This is a joke, right?

I point blank refuse to believe that anyone could be that bad at photoshop.

I've played airsoft like this for a few years now off an on so feel well enough qualified to comment.

It's largely a matter of range. Most sites allow up to 500fps on snipers (and some american ones go up to 800 or so I believe), but they have a minimum engagement range (usually about 25 meters, presumably more for the silly american ones).

Basically, non automatic sniper rifles are allowed to be significantly more powerful than the 330fps (400 in some countries) other weapons are limited to, but as a result can't be used at short range (that's what pistols and compact SMG's are for!).

If you are close to the minimum range limit and it hits unprotected skin, they sting really badly, enough to draw a little blood sometimes. It's not entirely dissimilar to being whipped by a wet towel, excruciating for about half a second then it tails off to just stinging and swearing.

If it hits your vest, glasses, hat etc. then it wont really hurt at all (but you still felt it you cheating bastards! ), likewise if you are out beyond 50meters or so as the power drops off with range as you'd expect. (My brother can sometimes make shots out to 70-80meters with a VSR but you can barely feel it)

Shoot at point blank and your target can be forgiven for walking over and punching you in the face....right after they stop swearing and get up off the ground. (entirely possible to penetrate exposed skin at that range)

In practice though, trying to storm a building/room vs automatic rifles etc. tends to be far more painful an experience than being sniped. Unless that is someone snipes the inside of your nose sideways on (it hurt as much as you imagine it did).

We also once had a guy knocked clean out by a grenade launcher to the face at point blank . But it was a Co2 powered thing and I believe they aren't allowed inside buildings any more (can't think why).

Re: paintballs, in my much more limited experience, they are waaaaay worse than BB's if they are full power and reasonably close range. Concussions, broken bones and broken skin are all entirely possible (though not likely), but bruises and welts are basically standard issue.

I believe some sites run compressed air guns (rather than Co2) at much lower power levels, so I imagine they are a lot more tolerable.
Paintballers tend to be more on the extreme sports side of things (wheras airsoft tends to be more biased towards military geeks/gamers), and so many sites have a bit of a "pain is weakness leaving the body" attitude to power levels.

In the UK at least the velocity limit for paintballs at competition level is 300fps, for most airsoft sites the limit is 330fps. You only have to look at a BB vs a paintball to see what a discrepancy in energy that equates to!!!

But seriously, @JustSaying

If that's how you feel, all you needed to express was that idea in the very last paragraph.

That's an insightful and helpful topic of discussion. Nice, one.

The rest - unfortunately- was you explicitly saying..

"While White Shame stretches as far from.. mundane everyday political buffoonery.. to harrowing tales of holocausts & lynchings..

..point-blank, there is literally NOTHING you colored folks could say to hurt my feelings/make me feel any true embarrassment, outrage or remorse..

(including the most terrible heinous things my heritage & daily life present)

..because at the end of the day, this world was LITERALLY made for me

(besides. i'm not even culpable for any of that abhorrent stuff
that "happened such a long time ago".

So what's wrong/why shouldn't I still benefit from it today also)

so.. hah. whatevs"

A point folks like @lantern53 ACTIVELY REFUSE to admit is THE #1 problem in American race-relations.

This video proves point-blank that Sarah is not fit to lead anyone.
This woman in any sort of power truly scares me.

Did you catch David Sirota's first piece over at nsfwcorp?

Saying Boo To A Ghost: It's No Secret Why Congress Fears Crossing The NSA

Money quote by Alan Grayson:

GRAYSON: It's possible - one of my colleagues asked the NSA point blank will you give me a copy of my own record and the NSA said no, we won't. They didn't say no we don't have one. They said no we won't. So that's possible.

If a cop knocks on my door and says he wants to ask me a few questions, I say "Sure, what's up? What can I help you with?"

Because here's the really odd part . . . If I'm not doing anything wrong, he's going to leave. Why? BECAUSE IT'S NOT A POLICE STATE. *ahem* But yes, any normal, sane person doesn't freak out the moment an officer approaches them. Who typically freaks out? People that are guilty or crazy. I've had officers knock on my door before, and I didn't pull out the camera and start threatening to kill them.

But, on the other hand, I've had officers pull me over for no just cause and my first question to them is "Why did you pull me over." If they don't answer, I tell them point blank that unless they have probable cause I don't accept this as legitimate.

If an officer shows up to a potential domestic abuse, quite frankly, I would expect nothing less than what these officers did. Too many women have died because the officers couldn't intervene in domestic affairs. Under a Republican, mind you Bob. As long as the man said nothing was wrong, that was the end of the story.

So what if someone was critically injured, or near dead, or the child would be severely beaten if the woman didn't tell the officers she was okay? Then what? You'd be crying about how incompetent they are.

You're seeing what you want to see, simple as that. For those of us who are rational, we'll wait until there's more information before jumping on the screaming and moaning bandwagon.

If you're interested, the Anaheim police doubled down on asshole tonight and shot more people with beanbag rounds and rubber bullets. Some were shot at point blank range, some police fired at the press, arrests were made, etc.

>> ^EvilDeathBee:


Have you ever been to Japan?

Nope, but I'm going in september... can't wait

>> ^EvilDeathBee:

Every where else is a mixed bag. You get friendly, you get indifferent. You get surly, you get downright rude.

