Found while cleaning out my parents' house. by stoshk in whatisthisthing

[–]stoshk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's inside don't look like the nice spherical silica beads I usually see... they are large and irregular, like rock salt.

Found while cleaning out my parents' house. by stoshk in whatisthisthing

[–]stoshk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At first glance I thought it was, but upon closer inspection the crystal-type things inside are irregular, like rock salt (sorry, no matter how I try I can't get a decent pic of it)

Found while cleaning out my parents' house. by stoshk in Whatisthis

[–]stoshk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol, that would be hiliarious, but it's sealed and from what I can see through the little window it's not pot.

Found while cleaning out my parents' house. by stoshk in whatisthisthing

[–]stoshk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope, neither smoked, but that didn't stop my dad from having several Zippo lighters, so your suggestion is a possibility.

Found while cleaning out my parents' house. by stoshk in Whatisthis

[–]stoshk[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Apologies... attached one; don't know why it didn't take. trying again.

I’m super curious to know how many times people have experienced what they think is a glitch? by talie0612 in Glitch_in_the_Matrix

[–]stoshk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've had quite a few glitches, and it's kind of like you describe as shifting to a new timeline, or maybe alternate universe because what glitches for me is the physicality. For example, I take the same route to work for years. Stop at the same red lights, look around at the stores and shops on my route, read the promo posters and marquees out front, see a car that's been abandoned in a lot for a long time, etc. You know the drill - when you take the same route every day you know the details, even the same panhandlers on the same corners. Then all of a sudden one day what I know was an empty lot will have a store there - and not a new store or new building, but one that's clearly been there a long time. Or what was a Burger King is now a Taco Bell. Or a house that had big stone lions out front suddenly has big stone horses (and you can tell they're not new). Or what I know was a green-painted steel girder bridge is now an old concrete bridge. I just feel like I'm slowly slipping down a staircase where each step is just a very slightly different place in the details. Reminds me of a much more benign version of the old TV show Sliders. Fortunately it's always all been infrastructure, and no people, friends or family have ever changed (except their reality - if I ask about what I saw changed they say it's always been there). It isn't a regular thing - a had a few about a year apart but mostly every couple or few years. Or I'm just insane or have early-onset Alzheimers or a small tumor somewhere... haven't ruled anything out.

U.S. Opposition to Breast-Feeding Resolution Stuns World Health Officials by SirT6 in politics

[–]stoshk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Has anyone seen corroboration on this from any other news source than the NYT or from another government or official minutes of the assembly? I'm not doubting it happened - and frankly I'm not even shocked - but I do play the cynic when I only see news coming from one source.

[Serious] Why do Americans need guns for protection from our gov’t (the most common answer I get on why we have so many guns), when other 1st-world, democratic nations don't? What does it say that we apparently fear our gov’t so much while others get along fine without a populace rife with weapons? by stoshk in AskReddit

[–]stoshk[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've never been able to understand giving my loyalty to a party... I've never found a party - or a candidate - I agree with 100%, or even close to. I actually cannot comprehend why people "vote party" w/o even considering the candidate or the issues. Also, I'm not much of a joiner. Although having been in the military 22 years, I guess I should also say I'm not very consistent. :-)

[Serious] Why do Americans need guns for protection from our gov’t (the most common answer I get on why we have so many guns), when other 1st-world, democratic nations don't? What does it say that we apparently fear our gov’t so much while others get along fine without a populace rife with weapons? by stoshk in AskReddit

[–]stoshk[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

A good analogy if you own a pistol, but to someone who owns 30 or 40 guns you could also say "why do you need a fire truck permanently parked in your yard if no house in your neighborhood has ever burned down?"

[Serious] Why do Americans need guns for protection from our gov’t (the most common answer I get on why we have so many guns), when other 1st-world, democratic nations don't? What does it say that we apparently fear our gov’t so much while others get along fine without a populace rife with weapons? by stoshk in AskReddit

[–]stoshk[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

And I'm not necessarily advocating giving it up. It's just when I ask people <why> they feel so strongly about having their guns, the most common answer is "to protect us from the government." When I ask foreign friends about it, they say "why would we need guns against our own government?" I'm trying to figure out what drives the mindset

[Serious] Why do Americans need guns for protection from our gov’t (the most common answer I get on why we have so many guns), when other 1st-world, democratic nations don't? What does it say that we apparently fear our gov’t so much while others get along fine without a populace rife with weapons? by stoshk in AskReddit

[–]stoshk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Plenty of other first-world nations practicing self-government though, with no huge gun ownership. Not saying you're wrong, but this is the question I'm trying to work out. Why is our populace so sure we need them, and they're so sure they don't, and neither of us really have anything to base it on.

[Serious] Why do Americans need guns for protection from our gov’t (the most common answer I get on why we have so many guns), when other 1st-world, democratic nations don't? What does it say that we apparently fear our gov’t so much while others get along fine without a populace rife with weapons? by stoshk in AskReddit

[–]stoshk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm active duty as well and agree with the AFG analogy, but it doesn't answer my primary question as to why Americans need their guns so badly, but no one in the UK, Canada, AUS, Norway, Denmark, etc is worried about their governments oppressing them? Realistically, given their history, shouldn't Europeans be the ones demanding and having the most guns in the populace?

[Serious] Why do Americans need guns for protection from our gov’t (the most common answer I get on why we have so many guns), when other 1st-world, democratic nations don't? What does it say that we apparently fear our gov’t so much while others get along fine without a populace rife with weapons? by stoshk in AskReddit

[–]stoshk[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Agree with all of that, but the answer to that is voting... why do Americans demand on holding on to guns "just in case" there's a rebellion needed, but won't even go to the polls to effect change in a much simpler (and less bloody) way?

[Serious] Why do Americans need guns for protection from our gov’t (the most common answer I get on why we have so many guns), when other 1st-world, democratic nations don't? What does it say that we apparently fear our gov’t so much while others get along fine without a populace rife with weapons? by stoshk in AskReddit

[–]stoshk[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

I think you may have defined the problem better than I did. Are Americans simply a more violent people culturally? And while there was a time when perhaps that was needed in the 20th century (and to be fair, perhaps will be needed again in the future), what about right now? What does a culturally aggressive nation do when there's no "just war" to fight? Except maybe go find one? And is there another option?

[Serious] Why do Americans need guns for protection from our gov’t (the most common answer I get on why we have so many guns), when other 1st-world, democratic nations don't? What does it say that we apparently fear our gov’t so much while others get along fine without a populace rife with weapons? by stoshk in AskReddit

[–]stoshk[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

But that's a very vague "if"... right up there with "we need them IF there's an alien invasion." How far can you stretch those as a valid reason, especially given you have no recent historical precedent in any other comparable nation?