tigisfat

Good post!! We'll make this a sticky so that others can utilize it for some time. Thank you for your contribution, and I'm sorry it wasn't noticed right away.

well said!!

Ah, the grand old issue. What's to make of it? Most agree that it's wrong, but after that we enter a debate riddled with heated opinions and vastly different ideaology. Few things are as gray. What about drinking and driving? That's an easy one to talk about. Even recovering alcoholics and drivers with DUIs on their records will tell you it's wrong to drive after you're up to .08, which for most people is one drink. There are no people waiting in the wings to argue that under certain and/or special circumstances, you can drive over the legal limit. You just shouldn't drink and drive over the legal limit any way you slice it. Back to the point, if you'll kindly follow me. Where's your personal limit for piracy? Have you downloaded MP3s? Have you downloaded software that's no longer for sale even though it was never released from copyright? See where I'm going? We can take this argument 72 ways from Sunday and get lost in the process. It seems that around here, these debates end up off track and a few sets of feelings get hurt every time. My recently locked thread explored personal opinion when it came to reselling software. You see, it's too broad to discuss. Software is covered by the same laws that tackle other forms of media, even including books. There are other legalities to consider as well. Who's hands are clean? Who hasn't borrowed a movie a friend has rented for their own use? Who's never burned a CD? Even if you haven't done it yourself, I'll bet you know someone with a massive MP3 collection that was downloaded. Yes, these acts DO put you in the same category as someone who's stolen payware MSFS products. If you've downloaded 4 songs from 4 different albums through limewire, You've (if you'd have purchased them otherwise) taken 40 plus dollars from the music industry. Taking it a bit further, you've stolen the equivalent of the CLS DC-10, which goes for 40 dollars at the pilotshop: https://www.fspilotshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=1161 If you fit any of these descriptions, I'm not writing this to badmouth you or pretend I'm better than you like some might. It's possible that I'm even offending both sides here. I'm simply exploring the 'common sense' side of piracy. In fact I'll go so far as to say that anybody reading this has more likely than not committed some form of piracy in their lifetime. When I was a child, I remember standing in line in Frye's electronics as two men argued over why one couldn't let the other just install their new copy of windows. At the time, we had a lightning fast 386 at our house. This goes to show how long these things have been going on. Somehow we think when we commit acts such as these we're different than the other guys who are the 'real' problem; but are we? Who is the other guy? When you see a pirate, do you see someone with a computer full of every single new release for MSFS, drinking coffee in a smoke filled room in Holland, creating bittorrents so that others may download them? Do you see (snickers to self) a guy with a trenchoat: "psst. hey buddy. wanna buy the IRIS F-15?" Who is it? Who are they? Is there a big crime ring? Are there kingpins of MSFS piracy? I for one, doubt it. I honestly think that there may be 'lords of piracy' out there, but I also think that 99.999999 percent of MSFS software piracy is the average user who downloads one product a few times a year. Things like movies are probably different. We all know that people do get DVD burners and churn out movies by the 100s. I'm not here to differentiate between illegal behavior, but I really think that's nobody's hands are completely clean; for whatever that means to you. (hopefully) We agree that piracy's wrong, right? We should be able to talk about piracy here and elsewhere without treating others like we're better than them.

Have you ever heard of a place called Silver Lake? It's a little south of Lake Tahoe. It's distinguished by being north/souht oriented with a small island. It's not huge, but there are plenty of horse trails that start there and lead to everywhere in California. we spent more time basing at Silver Lake than anywhere else. Then there was also Cherry lake, Yosemite and others. I liked Yosemite the least because of it's filth and smog. (that's right, SMOG). Most large valleys and Canyons in the Sierra Nevada are as beautiful as Yosemite. They say that long ago, the Hetch Hetchy valley was far more beautiful than Yosemite. That was of course before it was turned into one of the larger reservoirs in the area. Other than those main places, I've been all over those mountains. We'd select a base of operations, and leave on horseback for even more remote destinations. You gotta leave the beaten path to truly find the best scenery. Well, you also gotta leave the camping areas if you're going to find fishing and hunting so that you can eat!! The best camping is setting out on a horse for a few days at a time with minimal supplies. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I could hack it now. I like my creature comforts just fine after all my time camping as a young guy, then in tents all over the middle east when I got older.

