coyote wrote:And cryptic "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you" as an explanation would not fly.
Okay, first, you have blurred pop culture with reality. Instead of going right to 'kill him' it is far easier to deny and put out a statement to discredit me would be far more effective. But, that assumes that something I said would be taken seriously...given that all I posted was words...on an internet board...that was built around the idea of 2 science fiction franchises fighting...which is never actually gonna happen.
If what people of SDN say is true, that no one pays attention to what we say, that we are the extremists that shout so loudly so often that no one pays attention to us, then this would be buried in that noise. Nothing would ever come of it, so nothing would have to be done.
I don't have to kill anyone or have someone assigned to kill someone. The point is that this is a commitment that I take seriously. Those that are aware of how I have been trained trust me and know that I am not a security risk. I don't have hard wire taps in the telephone junction box at my place. I don't know of any software surveillance on my laptop though there's probably spyware somewhere from something I've downloaded, but this is just my personal laptop. There isn't anything that would cause a voltage spike when my phone is used.
And since evidence would not be forthcoming, there would eventually be a Senate poll to see if this person is worth wasting space on. Not because of being a Wongbot, but rather, because at SDN there is a lower crap-tolerance watermark.
And, as much as Wong says he's an engineer with a degree, the engineering incompetance I seen him write on his site over the years makes me think he either cheated on his tests or he didn't go to school. I'm not aware of any university in the US or Canada that requires that you show you're a student when you buy textbooks. I never did at any of the schools I went to. You park in a visitor's spot, walk into the book store, thumb through the books on the relevent subjects you want to learn and choose the one that covers the stuff you want to know.
It isn't even required you do all that because a lot of engineering and physics and such is available online at education sites.
globalsecurity.org has military field manuals and most don't need a username and password to access. Online books stores, like amazon.com sell field manuals, too, including a version from a few years ago of the army FM 31-20 special forces operational techniques. You wanna know how to work through a forested/jungle area, as you're firing or even an urban area? Paintball. The weapons there don't pack the punch of real automatic weapons of the battle field, so you go to the target ranges that let you rent automatic weapons. Learn to shoot with your body in different positions. Wanna sharp shoot? I've heard of ranges for that, too.
Hunt and track, but without killing people and animals? Set up multiple camps over short distances at first. Some days, one camp does the hunting, while the other doesn't. Then, you spread out how far and how long you track.
Wanna learn aerial maneuvers? Learn to fly a plane and/or helicopter and join an air show. On the surface water firghting. You might be able to find a paintball version. Wanna learn how to fight under water? Not that hard to figure out without being in the military? Even fighting in zero gravity isn't that hard a thing. Get in one of those planes that takes you high enough you're virtually weightless. Parachuting? No problem. Scuba diving? No problem. Even underwater maneuvers in a submarine isn't that hard a thing to learn because not all subs are big hinkin' things.
All it takes is some creativity for civilians to get it, especially if they research who was involved in setting the place up. Lots of ex-military people make businesses that let civilians experience parts of the military without being in one. Hell, a parent that was in the military that teaches their kid military tactics and self-defense taught in the military doesn't make the kid part of the military.
I could even go on to explain how the instructions for improvised explosive devices are online through websites and online bookstores, as well certain not online bookstores. I just takes a little time, some creativity and research on your part. The Art of War by Sun Tzu is still studied today with the every changing landscape of criminals and terrorists and that book is old as shit. It's wealth of information is so vast that it's used even in areas off the battle field. All this stuff I've just mentioned is right off the top of my head.
This is just a small portion of how it could be done.
And believe it or not, I'm actually one of the nice, polite, generally forgiving people on the board. I'm there because I already felt this way and found a acceptably comfy place, not because I showed up as unformed dough and let Mike Wong form my brain into a mirror image of his own. I'm about as far from DW as you can get in many things. Saying that it's a zombie attack is just excuse-seeking.
A viewpoint similar to his can come from someone from pretty much any background, just as it does with ours.