Ben: honestly, I don't normally think about it any more than I think about how many hammers a carpenter might own. I attended a funeral for a very old lady who was much loved and well respected in the community.
She had a large extended family and they all came from out of town. They were...
Gun laws vary a great deal from one state to another. Nobody knows how many we have. Your number is probably for registered guns. Most estimates I've seen are about 2.5 guns per person. From my anecdotal experience I'd say it is probably higher. Most folks I know have at least one or two...
When we in the US broke away from England, we did so in a large part because of these sorts of things. That is why we included freedom of speech in our constitution. Many countries don't have that.
But we all must live by the laws in our own country or suffer the consequences. If the law...
I canned it in a pint mason jar and stored it in my desk drawer. No different from any canned food you buy at the store. Anyone who wants to eat cheap needs a pressure cooker and a collection of mason jars. It makes both the cooking and storing of the food quick, simple, and cheap.
I just had some lentil soup that I thought was absolutely terrible when I first made it. But now that it has aged a year, I think it is my new favorite meal. Very cheap to make.
The members of this forum are not a representative sample of the voting public at large. We like details of real plans, and we like to hear verifiable facts to support any statement made. Most folks don't need any of that.
Only two things matter. For those who watched, it matters how they...
That is funny. But I have used a truck grill and hood to improvise a smoker to cook a whole hog. Where I come from, if you hit a hog or deer, you check to see if the meat is still good. If so, you don't waste it. Time for a BBQ party.
Well, less see how the home environment might play a factor. I’ll use my own personal history as an example. I grew up in a home where the highest importance was always placed on learning and education. Nothing had a higher level of importance. I remember asking my dad how airplanes fly when...
I could do it for that cost. I'd wait until hurricane season is over, and buy a generator cheap on eBay. New never used, unless we actually get hit by a hurricane. Look for a dual fuel model, using gasoline or propane. Then change out the propane orifice out to burn methane. Put an alcohol...
Jack: I don't remember which gun he used for that. He had several with him.
Concerning hitting bystanders with rounds that richochet or pass thru a wall or something, the officers in this class had eliminated that concern by loading with frangible rounds. They are very expensive and the...
A local deputy told me that they all make personal adjustments to their own gun, and they have a choice to carry what was issued or to provide their own. I guess things are different down here in the south.
At the time when I was taking that class, I was also working with a group of Navy SEALs so I put that question to them. They said that was good training policy, and in many cases that is the best action to take. More highly trained soldiers know when to conserve ammo and when not, but most...
An idea that I've found very useful: I bought three dutch ovens in different sizes. The largest is the biggest one that will fit into a large kettle type grill with the lid closed. They are the type with feet on them and a flat lid so I can stack them and put coals on top of the lids so the...
I've owned many over the years. I finally returned to a simple kettle type Weber with charcoal only. It will fast cook very nicely, and slow cooks as well as any smoker I've ever used. If I light it first, the coals are ready by the time I get the meat prepared, so it is as quick as any gas...
A trained law enforcement officer fires an average of 3.5 rounds for every one that hits. Once they start firing, they continue to shoot until the gun is empty. That is what I was told when I took a firearms class taught by the police department. That is consistent with their training, at...
Sometime in very very childhood. I asked my dad many questions about how stuff worked, and he always put the answer in mathematical terms simple enough for me to understand, then he would give me some really interesting practical problems for me to figure out using my new knowledge.
Only by random chance, and the probability is low. You can increase the probability by being where smart guys are. My wife's solution was to take a fencing class. All the guys there were intelligent, but none were kind and caring. So she picked me because she saw that I wanted to be kind and...
We had one guy who would always turn in a perfect paper. He would sell copies to 8 or 10 students, but in each copy there was a single unique mistake. Then all the guys would get together and work thru the problems to find all the mistakes before they turned it in. The effort was about the...
There is a huge variety in churches. Almost anyone can find one that suits them, even some that are non-theist. That is a term being used as "athiest" used to be used before it was hijacked in popular usage to mean something else. They often become low cost social clubs for like minded...
I just opened a jar of pickled Jalapenos. New recipe and aged one month. Excellent taste and the juice makes great dressing when mixed with Italian spices and oil.
Used white vinegar mixed 10% with balsamic, and a quarter cup of chopped garlic. Poured boiling fluid over cold peppers in a...
It is none of my business what other people thing of me or what I should so. If someone says I should do something, it is rare that they are right. Most of the time I really need to do something else or nothing at all.
But I am very open minded. I will at least consider just about...
