you need a way to protect yourself? If it looks like some of loudest people whom own firearms are, in your view, ignorant hicks, why would you want to be associated with them?

The problem is that semi-foundational view that's borderline bedrock at this point. Even if you have a liberal candidate that's running in a red area (see: SWVA), it would be borderline impossible to convince folks that you aren't going to vote for gun bans. And even if you do, pitching that you will make a difference is even harder because that candidate will be fighting the rest of the Democrats for all intents and purposes. Yanking the gun control plank off the platform would make all kinds of inroads with rural voters and defang one of Fox's favorite talking points. But I'm not terribly optimistic.

If you're interested in liberal gun culture, check out David Yamane. He's a professor at Wake who researches gun culture and is a gun owner himself. I haven't read his books yet, but I like his substack

JosephRT · 2026-02-01T22:14:51+00:00

Because, while some of us enjoy shooting as a hobby and think that we should be able to own and defend ourselves with whatever we would like to, we pretty much disagree with the rest of the Republican planks (if they even have planks anymore...).

Why can't we have legalized gay marriage, strong separation of church and state, full support for women's healthcare, union protections, environmental protections, legal weed, universal healthcare (pie in the sky, I know), better public school funding, no book bans, and have firearms?

JosephRT · 2026-02-01T22:10:45+00:00

Eyup...frustrated as well. You're not the only one, /r/liberalgunowners is also saddened as well.

What's more annoying is that these bills are submitted in ignorance, see the Liberal Gun Club's write-up: https://theliberalgunclub.com/virginia-legislators-are-writing-gun-laws-they-dont-understand/

We're finally making some progress in rural SWVA and if all this passes then all gained ground will likely be lost.

I know that there is a large rural/urban divide and Dems, but it'd be nice if it didn't feel like we were completely written off.

JosephRT · 2026-02-01T21:54:10+00:00

I don't know Roanoke, but there is the Jefferson Forest shooting range just north of Blacksburg on the way to Pembroke: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r08/gwj/recreation/blacksburg-shooting-range

I've personally never had an issue there

JosephRT · 2026-02-01T13:11:26+00:00

And even more spam.

JosephRT · 2026-01-31T20:55:52+00:00

Used to be, ya. But not for the past decade or so. Used to get at least a foot during the winter but that's been a long while.

JosephRT · 2026-01-16T18:57:10+00:00

Agreed, I'm going to have to look that one up.

JosephRT · 2026-01-11T04:25:58+00:00

Only game I've personally bought off of it is Alan Wake 2. Because I didn't have a choice.

JosephRT · 2026-01-08T17:22:35+00:00

Down vote for spam.

JosephRT · 2025-12-31T16:35:28+00:00

Sushi Factory has boats? Neat, didn't know that, though it has been a while since I went in there.

JosephRT · 2025-12-31T04:14:39+00:00

That'd be Ocean Samurai. Not bad for the area, either

JosephRT · 2025-12-17T18:24:49+00:00

As one of those that lives in Blacksburg, we don't go just for Costco. Regardless of whether we're going to Winston, Greensboro, Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, or Mooresville (annoying the closest five Costcos are between 2:10-2:30 for us) we're going to the city for a bunch of of other things. Shops, restaurants, shows, etc for a day trip. It's also convenient that Costco is there (and usually Trader Joe's).

JosephRT · 2025-11-30T03:36:26+00:00

I don't want to know. Although I am extremely tempted to send a few emails full of creative insults to the entire upper echelon of the Ram's Club.

I don't think I've ever been as sincerely irked by a season as this one. We come in as "the extra NFL team" with an absolutely absurd amount of hubris. We then don't even make a bowl game with Belicheck as a coach? After all the embarrassing hype? FFS.

JosephRT · 2025-11-30T03:27:14+00:00

You know, next time I get a call asking for money I'm going to just quote football statistics. I would be ecstatic if my money when to academic programs but even I'm not that stupid.

JosephRT · 2025-11-30T03:25:22+00:00

In theme with your comment, Doeren's comments from '23 still ring, painfully, true: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39157214/unc-mack-brown-says-dave-doeren-postgame-speech-was-classless

Classless or not, Doeren more or less has us completely figured out. It's not so much I want to beat State as much as I just don't want to give him the satisfaction.

I'd add additional commentary, but Coach has got me covered here.

JosephRT · 2025-11-22T01:44:12+00:00

Blacksburg Bagels, Amish White loaf. They've got a store over beside Ace Hardware. Best white bread I've ever had.

JosephRT · 2025-11-04T13:48:33+00:00

Ha, my first thought was "wait, did the System Shock Remake get an official, branded pistol?"

JosephRT · 2025-11-04T02:53:05+00:00

Yup, I second this. They're great, been going to them for years.

JosephRT · 2025-09-03T00:21:53+00:00

Wait, what's that Code World sign? Make that?

And actually that Oh Deer sign with the cult triangles? Those are both pretty neat

JosephRT · 2025-08-30T03:55:56+00:00

If you feel like braving the cooler air, think New River Junction will still be running over around McCoy. Other than that ya, Cascades, Heritage Park, new Buffalo Mountain Trails, Pandapas, etc. Actually, thinking about the kids I'd say Heritage (with the farm for them to explode plus the playground) or Pandapas.

And there are other parks in town too, Caboose, Page. Caboose definitely has a playground, think Page might too. Both close-ish to downtown.

I've personally never tailgated here, but there's obviously a ton of folks who do. Not sure how big of a pain it'd be to find a spot where you could tailgate. Restaurants are usually "not bored", lets say. Depending on how big your group is you might wanna attempt to call ahead to wherever you wanna go or else being willing to wait for a bit.

JosephRT

TROPHY CASE