HeyYou

People still make their own ammo in their garage. Ban it, and the illicit manufacture of ammo would become a new cottage industry. Not to mention, our government has already tried banning ammunition of certain types, some, they have succeeded, (black talon ammo) others, they failed miserably. (tracer ammo..... which struck me as kinda odd, I don't really see the point in civilian use of tracers...... but hey....) Long guns are not registered, are not tracked, nor are records kept for more than three years of who bought them. That means that the AR rifle variants..... aren't tracked.... neither are shotguns, or any other firearm classified as a 'long' gun. That represents the bulk of firearms in the US. Fully one-third of the population of the US are gun owners. Wanna see a whole bunch of people heading for washington DC with guns? Try and ban them. Simply passing legislation isn't going to magically make them go away, no matter how much you may want to think so. Americans are NOT Europeans/British. If our government attempts to take away our guns, we WILL fight back, first at the soap box, then at the ballot box, and as a last resort, the cartridge box. We WILL fight for our right to keep and bear arms. It would also be political suicide for any administration to attempt anything like that. Even if they managed to pass it, (and they would have to control both house, plus the whitehouse to get it thru) you can bet your bottom dollar that come the next election cycle (two years) EVERY member of the party that passed it that was up for re-election, would be replaced with a member from the other party. Once the dust settled from that, control of at least one house would likely have changed hands, and there would be a barrage of legislation to overturn any bans. (be they ammo, or weapons) Statistics are meaningless without knowing what the questions were, who was asking them, and whom they asked. The polls/studies are pretty inaccurate predictors of legislation passing in any event, as even when the 'polls' were saying 90% of people wanted stronger gun laws, congress STILL could not pass a single one. And then what happened the next election cycle? The republicans (pro-gun) won in a landslide in almost every district that was up for grabs. Kinda puts the lie to "Americans WANT gun control!"........ So, let me qualify my 'impossible' statement...... It is impossilbe to disarm the american people without STAGGERING loss of life. Far more than would die if we did just the opposite, and let anyone and their cousin carry a gun. If you think the gun-toting crowd would simply shrug their shoulders, and turn in their guns..... well, I would suggest that you don't know americans very well...... And regardless of what legislation passed, the criminal element still would not turn in theirs..... considering that most of them would be in trouble if caught with one in any event. So what would be the point of hundreds of thousands, if not millions dieing, to remove a tool from the populace that actually kills about 13000 people per year? (I don't count suicides, as they would just find another way to kill themselves.) I would point out that there are MANY FAR more dangerous objects in circulation...... cars, doctors....... alcohol, that kill 10's, and sometimes hundreds of times more people every year than guns do. They tried banning alcohol, we can see how that turned out.......

Removing all privately owned guns from their owners, at the government's behest, isn't merely 'difficult', it is impossible. It would mean instant civil war. The government's only option for implementing said policy, would be to have the army go door to door, and search each house.......Somewhat less than practical, and also unconstitutional..... (using the army against private citizens is a big no-no.) Assuming that the army would even follow such an order...... The end result would be death on a grand scale. A 'solution' that would be far worse than doing nothing at all. Sure, some folks would turn in their weapons voluntarily, most, would not. NONE of the criminals would turn in their already illegal weapons..... initially, all this would do would be to remove firearms from the law-abiding....... I suspect we would see crime spike right along with this. Cops are already issued tasers, and pepper spray...... at least, in larger police departments..... I don't know if officer wilson had either of them though. But, given that Mr. Brown was 6'4", and 295 pounds, and charging at him.... not sure I would have trusted my life to a taser, and certainly not to pepper spray....... He was a threat, and needed to be put down. Officer Wilson did what he had to do. He did not TARGET Mr. Brown, he asked him to not walk down the middle of the street. Brown escalated the encounter, and is completely responsible for his own death. I have no sympathy for him whatsoever.