French curves were very valuable tools in the days before CAD. I probably have more than a dozen of them in storage somewhere. Haven't uses them since about 1980.
A friend gave me a quart of pickled Jalapenos, absolutely the best I ever tasted. I'm going to start making them myself. Just white vinegar and much garlic. The liquid make collard greens taste absolutely wonderful.
But this jar was aged 4 years, and he said that makes it much better...
Mech Engr: Yes I read the posts. Lots of good thinking and discussion. Certainly much has Ben done, but I'd argue that it is all non effective window dressing designed to make people feel good rather than address the problem. It is still easy for anyone to get a gun, and to use it in any way...
This is an interesting thread, but I've seen all this before. Many places.
But to give non US people an idea of how many guns people have here, I talked with a number of my friends, two dozen in all. Most are professional people over 50 years old. A few welders and machinists. One an...
I have serious doubts that any change in laws could have any real impact on the availability of guns and ammo. With the number of guns three times the population, it is pretty easy to buy a used gun completely outside of the legal system, with no paperwork to track it back to you. Even if you...
Any attempt to regulate guns in the US immediately runs into very strong and well funded political opposition. It would appear that many find the gun violence an acceptable cost of maintaining free and almost unrestricted access to them. Many do not feel that way, but those who do are better...
Your letter could have been written by my wife 40 years ago. At the time I was seriously handicapped by a very sheltered and religious upbringing. I needed a few decades to get out of that and finish growing up. Thankfully she had the patience to help me through that. Now things are very good.
Don’t fall for any girl. Spend time with both. You might develop a friendship, or it might be more than that. Live in the moment. Don’t worry about what might happen later. See how things develop, and then develop a plan to guide your friendships in the way you think is best.
I think we...
I see a lot of threads on these forums by young people wanting advice as to what they should study or what career they should go into. I’ve also seen many older men who absolutely hate their job and are counting down the days until they can retire. They very much have a “Take this job and...
Here is something that I would have rejected completely in my youth, but find great wisdom in today. ("Youth" is a relative term. For me, it lasts at least until 30, perhaps 40. I can remember Grandma applying it to women in their 60's.)
The most important thing in our lives are our...
When I got engine oil in my back pack, I sprayed it down with Gunk engine degreaser and used a scrub brush and hosed it down. I've seen similar products with a bioremediarion work even better and quicker.
I'm a mechanical design engineer. I've worked for many companies, designing everything from wood chippers to jet engines. In all cases the default has been to design in inches unless the customer wanted metric. About 20% want metric, but most of those really want the design in inches, but...
Ryan is right. Passion is required. But my experience is that this sort of structure leads to the development of such Passion. But perhaps some folks are not capable of work related passion and it would not work for them.
I've worked in that sort of environment. It works extremely well, especially in a company where creativity is required. Organize a team. A natural leader will arise. Then the team inspires and motivates each member to be highly creative and productive.
Most people are not highly motivated...
I cleaned out my refrigerator last night. Threw a bunch of leftovers and out of date food into a pot to see what the result would be. Got 5 pints of the most excellent bean dip that I've ever tasted, so I canned it in one of my pressure cookers.
Ingredients:
Ground beef prepared for...
Maybe we don't call them automates any more, but who has not eaten food out of a vending machine? We only do that when we need something very quickly and nothing else is available. The equivalent today would be anyplace that sells food highly processed for long shelf life with a microwave...
MAD worked during the cold war only because everyone with a finger on the button was intelligent and reasonable enough to know that whoever pushes the button first will also be destroyed.
We have another threat today in that we can no longer count on intelligence and reason. Apocalyptic...
You and I are very similar. We have excellent relationships with wonderful women, who we have been with for many decades. We are also saddened when we see stuff like this. The hardest lesson for me to learn was that I cannot do anything about it. Everyone must live their own life the best...
I just read this whole thread and found it very interesting. But I don't see any compelling reason to favor one over the other in the election. When that happens, I normally vote for the new guy.
Perhaps we need to put NONE OF THE ABOVE on the ballot. Then if NONE wins, we have another...
I'd like to propose something else to consider. Right now we have billion of government money going into wind, solar, and alcohol. All these are therefore booming industries. But everyone working on them expect them to go bust as soon as the subsidies dry up because they are not economicaly...
So far I see good agreement that we have a problem, and that it will get worse if we continue in our current direction. So we can leave that and talk about solutions.
I see one proposed solution about which we also have agreement. So we can leave that and talk about what else we can do...