Cueillette Du Nez - Picking your nose, is it okay?

That's right, we're getting fancy today. Cueillette Du Nez, literally means "Picking nose" in french , which is our topic of discussion today. (Unless Google Translate lied to me again!) Nose picking, is it worth the social out casting? Maybe so.

I don't see anything up there, do you?

The act of nose picking, is the act of removing dried mucus and/or foreign bodies from the nose cavity with one of the ten fingers in a human body. Obviously, this act of mucus removal, has been marked evil-y immoral and disgusting to even speak about. But is all the hype really true?

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Benefits of Eating Eggs

You can fry them, hard-boil them, soft-boil them, poach them, scramble them, basically anything and it'll still taste good. Having a couple eggs for breakfast can prove beneficial to your health in different and delicious ways.

These Ostrich eggs aren't going to fry themselves.

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Wojtek: A True Soldier

Wojtek served under the the Polish Army, and was formally drafted in the 22nd Artillery Supply Company in order to get him into a British transport ship when the unit was traveling to Egypt. Why was it that he needed to be drafted? Because the British High Command didn't allow pets or animals in the camps. Pesty British right? Hold on, what's that? Oh yeah, Wojtek was a Syrian Brown Bear.

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Bullet Eating : America's Next Problem

"Would eating a ballistic projectile prove to be beneficial to my health?"

In theory, no. In practice, you should be put in the loony bin for even asking that question. Attempting to digest a ballistic projectile of any caliber can prove to be fatal in both obvious and un-obvious ways. 

Despite common misconceptions, eating ballistic projectiles does NOT prove to help lose weight. Many health blogs and online advertisements have advocated the oral use of bullets in order to decrease body weight, and increase self-esteem. These "blogs" and advertisements claim that the bullet's commonly contained metal "lead" and a mystery solid have had various health benefits lenient towards weight lost and increase sense of well-being.

It's un-American I tell you!

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Why Flying Cars Wouldn't Work

Flying hover cars from the future? Why wouldn't they work? It's the future after all right? Despite how cool it would be to zip your kids to school in a hover-van, it wouldn't work out in the real world.

Hahahaha! Look at those lame ground people machines!

Essentially, creating flying cars of private and commercial-use would pretty much mean giving every man and woman access to a private plane.  Think about it, do you want your crazy uncle Tim flying a plane? Flying cars would become a threat to the general population's security, and it would be impractical to build and use.

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Some Much More Manlier Challenges : For the Manlier Man

So I figured, drinking a a few glasses of milk and eating some crackers isn't "challenge-ly" enough. Thereore, I'll compile a list of feats of manliness. If you thought eating six crackers under a minute was hard, turn away now. In fact, turn off your computer and just leave the room, otherwise keep on reading.

I couldn't find a manly enough picture, so here's about 10 Siberian Huskies.

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Challenges 1

Challenge's? "Hah! I challenge you, to give me a challenge I can't completely and utterly succeed in!" Don't worry, but we're in no hurry, so allow me to explain the idea of this post. As most of us know, Summer Vacation can become pretty boring, eventually playing games or going to the park just won't cut it. I'll give you some challenges to make your life a little bit more interesting.

Extreme kayaking just isn't enough now days eh?

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Common Fallacies In Arguments

In my short time I have had so far, I've had a number of debates and arguments in which I've noticed long pattern of logical fallacies that have been used by my both my peers, and myself. I'll discuss some common fallacies I've noticed the most in many arguments.

Hold on, what exactly is a fallacy you may ask? A Fallacy is usually a error in reasoning. So if you really think that yellow bus is a orange kangaroo, you are facing a fallacy.

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How to Avoid Imminent Death From Flying Debris

Does your family have a close relationship with early death by flying debris? If you answered yes, then you should laugh! Then put on your serious face, because things just got serious. You never know when your time's come to die immediately from flying debris. You could be on your way to work, when suddenly a flying tree branch smacks you hard on the right side of your face, effectively cracking your neck and leaving your lifeless cold corpse on the sidewalk.