Very Dramatic.... but, not really relevant. It wasn't a 'militarized policeman' that shot Brown, it was a uniformed cop, with a pistol. The reaction by the residents there was also somewhat less than intelligent..... The whole "we are mad at the cops, so we are going to loot, and burn our neighborhood" just doesn't make any sense.... yet this is what we see whenever a white cop shoots a black man. Now, I will grant you, in some cases, the cop is most certainly not correct..... yet in others, he is. Each and every time, the COP is portrayed as a jack-booted thug, and the dead guy is depicted as a 'good boy, that just wanted to get home', or some such nonsense. Also, the video of Brown robbing the store, and his treatment of the clerk, WAS relevant, as it speaks to Brown's behavior in general. I would also point out, that Darren Wilson was not charged with ANY crime, the Grand Jury refused to indict him. And the community response? Burn and loot some more of their neighborhood....... But, Mr. Oliver would have us attempt to treat the mod as individuals? Terribly sorry, but when you have a crowd of folks, some of which are tossing rocks, and molotov's, ALL of them are a threat. What did he expect the mayor to do? "If you want to riot, and raise hell, you have to stay home, but, if you are just out for an evening stroll, then you are fine."????? Right, that would work really well....... Somewhere....... Maybe........ Sorry Mr. Oliver, but, you don't have a clue either.

One of the major problems we have here in this country, (USA) is a lack of money for police. So, while 'theoretically' we should have more cops to cover the area involved, in reality, we actually have fewer. And that number keeps dropping as budgets get stretched more and more. The days of 'two cops per car' are long gone, and not likely to return. When money gets tight, the first thing to get cut are police, and fire department....... Banning private ownership of firearms in the USA is simply unworkable. You (daedthr) come from a society where private ownership of 'weapons' in general has been pretty much a no-no for centuries, which is most certainly not the case here. You have an entirely different mindset on the problem, that is totally alien to most americans. (yes, there are some that would agree with you, but, the vast majority, do not.) If the government ever tried to ban guns in general, it would mean instant revolution here. Hell, Obama couldn't even pass expanded background checks....... What does THAT tell you? But, debating 'gun control' here, always seems to turn out poorly, so, that subject really shouldn't even be included here. So, getting back to Mr. Brown..... Arrest him at home? Hhhhmmmm.... where do most folks that have guns keep them..... Oh, right, at HOME..... So, cops showing up at his doorstep is no guarantee of him 'coming along quietly', and there is actually an even chance that it would have resulted in MORE deaths, not fewer. Brown was a thug. He was stupid, and it got him dead. I just don't have a problem with that.

Trouble is, the 'baddies' can show up while you are elsewhere, and you never even know they are around, until the courrier comes up to give you your 'inheritance' from whomever died. :) Besides, it makes a LOT more sense for folks to run and hide, and let actual FIGHTERS deal with such problems. Somehow, I just don't see folks like Belethor, or his wood-chopping buddy, as "fighters"...... they tend to get dead right quick.

I completely agree with your second point. Money in politics is a MAJOR problem here in the states. Trouble is, (and you are correct there too....) the only way that is going to change is via revolution. The people are going to have to rise up, and take back their government from the wealthy. Do I ever see that happening? Nope. At least, not until things get MUCH worse than they are already. Currently, the ONLY folks that can actually change things for the better, are the very same folks that profit the most from NOT changing anything. Several times, bills have been introduced that would overturn citizens united, (via campaign finance reform legislation) and various other 'loopholes' that make it possible to purchase your very own personal politiician. Those bills never even make it out of committee. When the Supreme Court decided that "money=Free speech", they spelled the death knell for american society.

