Gerard Heime

I'm wondering if Law Enforcement officers have more difficulty tracking down revolvers than semi-automatics, because revolvers don't leave cases at the crime scene?

Did anyone play the game on this particular graphics card? What were the results? I have a desktop with Windows 8.1, Intel Quad Core i7 920 2.93 GHz CPU, 4x 2 GB HyperX DDR3 1600MHz RAM and GeForce 275 GTX.

I want to improve my pistol shooting technique. I'm shooting a 9mm Steyr M9 at a 25m (82ft) competition shooting range and usually most of my shots end up left and down from the center of the target. With a .22 pistol, I have no problem hitting the mark most of the time. I'm a left-handed shooter.

Can you give me any tips?

In my line of work I write short pieces of dialog in English. In this particular case, I need a way to emphasize that the character saying the dialog failed at something (i.e. "Damn, the TV broke!").

I have a problem deciding which word to use. I heard that "damn" is a swear word not suitable for people 13 yrs old or younger and I want the dialog to be as much family-friendly as possible.

I was going to go for "dang" or "darn" but I don't know which is more popular and universal (the target audience is the whole US). Also, are those words really less offensive than "damn"? I was going to go for "darn" but isn't it a regional phrase?

I watch a lot of American TV series, but I'm not from the US. I've noticed that in a lot of TV series, characters address each other using their last names, eg. "Castle", "House", "Dexter" ("What are you doing tonight, Castle?") even, when those characters are family, close friends or acquaintances. In my native language, it's derogatory to address someone directly using their last name, and referencing a third party by the last name in a conversation is usually reserved for formal relations (boss-employee, for example).

This said, I want to know you opinion on the subject. Is it true for day-to-day English, or is it a thing seen only on the TV? Why do you think people use their last names and not first names?

Most American agglomerations aren't single cities, but rather metropolitan areas containing different cities or even counties. Let's take the San Francisco Bay Area. It is composed out of nine counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. All of those counties have different Sheriff's Offices. There are cities like San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Fremont, Santa Rosa, Redwood City, Concord, Fairfield, Berkeley, Napa, San Rafael, Hayward which have their own respective Police Departments. That gives us 12 different PD's!

With crime not knowing any borders or limits, how those Sheriff's Offices and Police Departments manage to coordinate fighting crime? Is there any central institution for the coordination of different SO's or PD's? How police detectives manage to find criminals hiding outside their jurisdiction?

I understand that, under PC 12276.1, it is illegal to possess a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and a forward pistol grip.

But what happens when I have a rifle with a RIS rail underneath, and attach a forward pistol grip to the rail? Is that illegal too? Supposedly, I use the gun with the forward pistol grip attached (and that's illegal) but store my rifle with the grip off - and that's legal, right?

I know that in California, I need to have a safe suitable for weapon storage in my house or a trigger lock for each weapon I purchase - I need to prove that I possess one of those whenever I want to buy a gun.

But do I need to actually keep my gun inside the safe or locked with a trigger lock? Keeping my gun locked up would deny me the ability to react quickly to a home invasion or other unlawful entry on my property.

Let's say I dial 911 in a big US city, like New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. What's the average time between my call and the police arriving at the scene of the crime? Let's assume that it's urgent, like a violent crime in progress.

I keep seeing those things on Google Map and don't know what they are. Wikipedia says a slough is just some kind of a secondary channel of a river delta, usually flushed by the tide. But those sloughs in San Jose area don't look like the part of a river. So what are they? Do they have any economic value? Why do they have such regular shapes, are they used in some way like fishing, for example?

Just check those coordinates: 37.445426,-122.001972

I know that different stages of NREM sleep can be distinguished by brain waves from alpha to delta.

And what about REM sleep?

(Wikipedia states that there are no dominating brain waves during REM sleep, but there's no citation and I want to be sure)

I'm browsing through mythology and religion to find a mention of a demon or other evil spirit that has the ability to possess people when they are asleep and/or visits them in their sleep.

Have you heard about such a demon/spirit?

I'm NOT interested in pop culture. Only traditional mythology and/or religious beliefs.

What is the armor rating of Russian-made BMP-1 IFV according to STANAG 4569?

Also, what are the armor ratings for BMP-2 and BMP-3?

I was watching Rambo First Blood yesterday and it appeared strange to me that Rambo got arrested for vagrancy. I didn't know vagrancy was a crime in the US. I would like to know is there a legal definition of vagrancy and what are the laws prohibiting it. Could a person be arrested just because he looks like a homeless/drifter? Because that's what happened to Rambo in the movie (yes, I know it's a work of fiction but nevertheless it's a very good picture).

I was wondering if it's possible to train animals so they could help the police in looking for bodies underwater. A lot of criminals try to dump their victims and/or evidence in rivers and lakes, and there are many accidents and suicides where the body ends up deep underwater.

I know that dolphins were trained by the US military as working animals and there are fresh water dolphins. Also, other intelligent animals could be used, such as otters and other water mammals.

But is this idea feasible? Did anyone try it before?

Dragons are very popular in Chinese culture, but what else? In the West, we've got faeries, vampires, werewolves, trolls, dryads, centaurs, and all sorts of mythical creatures. Can you give me an example of a well-known Chinese mythical creature? Maybe something so unique there's no western counterpart.

I have a jacket with a synthetic fur collar. The fur's white, and after a while it got really dark from the dirt, but I don't know how to clean it without damaging it. I asked at the dry cleaners if they can help, but they told be they told me it'll cost a lot and they can't guarantee it works. So, maybe there's some simpler, less expensive solution? I really like that jacket!

I'm looking for good, classic songs about the wild west and/or the civil war, or modern tributes to the wild west/civil war. Are there any well known, cult classics that I should listen to?

I tried looking for soundtracks from westerns, but they are instrumental-only and I'm looking for something with lyrics.

Scaring people in a horror movie is quite easy: the music builds up tension, the monster suddenly jumps out of nowhere, everything is graphic and gory. But you can't have that in a book. So how does a good author scare his readers? Is there a good way to shock and surprise the reader in a horror novel? How to create tension and the feeling of uncertainness typical of good horrors?