An army of possibility..

In theory, any flying object can be classified as flying debris, so that ranges from a coffee mug, to your great uncle Tim. So that means, keep an eye on your surroundings, you never know what a tornado, hurricane, or some freak storm could pick up and throw directly towards you.

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Cameras - What is Shutter Speed/ISO

Shutter speed? Is that a un-related sequel to the movie "Shutter Island" related to fast cars? Nope. We're talking about camera shutter speed.

Shutter speed is basically the speed in which the shutter opens and closes. It's simple really. Shutter speed affects the amount of light entering the sensor. Shutter speed, can be used as a powerful tools to exaggerate, or freeze motion. You could freeze a bird in mid-flight, or show a milky waterfall.

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How to Cure Insomnia

Can't fall asleep? Is it because of the lunar eclipse/full moon? Probably not. You may suffer from Insomnia, and you spend restless nights laying in your bed trying to fall asleep. Worry not! ollow some of these tips, and you'll be on your way to sleep.

Or maybe you're a werewolf. Just a thought.

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How to Take Quick Notes

So you're sitting in class, and your teacher's going on and on about triangles. I mean, get a job or something right? Well, your friend "Tom", needs you to copy down some notes because had to go to the doctors today. Darn Tom!

Well, if you want to take notes, follow these basic tips, and you'll be on your way on becoming the best note taker in the universe. 

• Write only what's important. If your teacher's talking about circles, and ends up talking about that one time he got completely drunk with his friends in college, you don't have to write that.
• Shorten. You don't need to write "because" or "due to the fact of" completely out in letters, sometimes you need those extra few seconds to catch up. For me personally, instead of actually using words to connect ideas, I use actual arrows to point at each other. For example, "man that killed tom -> bob."
• Use pictures. Can't remember how that word is spelled? Draw a picture. Don't spend precious time trying to remember if it started with a J, or a M. If tom climbed the mountain, "Tom climbed the ~^~"
• Emphasize what's important and what isn't. Though all your notes should be important, there are certain dates and names that are important to remember. Bolden, circle, or even double circle the things you know will be important in that upcoming test. Use things that will catch your eye when your skim your notes.

Everyone has different methods of taking notes, basing on whether they are a visual, audio or a kinestetic learner. Also, tell your friend to stop spending time "getting sick", and more time in school!

So you've got a ear infection every Thursday morning  for the past six years eh?

How to Treat Frostbite

Okay, so you just got back from saving the world from aliens by walking day and night in snow and rain to the military base near-by to tell them the secret weak-spot in between the arms of the aliens. Good job -insert your name here-, but what's this? Strange grey skin on your cold begotten hands? Could  his be some new alien disease you've contracted?! No, silly, it's frostbite.

Even these clothespins are cold.

In order to treat frostbite, we need to determine the severity of the frostbite.
Frostnip - Painful sensation, red skin, skin still responds normally to pressure.
Superficial Frostbite - Numbness, white to greyish skin color, skin still feels soft
Deep Frostbite - Numbness, white to greyish-yellow skin color, skin feels unusually firm and waxy.

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How to Treat Burns

Okay, so you're making your world famous chili, and you pour some out and you're walking to a table, and suddenly, your darn cat decides to attack you from behind. So you drop the chili all over yourself, and suddenly, you find yourself in burning agony. Today was a bad day to make chili.

Don't lean forward.

So what to do now? Wash it over some cold water, and move on with you life? Maybe.

Determine the severity of the burn. I mean, you don't want to go to the ER if you only "burned" your hand with a little warm water right?

• First Degree Burn - Only affects the outer portions of your skin (Epidermis), the skin is red and somewhat painful.
• Second Degree Burn - Occurs when the outer portion of your skin (Epidermis) is burned though, and the second layer has also been burned. They are much more painful then first degree burns, and usually are accompanied by swellings and blisters. If blisters occur, its usually not recommended to pop them yourself.
• Third Degree Burn - Most severe type of burn; occurs when the burn has burned passed the skin, and has reached the tissue of your body. Since the nerves have been destroyed in the skin, it is usually painless. The skin becomes dry and leathery, likely to be black, white or brown in color

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How to Stop Hiccups

Ever had the case of the hiccups? Those darn involuntarily movements! You find yourself stuttering in every sentence, so you start trying to anticipate the next one, but once we put our guard down, it comes back knocking. What can we do about this rebellious act against nature?!