If Wilson hadn't had a gun, HE would be the one that was dead. When seconds count, backup (or, police in general) are only minutes away. It is not in the best interests of society to allow criminals to simply walk away, because the cops are afriad of them. Whose to say Mr. Brown wouldn't go home, and pick up some nice piece of hardware, and see how many cops he could take with him before he was killed/arrested? You obviously don't have any police training, weapons training, military experience..... so, in all reality, you have no idea what you are talking about. Bear in mind also, that police in the US have significantly larger area to cover, and a lot more people as well. Some of whom, aren't very nice, and don't really care if their weapons are legal or not. We can't keep illegal immigrants out of our country, what makes you think illegal guns would be any better?

You should also have "when vampires attack", and "run for your lives" installed then too... so they will at least run for shelter when the truly-bad bad guys show up. :D

40 years ago...... It actually WAS possible to start from poverty, and work your way into the middle class, and it really didn't take all that much effort...... but then, with 'globalization'...... all too many of our jobs moved to third world countries, where wages were a tiny fraction of what workers here had gotten used to. That was all well and good for the upper management on up in the typical corporation..... costs were down, profits went up, and the lies they told americans about how 'good' this would be for them were either forgotten, or ignored by the mainstream media. Makes me curious when 'corporate profits going up' became equivalent to 'the economy is improving'. For some it was improving, a tiny minority... for the rest, its still in the dolldrums. And getting worse. Today, 'upward mobility' is severely limited, simply because the jobs that people used to 'move up' into, aren't here anymore. (and this is why you see more adults working at McDonalds these days, than teenagers, whom the jobs were originally targeted at.) I wonder when corporate america is going to realize they are disenfrancising their target market...... (or maybe I should wonder IF they are going to figure that out...... how far will profits have to fall?) In any event, "globalization" is the great equalizer. It has enabled china to dramatically boost its economy, given them the money to radically expand military spending.... (that was kind of us.....) and brought far too many americans down to a third-world lifestyle. We are ending up with a plutocracy...... Society is becoming more and more stratified, with the tiny minority of haves, and the vast majority of have-nots......

Because some 'morality police' type organization would have had fits...... and made life hell for Beth.

Biggest problem, as I see it, no matter which way you go, is those in power tend to abuse their power...... Just human nature. The more power they have, the more likely they are to abuse it. One of the reasons the world is in such sad shape that we see today.

Go far enough left, and you end up with communism. A system that does NOT reward individual acheivement/industry. You end up with a society of mediocre drones, doing what they do, just to pass the time.... A "happy medium" would be best.... trouble is, I think that is a mythical beast. :)

Someone that cannot (will not?) care for themselves is a drain on the state....... But then, you get into "who is worthy of support"...... A whole new can of worms. Consider Steven Hawking. He most certainly cannot care for himself.... but, is he 'worth' supporting?? One could argue that he does indeed contribute...... But, what about all those folks in nursing homes? Those that for one reason or another, can no longer live on their own. They are no longer contributing...... but, that does NOT imply that they haven't contributed over the course of their lives.. Did they "earn" the right to be supported in their twilight years? Or, should the state just write them off, and let them fend for themselves? (I.E. kill them. Either through direct action, or inaction...) And what about those that are born with some variety of disablity, that will likely never contribute? Should they be allowed to die as well? Who makes that choice? Ah, Eugenics. If ever there was an industrial sized can of worms, you are it. :D

They are rather annoying clutter..... The only kids that AREN'T obnoxious brats are the ones you adopt...... all the kids with parents seem to be spoiled brats, with no respect for their elders...... Makes me wonder what Beth REALLY had in mind here..... Also, keep in mind, there are not only 'killable children' mods, there are also PLAYABLE children mods.......

Turn off "automatically restart" Start -> Right click "computer", select "properties" -> Advanced System Settings -> Clicke the "Settings" button under "Startup and Recovery", UNselect "automatically restart". Click OK all the way back out. Next time you play, if a bluescreen is your problem, you will actually get to see the info, and what the system is whining about. Crashes of that nature are generally hardware related....... Skyrim tends to seriously beat up your system, more so than most other games.

