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viscousmemories
08-30-2006, 05:47 PM
It occurred to me last night that despite having spent many hours breaking down my M16, cleaning it and putting it back together (not to mention actually being the company armorer for quite a few months, albeit all 20 years ago) I have no recollection of how it's done. I even found an M16 handbook online with illustrated step-by-step instructions, and looking at it rang not a single bell. Nevertheless, I still remember whole television advertising jingles from my childhood.
TomJoe
08-30-2006, 05:52 PM
Nevertheless, I still remember whole television advertising jingles from my childhood.
I have hundreds of songs crammed into my memory. I don't think I can sing them all without prodding (i.e., having the song playing in the background) but ... it doesn't take much to recollect them. However, though I studied Organic Chemistry with a dedication I didn't put into any of my other classes while in college, I'd be hard pressed to remember much of it ... and at this point in my life, I need the organic chemistry knowledge more than I need to remember the lyrics to She Blinded Me With Science.
Moxy
08-30-2006, 06:11 PM
I bet it would come back to you if you actually had an M16 in your hands.
viscousmemories
08-30-2006, 06:16 PM
TJ: :laugh:

I was wondering that myself, Moxy. I suppose it's possible, it just doesn't seem like it. Anyway I was thinking about this because I saw Spike Lee's excellent (though very, very long) documentary about New Orleans and Hurrican Katrina last night, and some resident afraid of the disorder was talking about all his personal guns he brought to bear on the situation. It occurred to me that I haven't touched a gun in 20 years*, and I started wondering if I'd know what to do with one if I did.


*...'gun', not 'weapon', for the amusement of the military folks.
TomJoe
08-30-2006, 06:40 PM
I bet it would come back to you if you actually had an M16 in your hands.

I'm not sure holding an M16 would help me remember O-Chem, but it's worth a shot I suppose. Oh wait ... you were talking to vm. Nevermind. :P
Moxy
08-30-2006, 06:43 PM
I'm not sure holding an M16 would help me remember O-Chem, but it's worth a shot I suppose. Oh wait ... you were talking to vm. Nevermind. :P


Maybe if someone were pointing one at you, you'd be inclined to remember. :assault:
The Jesus Lawyer
08-30-2006, 06:43 PM
It occurred to me last night that despite having spent many hours breaking down my M16, cleaning it and putting it back together (not to mention actually being the company armorer for quite a few months, albeit all 20 years ago) I have no recollection of how it's done. I even found an M16 handbook online with illustrated step-by-step instructions, and looking at it rang not a single bell.

good. :)
Sock Puppet
08-30-2006, 06:47 PM
That's okay, an M-16 isn't the best choice to take up to the clock tower, anyway.
Plant Woman
08-30-2006, 06:48 PM
I had something important to say and now I forgot.
Beth
08-30-2006, 06:53 PM
I used to play the violin very well, but I recently picked one up to play and totally forgot how to play it. I found it very upsetting. I'm glad I'm not the only one who forgets things that they learned to do well.
Sock Puppet
08-30-2006, 06:56 PM
I used to play clarinet as a kid. I was okay at it, at least better than most of the other tone-deaf kids. But I doubt I could make it sound more pleasing than a dying hyena's howl at this point. Now that I think about it, though, I do remember how to make an F (left thumb on back hole only) and an F sharp (left forefinger on hole directly opposite the thumbhole). B-flat, too.
Moxy
08-30-2006, 07:04 PM
I used to play the trumpet, and I sucked.

They kept telling me to blow, but I wouldn't listen.
Miisa
08-30-2006, 07:20 PM
What you need is a rhyming, jingle-like melody about assembling M16's.
Watser?
08-30-2006, 10:47 PM
What you need is a rhyming, jingle-like melody about assembling M16's.

:lol:

I have loads of useless facts stacked up there too

I found an M16 bullet in the Palestinian Territories and had put it in my pocket, forgot about the whole thing.
And then they found it at the airport, I was not allowed to take it with me :hmph:

I guess they were afraid I might assemble an M16 around it or would throw it ballistically :stoopid:
Sock Puppet
08-30-2006, 11:22 PM
I guess they were afraid I might assemble an M16 around it or would throw it ballistically
Heh. Reminds me of what my martial arts teacher used to say. "Of course I can stop a bullet with kung fu. Go ahead, throw one."
biochemgirl
08-31-2006, 12:57 AM
Some of all those cycles I spent hours and hours memorizing from all my biochem classes are long since gone. Kreb's cycle? What's that? LOL

I think it's just because I work in a virology lab and really do more microbio. type work. So I guess I'm really just becoming more skilled in a different field.
California Tanker
08-31-2006, 02:07 AM
It's mathematics that completely eludes me. Differential equations?

As for the rifle, it's as easy as falling off a log. First, you need a real log to fall off of. When you have that, the rest comes easy.

NTM
Ensign Steve
08-31-2006, 02:29 AM
I probably couldn't break down an M-16 right now, but I certainly could load and fire one. That's the important part, right?
quiet bear
08-31-2006, 02:43 AM
Lock and load.

No ammo, no brass.


Um...let's see....I remember there was a spring. A firing pin. A bolt. What was the name of the thing you pulled back to load a round into the chamber?
viscousmemories
08-31-2006, 02:43 AM
That's okay, an M-16 isn't the best choice to take up to the clock tower, anyway.
Was that a completely random joke, or did you know that happened in Austin and consider that I'm moving there soon? RevDahlia told me about it when she gave me a tour of the city, and I just read the Crime Library article (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/whitman/index_1.html) about it. :eek:
Sock Puppet
08-31-2006, 03:53 AM
No, I didn't know that happened in Austin, although I did know you were moving there soon. In fact, I thought there was more than one clock tower sniper incident, since it's sort of a standard cliche.
viscousmemories
08-31-2006, 03:55 AM
Hmm... maybe there was more than one. I don't know, really.
Anastasia Beaverhausen
08-31-2006, 04:58 AM
I'll be fucked if I remember how to calculate vectors.
viscousmemories
08-31-2006, 05:00 AM
You must be trying pretty hard to remember, then.
Crumb
08-31-2006, 05:27 AM
Was that at a university there in Austin, vm? (The sniper I mean not the vector fucking.)
viscousmemories
08-31-2006, 05:41 AM
Was that at a university there in Austin, vm?
Yeah, University of Texas. The shooters name was Charles Whitman. He killed his mother, then wife (to spare them the misery of living without him) and then went up to the observation deck on the UofT Tower and proceeded to kill 14 people and wound many others during a 90+ minute spree, before a couple cops got up to where he was and killed him.
pescifish
08-31-2006, 09:09 PM
Odd.

I woke up this morning thinking I knew every step of disassembling, cleaning and reassembling an M-16. Check your memories, vm. You might suddenly know all sorts of chemistry shit, since I can't remember a scrap of it.

I can still do math in octal, though. :)
Smilin
08-31-2006, 09:17 PM
TJ: :laugh:

It occurred to me that I haven't touched a gun in 20 years*, and I started wondering if I'd know what to do with one if I did.


*...'gun', not 'weapon', for the amusement of the military folks.

You haven't touched your gun in 20 years? :laugh: Personally, I touch mine on a daily basis!

TMI! TMI! :chin: :giggle: :D :P
TomJoe
08-31-2006, 09:31 PM
Was that at a university there in Austin, vm?
Yeah, University of Texas.

TU's claim to fame.