Well, to start, how does a hiccup work? Nope, a little dwarf doesn't live in your chest. When you experience hiccups, you get spasms which contracts the diaphragm, which is a sheet of muscle that separates your chest cavity and your abdominal cavity. The spasms cause a intake of breath which is suddenly stopped by the vocal cords, which results in a classic "hiccup" sound. Usually, hiccups go away by themselves when the diaphragm stops experiencing spasms. Since we're busy people, we can't wait for that, so I'll give you some methods that are popular and known to help stop hiccups.

Picture unrelated.

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Nail Biting

Quick Tip! Tips which are quick! Ever bite your nails? Let me re-phase that, aren't you tired of biting your nails? Biting your nails is a common oral compulsion, compulsion meaning a irresistible persistence to preform an act. I mean, look at those delicious finger candy on your hands how can you not help it?

What will you do when you cease have fingers? What then?!

Biting your nails is a bad compulsive habit for many reasons, an obvious one includes introducing bacteria, organisms from your hands, to your mouth. Even if you wash your hands often, do you really wash beneath your fingernails every time? Think about it, the same hand you wipe your "bum" with, despite being washed with water and soap is still going to carry some germs from your anus and then it's going straight into your mouth. There have been past reports of severe deformities of the nails due to nail biting. I mean yeah it's delicious, but you gotta care for those hands!

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How to Get Get Up In The Morning

So you're late to school/work again? You're teacher/boss is threatening to deduct points/lower your pay? Well it's time to buy a baseball bat, and destroy their office  and put it in your closet, because it has nothing to do with this! If you've ever had a problem not falling back to sleep after waking up, try some of these suggestions.

Even statues get pretty sleepy.

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Tap water vs. Bottled Water

Yep, you knew this was coming. Disgusting dirty tap water right? Who knows where that comes from, I would rather drink my expensive rich-people water. Before you reach out and drink that "Fiji" or that "Dansani", hear me out.

Both tap water and bottled water are very similar in different ways, tap water is regulated by the EPA, or the Environmental Protection Agency, and bottled water is regulated by the FDA, or the Food and Drug Administration.

vs.

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Free Business Cards

You stopped reading after "free" didn't you? Well, even if you lack a business, you can still get these free "sample" business cards from the company "MOO"

The business cards deal comes with:

• 10 business cards with a "MOO" watermark
• Free Standard Shipping
• Your choice of paper (MOO Classic or MOO "Green")
• MOO designed folder/desk stand
• Same process as if you were purchasing them. (So you know how easy it is if you were to purchase them.)

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Quick Tip! 3

Quick Tip! Tips which are quick! So it's summer, you've been leaving more food around, and the garbage's been sitting around in the afternoon heat all day. As you read this, fruit flies are buzzing around your head trying to lay eggs in your hair. You've had enough! It's personal now.

Here's one way to capture your arch nemesis!

1. Find/take a clear jar or bag
2. Insert a rotten fruit, into the bag or jar. 
3. Make a paper cone with a hole at least 2-4 centimeter wide in diameter. 
4. Place paper cone small end first into the jar/bag about one fourth the way inside.
5. Tape or secure the cone onto the bag/jar.
6. Put jar/bag into a very fruit-fly populated area.
7. Watch the fruit flies land into the jar/bag and find themselves trapped and unable to escape.
8. Release/dispose/destroy/burn the jar/bag

We all need to make sacrifices.

Protip: This will work best with a jar to oppose to a bag.

You're going to have to throw out your rock collection. Sorry.

Protip 2: Try not to wait for every single fly to land and become trapped, you don't want a a decomposing fruit, and a hundred fruit flies dead or dying on your counter top. Also, if you leave it for longer then a few days, you'll be surprised how many maggots can "spawn" from a few flies. 