True, there are definitely highs and lows, but overall, I've found the standard to be much higher in the US than almost anywhere else I've been in Europe, Asia or Oceania.

>> ^EvilDeathBee:

The place where I encountered the friendliest waiting staff was my local cafe back in Melbourne (god i miss it) where I've never been obliged to tip (did occasionally though).


Haven't been to Melbourne in a few years, but I remember it being pretty good there too (and great coffee!).

I dislike being expected to tip regardless of service. I remember being outraged that a service charge of 15% was added to my bill at a reasonably expensive restaurant in Ireland where the service was just awful. I point blank refused to pay it.

On the flip side, I'm happy to tip in countries where it's not the norm if the service is good.

and now the regime has been proven to be behind the massacres, tacitly if not directly.

point blank executions of children. i believe there is a video here, NSFW or anyone who doesnt want to experience horror... warning

were the guns in Houla loud enough for the world to hear yet?

Ah yeah... Mosquito saliva includes an anaesthetic, that's why you don't feel it.

I'm pretty sure the sudden inflation of 5-10 ml's of cold fluid at near the speed of sound into my highly nerve sensitive skin is going to hurt like hell.

Flesh expands around injections because skin and muscle is elastic. However the faster you expand it the more it's going to hurt and damage surrounding tissue.

You're basically being shot, point blank, by a miniature Railgun.

>> ^RadHazG:

Eia or no?


Yes. *eia

No, I'm not saying that. I think there is ample historical evidence that wherever you have a capitalist system you will have some people living off the returns of their capital, and that not all of them will be doing anything productive with their lives. I certainly agree with your sentiment that trying to shoehorn real people into caricatures is problematic, and I for one much prefer my world to be in shades of grey rather than simply black and white.

The advantages of using Paris Hilton as your example are, as you stated, that everybody thinks she is one of the idle rich... and any evidence that she draws considerable income from other sources can easily enough be swept under the rug.
In reply to this comment by NetRunner:
So I guess I should just ask point blank, are you saying that my overall premise is wrong, and that there is no such thing as "idle rich"?

And just to make myself explicit, where I was really gonna go with the argument was that there's a fundamental problem with castigating "idleness" and valorizing "work", especially if your definition of "idle" is "not receiving any income" and "work" as "receiving income from any source".

Paris Hilton is an awesome springboard from the usual "welfare queens vs. captains of industry" conversation into something a little more grounded in reality, since both welfare queens and captains of industry are just figments of our imagination. The real people we lump into those categories never live up to those caricatures.

So I guess I should just ask point blank, are you saying that my overall premise is wrong, and that there is no such thing as "idle rich"?

And just to make myself explicit, where I was really gonna go with the argument was that there's a fundamental problem with castigating "idleness" and valorizing "work", especially if your definition of "idle" is "not receiving any income" and "work" as "receiving income from any source".

Paris Hilton is an awesome springboard from the usual "welfare queens vs. captains of industry" conversation into something a little more grounded in reality, since both welfare queens and captains of industry are just figments of our imagination. The real people we lump into those categories never live up to those caricatures.

In reply to this comment by oritteropo:
No, and in fact the people I can think of who lived off their inheritances tend to have done something notable as well, or I probably wouldn't have heard of them (like the impressionist painter Paul Cezanne).

When I tried a google search for more candidates, the first hit was from ancient Greece! Apollodorus, son of Pasion the slave...
In reply to this comment by NetRunner:
Do you have a better example in mind? I mostly use her as my go-to example because she's a name people will recognize, associate with being ridiculously rich, has a reputation for having a crap work ethic, and a reputation for being completely out of touch with how normal people live.

I have more nuanced reasons for picking her as well, but that's really more of a springboard into a discussion about what "work ethic" really means...

He also states that his personal beliefs are his alone and not to be forced onto others. I am taught by professors at a state university where I have been told point blank that they have religious beliefs, yet they still teach Science. The two are not incompatible or exclusive. I suggest this article by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow about the subject. I assume you will accept Dr Hawking's conclusions. PDF


I'm voting for Obama because he is the man right now, but I'm finding it surprisingly easy to play devils advocate for Ron Paul.

I don't find Ron Paul's rhetoric or discourse frightening or crazy.

Obama says he is a Christian, which by default means he denies evolution de facto, and I am a biological sciences major.... and you know why I don't care? Because Obama believes in everyones rights, and doesn't deny science where science is the leader.

Why is it so hard to conceive that an active conspiracy to hide the newsletters from Paul was successful, when the outcome would be exactly the same as the one we're debating? The one where NO ONE has heard Ron Paul ever, EVER say anything like the things in the newsletters?

Ever. Not even HEARD him say it.

Look how the fucking GOP candidates cant go ONE DAY without saying something so incendiary... they cant possibly believe such things ... and expect more than 48% of the vote...

Bluntly put: If Ron Paul was a racist, it would probably HELP his campaign the way the world is. Consider that.

I especially enjoy when he doesn't just argue for another point of view, but holds a mirror up to his opponent and calls them out on the concept they're espousing, telling them point blank how low he thinks they've sunk in defense of some ugly nonsense. Examples being the jokes about circumcision, and god monitoring your thoughts to incriminate you unless you beg forgiveness, etc.

The incredible amount of garbage and lies the faithful try to pass off as something based in reality requires nothing less than a generous portion of Hitchslapping.