Ujumbe: 47
Lugha: English
ceigered (Wasifu wa mtumiaji) 16 Januari 2009 10:38:11 asubuhi
erinja:Incidentally, this same guy told me some stories of Australian soldiers he'd served with in Afghanistan. He had a deep respect for those guys, he said they were really tough, and that they plunged right into dangerous situations.Actually on the news just a hour ago or something, some soldier from Australia (not sure what state, probably Victoria or something) was awarded with the victoria cross (meaning he did something brave
).Anyway, Texta is a company that is pretty much the 'founder' of felt tip markers in Australia, because they were so prominent, we now call those colourful markers 'Textas' and market them with that name even though it is technically a trademark - no one cares though, it's kind of like free advertising for the Texta company. But in Australia it's now pretty much the word we use now. I guess though that texta's/felt tip markers aren't important enough to warrant international use unlike Kangaroos or Boomerangs so it's no surprise it hasn't caught on elsewhere. I think the etymology is 'text + a' although to pronounce it like an Australian you keep the first syllable short and have a slightly higher tone, then end with 'er' without the 'r' with a lower tone
And you couldn't get a gun into Australia without either being arrested by the navy @ sea or being arrested by border security (both of which do have guns, the former having automatic rifles). Then, if you did flash a gun at someone, they'd call the STAR force (in South Aus) and they also have automatic rifles and body armour. Guns only ever make a civilian appearance with farmers shooting pests or hunting kangaroo for meat.
However the bikies (motorcycle gangs) do have guns (somehow!) and we still make guns in Australia but they are all experimental things like metalstorm.
Now, linking this rant to Esperanto lol:
Thank you Miland for your explanation of those terms, that's the best name I've seen for a shotgun so far! I never quite got the concept of the 'shot' when I was little
And alexbeard do you know how you went in your exam(s)?
alexbeard (Wasifu wa mtumiaji) 16 Januari 2009 1:34:11 alasiri
Yeah those are the stories people would love to brag about. But...what if you think it's an intruder and it's your sick kid coming to your bedroom?
~to ceigered
I think my exams are ok. A's and B's
Not sure about my math exam though...that thing was soul crushing. I took a practice test in the book that was on the same material. My math teacher's exam was twice as long and about four time as hard
But I can make a D on the exam and still pass
So it's all good
Well you aren't supposed to flash a gun in the US either.
people do anyways 
erinja (Wasifu wa mtumiaji) 16 Januari 2009 7:15:39 alasiri
alexbeard:~to erinjaThis is what I told him, and he said that the first thing you learn in military training is to verify your target. Well, duh, but we have friendly fire deaths in the military, so clearly this "verify your target" thing is not foolproof.
Yeah those are the stories people would love to brag about. But...what if you think it's an intruder and it's your sick kid coming to your bedroom?
I asked him, what if your gun is in a different room than you're in? He said, he has gun safes in different parts of the house. I said, what if you're on the toilet when the intruder comes, do you have a gun safe there too? He said that he doesn't. Very weird. Statistically, a gun in the house is more likely to kill a member of the household (whether through murder, suicide, or accident) than to kill or hold off an intruder. But certain people are not interested in science.
alexbeard (Wasifu wa mtumiaji) 16 Januari 2009 8:27:27 alasiri
And, if the intruder has a gun and you don't, he'll just threaten with it he won't actually shoot. He's looking for some quick cash, he doesn't want to get convicted of murder.
But some people need a weapon just to feel safe, I would suggest having a baseball bat or a golf club, something nonlethal you know?
Frankouche (Wasifu wa mtumiaji) 16 Januari 2009 11:35:09 alasiri
In France (and in europe, i believe), we can not have guns to defend ourselves, it's forbidden, and it's OK (else we will kill ourselves all the time, i'm sure!).
alexbeard (Wasifu wa mtumiaji) 17 Januari 2009 12:25:26 asubuhi
SuperMarc92 (Wasifu wa mtumiaji) 17 Januari 2009 12:32:08 asubuhi
(sorry if I made any mistakes)
Frankouche (Wasifu wa mtumiaji) 17 Januari 2009 1:10:40 asubuhi
SuperMarc92:Here, in Canada, most people don't even lock the door of their houses. It's a very different way of thinking along the countries.I've seen this on a Michael Moore's movie, i wasn't really sure of that. That's wonderfull.
The United States was built on the principle that if the people wanted to have a revolution, they could take out the government. So, guns are legalSee the czech revolution, the downfall of the berlin wall and iron fence, there were not shotguns.
alexbeard (Wasifu wa mtumiaji) 17 Januari 2009 2:25:49 asubuhi
Frankouche:To Supermarc, really you don't even lock your doors? *looks at the deadbolt on his front door*SuperMarc92:Here, in Canada, most people don't even lock the door of their houses. It's a very different way of thinking along the countries.I've seen this on a Michael Moore's movie, i wasn't really sure of that. That's wonderfull.The United States was built on the principle that if the people wanted to have a revolution, they could take out the government. So, guns are legalSee the czech revolution, the downfall of the berlin wall and iron fence, there were not shotguns.
To Frankouche, the only reason they didn't have shot guns is because no Americans were there
zixhwizs (Wasifu wa mtumiaji) 17 Januari 2009 3:31:40 asubuhi
alexbeard:There are places in the US that are like this too. I, now being a practical paranoid, am not one of them, but there are people like that where I was raised. They only lock their door when leaving for extended periods like weeklong vacations. In fact, on those rare occasions, it takes them some time to locate the key to use with the door. And even with the door locked, there is always an unsecured window, just in case a neighbor needs to borrow something.
To Supermarc, really you don't even lock your doors? *looks at the deadbolt on his front door*
They also keep cars unlocked with the keys under the driver seat. Ludicrous though it may seem, there's a certain sense of freedom with being able to do that and not worry.