Protip 3: This can actually work with just about any flying insect.
If you didn't know: Maggots are baby flies.

Benefits of Taking Cold Showers

Cold showers? According to my mother, that's blasphemy! If I was to do such a thing, my back/arms/legs would crack and shatter from the evil blast of coldness. Well, back in real life, taking cold showers can offer numerous benefits for your health.

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Saving Change

Pocket change! Who needs them right? Think again, if you were to save all your change, and picked up any nickels and dimes you found during your entire daily routine, you could save up a pretty dime. In this economy, every penny counts, imagine how much a "pretty dime" could help you out. Though in seriousness, I'll show you why you should keep your change, and why its worth bending over to pick up that nickel the next day.

Pictured: A Pretty Dime

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Benefits of Eating Breakfast

If some of you've noticed, I've been talking about the "greatness" of eating breakfast, but I haven't actually given any reasons why, other then its deliciousness. It's no longer cool to show-off by saying "I didn't eat breakfast today, I must be pretty hardcore since I have so much self-will to keep on pushing!", because in reality you're saying "Wow, I'm pretty darn stupid, look at me, I don't eat things, look how confident I am, you should applaud and worship me, also I am dying."

Eating breakfast increases your metabolism. What does that mean? It means your body burns more calories to maintain itself. Skipping breakfast makes your body go into a "OH NO! THERE IS NO MORE FOOD IN THE WORLD! CONSERVE EVERYTHING!" mode, in which you burn calories naturally slower. If you eat breakfast, your body goes in a "Plenty of food to go around, use as much as you need -insert shades-" mode. So if you're trying to lose weight, eating breakfast might actually help you out in the long run, as long as exercise goes along with it.

More energy. Why would you want to feel more energized and feel able to do things? Wouldn't we all rather slump around like zombies doing our work at a full 25 percent? Go on, skip breakfast, I insist. When you eat food in general, it's energy and resources for your body, if you skip it, your body won't be able to run at 100%, you'll be dumber and weaker.

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How to Avoid Acne

So it's your big day, the day has arrived, time to get in that suit and take your date to the prom. Wicked smokes of witchery! You look in the mirror, and you see a 2 by 2 centimeter pimple on your forehead. We must return back to time in order to make sure it never happened!

-Insert time traveling music here-

So now that we've reached the past, we must ensure this never happened! -Laughs and twirls mustache-

1. Wash your face two times a day. Why? To clean out those evil bacterias, viruses and oils! Also, don't over-wash your face, if you do your body will overcompensate the missing oils.
2. Change your pillow casing. Yep, sleeping is a factor too. Instead of giving up sleep altogether, change your pillow casing to avoid oil/dirt/organisms from building up on it.
3. Basically, anything that touches your face should be cleaned. They build up oil/dirt/organisms that will attempt to ruin your day, nasty buggers eh? For example, a phone or a bluetooth.
4. Wash your hands. That's right, "you nasty!" In all seriousness though, your hands go around all day touching door knobs, stair railings, toilet flushing handles, who knows what you touch.
5. Calm down. When you're under stress it might lead to a break-out.
6. Wash your hair! Oil in your hair may touch your skin (Highly likely) and clog up some of your pore's leading to deat-, acne.
7. If you do get a pimple, don't touch it, don't pop it. You can, no, will spread the already clogged pore's oil all over your face. Unless you can microscopically remove every oil molecule then rub your greasy paws all over it, otherwise, don't touch it.

Following these basic tips I have suggested, you might avoid a breakout of acne. If you're a teenager, take a deep breath and accept the reality that you will eventually get a pimple or two.

Don't you want to just hit that smug oil-producing factory?!

Protip: The most important of all of the tips, is to not touch your gosh darn face.

How To Stop a Nose Bleed

So you're sitting down taking a test in school, and suddenly, blood drips onto your paper. You look up, six severed dead bodies are in the ceiling. Oh wait, it was your nose, ignore the severed bodies. If you have a nose bleed, here are some tips to help you out.