I told a bit of a falsehood, I guess. I didn't actually grow up on a ranch. I grew up 'around' a ranch, for whatever that's worth. I spent a fair amount of time at my Aunt's ranch in Livermore. My actual home was in Castro Valley, CA; a small suburban settlement of neverending housing developments in the East bay area. Our house was on top of a hill that (on a good day) enabled views clear to San Jose and San Francisco. Castro Valley was caught in a situation unique to California: stuck between the country life and the crime and grit of slum neighborhoods closer to the bay. Upon his departure from the Army two years ago, my Brother discovered Castro Valley had completely lost the battle against becoming a slum itself. It doesn't look bad, but it's crime-ridden and hardened more than ever now. A fair portion of my time growing up was spent wandering the lower streets getting into trouble, but that's not what this specific blog is about. Back to my Aunt's ranch!! For the first twenty years of it's existence it was a sprawling expanse of rolling hills. A long gravel driveway made it's way through sheep pastures and up a small hill prominently featuring the Ranch house. In classic Ranch house fashion it was one story tall with a jillion rooms, wrapped tightly by open decks and lush groomed lawns. The back lawn was actually big enough to house our own brand of amateur sporting events during my Aunt's many get-togethers. To the rear, the hill gave way to a small valley with horse pastures and another hill with the barn. The barn was huge by my standards, and behind that lay yet the biggest portion of the property, one open pasture with larger hills. That large pasture lay over and behind those hills to be skirted by wineries and other ranches. It was here that my Aunt boarded horses (usually for free to friends) and raised her own world-class arabians. I've spent quite a few vacations deep into the Sierra Nevada horse camping with my own family and my Aunt's large entourage of friends and equine associates. At the ranch itself, I spent many weekend days and summer days working and simply enjoying the ranch life. The 'simple life' and clean air bore a stark contrast to the dramatics and filth of the East bay. It's easy in that light to see things for how they should be, and even know how you want your life to be when you're an adult. Why suffer through a high cost of living only to live a hurried life in air that doesn't feel good in your lungs? Unfortunately, in recent years the activities have taken a downturn, as has the ranch. My Aunt's octogenarian status has meant that she started gradually reducing the amount of horses she had through natural atrittion. A fair amount of her original ranch property has been sold off to bloodthirsty developers which promptly built ugly look-alike houses on top of the once beautiful rolling golden fields. I haven't been back; I've only heard from my brother as to the way things are. I don't think I want to go see for myself, either. Have you ever held a certain place or house dear to your heart because of time spent there as a child? Surely going to see the place won't do anything for me but bring me down. It's not like a gravesite that you visit regularly to pay your respects; the death of the ranch leaves fond memories that don't need to be replaced with a new vision of the way things are.

Mike; a short tour of inland rural california may change your wife's mind. Believe it or not, Northern California has a lot to offer. It's 70 degrees nearly year 'round and the weather's beautiful. I have had the unique experience of being raised on a ranch in the middle of nowhere and yet somehow being exposed to inner-city life on a daily basis. It lends to some unique culturing. Please take a look at my blogs. Your critiqueing and comments are not only welcome, they're invited.

This is my first Blog! The idea of blogging has always appealled to me; mainly because I talk to much and I've always got an opinion.:cool: If you follow this website's forums you know that I post nearly every day. That makes it automatically a good place for me to start my blogging----just because I'm 'here' a lot. I've always taken pride in my narrative and descriptive writing skills. I feel I have a natural ability to place a reader (or listener, for that matter) in the situation; to make them feel the story if you will. Unfortunately, I'm not doing this because I think I'm good. I'm blogging because I lack the ability to convey thought in an organized and adult manner. All the ability to analogize and be creative in the world won't help you if you ramble!! Noone will pay attention, and you sound like a madman instead of the great prophet. What's the point in writing or speaking if noone will read or listen? After all, writing is a only a great form of expression if done properly. History shows us that wars have been started because emotions were not properly conveyed on paper. Hopefully through the critiqueing and reading of a few others, I will turn myself into a much better writer. I believe with work, my small writing beanstalk can reach castles in the sky.