I guess I would have to say "centre". (center? scenter?) You need a balance of both, as there are going to be those individuals that are unable to care for themselves. Trouble is, with such a system in place, there are those that will take advantage of it because they simply don't WANT to take care of themselves.

:laugh: Yeah, there are times when I would just LOVE to slap Braith around. You afraid of me NOW little girl? Maybe you will learn to keep that big yap shut. She once followed me into Breezehome, with her "I'm not afraid of you." speech. I smacked her twice with my Ebony daggers, and all she did was cower, and whine. Wonder if someone has a spanking animation yet...... :) THAT would be soul satisfying. (and the kid in dragonsreach as well.... "Another wanderer come to lick my fathers boots." He could stand a good beat down too.... or, maybe I should just kill his father.....) I think Beth made the kids immortal, to prevent YouTube being flooded with characters going on child-killing campaigns. The overly-sensitive progressives here in the states would all have strokes...... and the game would get some truly vile rating, and would be banned from various consoles. :)

Awesome! Glad ya got it fixed. :D

It's where al the pretty little icons sit there next to the clock. :) If you mouse over the icons, they should tell you what they are. Might be an arrow to show more as well. Be sure and check those. Thinks like Desktop composition (compositing?), and the windows sidebar can cause issues as well. have you made any changes to your system since the last time the games worked?

Skyrim mods will have nothing to do with your other games. I suspect it's a background process giving you fits. See what's running in your system tray. Thinks like ASUS Smart Doctor, and Some OSD (on-screen display) software tends to mess with games.

Random chance? I liked how they did it in Morrowind. The DB would indeed come after you, singly at first, and if you survived those, more of them would start showing up at a time. That got REAL interesting..... Of course, with my Selective Fire Crossbow....... Even the DB sanctuary was a breeze...... Walked into a room with a half-dozen or more DB assassins, switched to full auto, and just sprayed the room. They all died without even getting close enough to hit me. That was a SURPRISE, as I didn't think the crossbow was THAT effective. :D

Didn't test the harddrive? Hhhhmmm...... Download a copy of the Ultimate Boot CD. Burn it to a disk, and then boot from the disk, go to memory, and run memtest86..... Let it run for one full pass. After that, run MHDD, (latest version.) Or, if there is one, use the specific Toshiba utility on the disk. (toshiba drives are not really known for their longevity....) For MHDD to see your drive. you may have to go in to bios, and change your SATA operation from RAID, or AHCI, to legacy, or ATA mode. (varies by bios) If MHDD doesn't see the drive initially, that is likely your problem.

Now there is an expensive hobby. :) Been working on cars since I was 14. (40 years) Have done everything from just basic maintenance, to total ground up restorations. Built a few fun hot rods. (72 Challenger was my fav..... big block 440 conservatively rated at 650 horseys, that one was a tire shredder.) I was always more into the 'sleepers' though. Looks plain jane on the outside, but, under the hood..... watch out. :) My 78 Caprice was a fine example..... From the outside, looked like the family grocery getter, aside from the slightly larger tires, and 3" dual exahust..... didn't sound like a family car either..... The 454 under the hood most certainly did not belong in a family car. :) Many a Mustang was left wondering what the hell just happened, when they got their doors blown off by a Caprice.......

Pay people to contribute to a product you plan to give away for free? Sure, if you have the money.......

Paid mods would be fine, IF (and that's a mighty big IF) Beth/Valve would actually put some effort into impementing it in a workable form, rather than just slap the paywall on something..... Also, the line "bring out more creative mods" I think was just a hook, hoping the community would swallow it. As it was, all paid mods were going to do was generate controversy, and bad feelings. Valve figgered that one out pretty quick, and dropped the project, for now..... Trouble is, I don't see either Valve, or Beth actually wanting to invest in this properly, to make it work. All we will see is half-measures, and propaganda, telling us what a great idea it is, but, implementation will still be terrible, and we will end up with the same results we got this time around.