Picture unrelated.

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Sleeping Early, Waking Early

You're probably rolling on the ground laughing, sleeping early? That's for little baby girls right? Well, they're certainly benefits for sleeping early, and I'll discuss them below.

Reasons to do it.

You wake up, sun's right about to rise, you look out your window as red and yellow hues become brighter and brighter as the sun rises, the streets are quiet and empty. You suddenly feel as if it's easier to head off to school since your morning drowsiness has worn off. You turn on your computer, play some music, sit down, get breakfast, put your feet up and reflect on life, or wake up and notice that you're 15 minutes late, then quickly get dressed while you're brushing your teeth and putting your shoes on, then you start running out your door to the train station, and you actually get there on time somehow, but you realize you've forgotten your wallet.

Sleep late, and blurry faces will appear in your background.

In this economy, even if you're not working, getting used to waking up early puts you at the job interview before "Mr.College". Lets say that you're under-qualified and under-nourished, if you're first guy the boss interviews, it could make you one of the most memorable in his day. It shows commitment, it says "You give me this job, and I'll work as hard as six pigs in a mating pen!"

In the process of getting from home to work, don't you hate how both public and private transit is always stuffed like canned tangerines? Either you're on a bus/train packed from head to toe, or you're sitting in your car reading a novel waiting for the guy in the car in front of you to look up from his novel to notice that traffic has moved SEVEN WHOLE meter. Get there early, and it's like a private bus driving you to work, or a private exclusive road just for you.

All of this, for me?

With all this extra time on your hands, you can start eating breakfast! After about 8 hours of being unconscious in bed, you might want to replenish your bodies resources. People say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and you're missing out!

This can be in you.

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Crackin' Knuckles

Your beautiful, beautiful hands.

So that kid at english class has done it! You've had enough, so you crack your kunckles to show you mean business. If this happens often to you, the following post will help educate you about knuckle cracking.

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Quick Tip! 2

ITS EVERYWHERE!

Quick Tip! Tips which are quick! So, you're playing hookey after school with your friends, and you're clearly the best player on the entire team, however, you suddenly and viciously get attacked by multiple people with metal bats. (Not the flying ones, although if you did see flying metal bats, you should contact the police immediately!) I'll give you some pointers to tell whether or not a bone's broken or not.

Usually if a bone's broken some indicators would be:

• Loud crack, grinding during the incident at the location of damage
• Swelling, bruising, if a bone's broken chances are the muscles around it would be affected as well.
• Pain to put weight on the injury, and if attempting to move the injured body part.
• Deformities. If you're arm suddenly has a a stick-like structure sticking out, I might suggest heading to the emergency room.

If you suspect that someone may have broken your bone, don't move the affected area and get medical attention. If the break is serious, and blood is gushing out everywhere, go to the emergency room. If its less severe, go to your doctor.

After going to the doctors, often, the injury would be treated by properly aligned to allow healing. Otherwise, you could have permanent deformity, joint problems, and a serious infection.

For more information on identifying bone breakage and fractures, contact your doctor on your next visit/checkup.

Giveaway of the Day

Sorry, we aren't giving out free dimes and nickels for some pastries at your local doughnut shop. Nope, we're taking a look at the website, "Giveawayoftheday.com".

The idea of the website is, you get to download software for absolutely no cost towards you, (Other then your immoral decency of not buying it!) that would otherwise cost you money. Companies that create software and programs honestly need help spreading the word about their company and/or products. So they go over the the men and women at "Giveawayoftheday.com" and offer to offer their product for free.

Teamwork.

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Cortex Command - A Review

Been a sluggish day right? Really hot, sticky and humid. Keep yourself busy today, and this weekend with a indie game called "Cortex Command"

The idea of the game, is basically, you're a dismembered brain that you must protect with "bodies" or soldiers. The game is produced by a independent team composed of a small group. What makes this game stand out from most other games, is its a 2d side scrolling physics based game.

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Brooklyn-Queens Day - June 9th

Two too many people at my park!

Well, as many of you may have noticed a strange increase in teenagers and kids in parks and wandering around in malls, and no, it isn't summer yet. It's Brooklyn-Queens day! For teens and kids alike it better known as "that day we don't go to school". On this day, public schools in Kings and Queens County Public Schools are closed. Nope, no list to check if you're school is eligible for this special treat, if your school is a public school in Brooklyn or Queens, you've the got the day off. Sadly, this isn't the case for teachers, which have to come to work for a teacher's conference day.

Back in the day, it was known as "Anniversary Day", and was originally a Protestant holiday celebrated in Brooklyn back in the times of Civil Wars, gas lighting and tin cans, 1829. The day was celebrated on the first Thursday in June, but today is celebrated every 2nd Thursday of June. The day was commemorating the founding of the First Sunday School on long island. A New York State Legislature enacted in 1959 on request of the Queens Federation of Churches to permit schools in both Kings and Queens Counties to be closed on this day. It was signed by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller.

Sources: http://gothamist.com/2006/06/08/its_brooklynque.php

Quick Tip!

Quick Tip! A tip which is quick! Now, ever had problems remember things? Well lets use the power of association to help us! Haven't we seen countless others with a mess of ink on their arms and hands by the end of the day, and still continues to forget certain things?

Sticky notes, and writing notes to remember to do things is fine, if you remember to look at the note. I've had countless times where I had something important to remember on a certain day, like to not wear white on labor day, so I write it in thick bold letters at school in papers that I believe I'll look at when I came home. Guess what happened? Snow apocalypse? Sorry, not yet, I didn't even peek at the page I wrote on, and guess what then? Bad Monday.

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Summer is You!

For many students, the school year is just about over, what are you going to do this summer?

School, being one of the little stages in life that build our personalities and knowledge that we will base everything else we learn in the future is very important, just as important, Summer Break.

Its been a while since the olden days of a good ol' game of marbles, and today, its become socially acceptable and agreeable to laugh off "I didn't do anything this summer." Increasing amounts of teens today don't don't a gosh darn thing! Summer break is a vacation meant to be enjoyed not just a period where we just sit around all day waiting for school to start again. If you think theres nothing to do during the hot blistering summer, you're very wrong.

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AdF.ly

Whats adF.ly You may ask? Well take out the period, add a space, suddenly you have "Ad Fly" so now we know it's a fly in which has a "Ad". No but seriously, its a URL shortener. The idea is that if you have a link thats pretty darn long and you don't want to end up posting a link with seventy characters, then this will certainly help you out.

Also, no. I am not just reviewing a website that redirects your URLs. The beauty of this one is that, you can make some green for your pockets. I'm not talking illegal drugs now, you can make some extra money along the side if you oftenly post links.

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Gun Permits - NYC

Gun laws regulate the sale and possession and use of firearms. I mean, we don't want four year olds running around with machine guns in the streets playing hookey; am I right, or am I right?

Applications for gun permits can be submitted until 8 PM on Mondays.

That means, if you wish to get a gun permit, arrive before 8 PM and make sure to arrive with enough time for processing of a application which ranges around 45 minutes. Make sure to bring everything you need.

"Applicants must arrive at 1 Police Plaza or the Rifle/Shotgun Section, 120-55 Queens Boulevard, Kew Gardens"' -nyc.gov

Types of Licenses:

Premises Licenses - A restricted form of licenses, which means that the licenses will apply only in that specific residence or business. So that means, no bringing out your new glock to shoot some cans at your friends backyards. (Sucks, I know!) This licenses permits the transportation of the weapon and ammunition in separate locked containers to and from authorized ranges and hunting locations.

Carry Business Licenses - A unrestricted form of license. This license allows a concealed handgun on the person the license has been given to, which means no lending your pistol to your buds at the bar unless written approval from the commanding officer of the NYC licenses division. The licenses is only valid to the business name, address and specific handgun listed on the license. So that means you can't get one license for your handgun, then go off and buy six more guns.

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