BrianK

Just for the record, they could do lots more than multiplication and division if one knew how to use one. My top speed was multiplication and division though from what I remember. Today not even that. But I ought to pull one out and relearn it since biteme and his buddies appear to want to drive us back into the stone age.

Dittos.

Outages... at the time I'm going to write about Maine was over 94% forested and we love that but it can be a problem... We had a huge ice storm in '98, 4" of ice covered everything from the 3 days that it was icing. Major limbs and trees down, local power lines totally down, major transmission lines and towers down, the area was a complete mess. Go outside and it sounded like a battle in the crystal store as things lost the fight with the weight. We had no heat, no running water, heck, no power and modern homes are designed for power. But I had sorta prepared by having pre-Rural Electrification Act kerosene burning appliances. That saved our bacon, but kerosene was not meant to be burned in todays tight homes. Despite having a window cracked we couldn't get rid of the water produced by burning the kerosene fast enough and our walls began getting wet. Then after the actual ice storm that 1st night with the wind chill it got down below -80°F (I think I remember -86). We were OK, but lots of folks didn't fare as well as we did. On the 5th day of the outage we got power back, but only because we are on a trunk line and they must restore us before they can go further. Like yourself, that was the deciding factor in our building on a "family room" specifically for a wood stove and to house 2k# of batteries for a solar (PV) system. Coupled with that was selling the plug in welder, and buying a 8k gas powered welder for back up to the backup, 'cause there is no sunlight for the PV panels during a storm. Now outages are as long as it takes for me to get to the panel to swap us over, and we can last for a very long time before requiring outside supplies of anything. What did we do for water during that ice storm? The product of the storm itself was our water source. I went out and gathered 4" thick chunks of ice and put the slabs in the tub. The heater we used for space heat melted and heated ice which was poured on the ice in the tub. We used that for flushing, and washing. A big pot of slab water was filtered for drinking using a Katadyn filter. Short wave radio kept us informed of what was going on. On the 4th day we made our way into town to see what was going on first hand and we saw the empty shelves in the supermarket. That convinced us to have a reserve food supply on hand all the time. Live and learn. Today we're ready for much worse. We have at least 1 long duration outage a year and the system still works as good today as when I first designed and installed it. I changed the lead/acid batteries a few years ago so other than monthly maintenance we're good for another 20 years. My widow can take care of it. Outages still suck though. I hope your area is fully restored soon.

It's been decades since I used a slide rule. I have my dads ivory clad ones from K&E in their leather cases but like you gents I'd need to learn all over again.

Shooterrex, do they have a projected day when the outages will all be fixed? Flurries here early this AM, now the sun is fighting to come out. It's in the mid 30s. I don't remember any major weather events forecast here for the foreseeable future.

Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds today. 1st time I'd ever heard it in it's entirety. The version with Justin Hayward singing Forever Autumn.

Welcome to the forum from central Maine!

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum!

Not unusual for us for March... 10" of snow yesterday and in the 30s -20s last night. Today and the rest of the week in the 40s so we'll lose alot of what fell. Good riddance to it. I'm ready for spring weather and shooting, I have lotsa shooting to do, and developing loads and reloading.

If you plan on getting a laser you might consider the following. Green is in part of the spectrum that human eyes operate best in (yellow/green). If you plan on a laser you really want the laser to be green so that you can pick it out easily from the background clutter or a light level that is marginal (too bright). But an optic, if it's set up correctly is "right there" when the rifle or shotgun is shouldered. There is no searching for the red dot in the optic. Different colors allow you to easily collimate the laser to the red dot. If you have both the same color it's much more difficult to know which is which. So boiling it down, red dot in the optic, green for the laser. Of course if you'll never have a laser on the firearm it's not an issue, but now is the time to decide and buy only once. I've been considering one of the prism type red dots and have heard nothing but good things. Please get back to us to let us know how you like it. BTW, I haven't dropped the hammer on one yet.

Sorry to hear about the goat, that sux. Good that your outage was short lived Shooterrex. Well, they forecast our weather correctly (central Maine 60ish miles inland). When I woke it was snowing hard and by the looks had been for a few hours. It's still snowing hard. I haven't been outside to check the accumulation, but from what I'm seeing it's the "worst" storm of a very unsnowy winter, we've had much worse in years past. The coast may see power outages during this due to their wet snow clinging to power lines and high winds predicted there, but I'd be very surprised if we have an outage where we are, our snow is too fluffy. Plus the storm is too gentle for an outage for us, so far anyway.

Well, that sux about the winds and outages. If I was runnin' the lineman I'd have them sit it out until the winds die down otherwise it'd be like peeing into the wind. DNP, I'm surprised you see snow at all in San Diego. No way would I have ever thought that.

Snow today (central Maine), but the outside temp' is up to almost 30°F (heat wave!). Sure it was forecast, but at this time of the year it has always struck me as being a waste of time, kinda like snow or rain over the ocean, and snowing here just to be a PITA. It's not going to last because of the angle of the sunlight. If I remember the forecast we'll get snow every other day for at least this week. When I refer to the season changes "fighting it out" this is what I mean. At this time of the year the moist air from the south clashes with the Arctic air and this is what we get. A few years ago we got 2 blizzards in one week, days apart, during the seasons fight for supremacy.

I probably ought not be such a cheapskate and buy more commercial subsonic loads to try in mine. But as the gent in the video states it's just too expensive.

Just MHO, but that would make for a really interesting rifle. But one question, why not make a new upper and have both? Just curious, no judgement.

I tried reaming them many years ago and got some primer pockets that turned out oversize. I have no idea how that happened but it must have been me. That prompted me to get the Dillon tool. That was decades ago. The thing paid for itself LONG ago. And despite mine being all manually operated it's very fast!

Rsquared, that's not cold for you? More cold for us today. When I got up at 0630 I looked at the thermometer and it was -3°F. It's 20° now at 1115. The indoor wood rack is getting low so at some point today we'll need to get more inside. Looking at the extended forecast the cold will moderate 'til Tuesday but remain in the 20s during the day, normal for us at this time of the year. Tuesday snow then Wednesday it'll go into the 40s. That pattern is normal; precipitation, then the air mass changes. Typically in March we start the melt into spring and we call that mud season because the frost comes out of the ground and the ground is soupy. As the frost clears from out of the ground the water soaks in and the ground firms up. This year might be a short mud season because the frost may not have gone very deep this year. We'll find out very soon.

Cold the past few days and will be for at least a few more. Running the wood stove because of the quality of the heat. We love burning wood over the oil furnace or even the heat pumps.

I lost 50# but I did it by not eating carbs, or very few carbs. I counted them to make sure. I didn't do it overnight nor did I intend to. Fast weight loss means it's unsustainable in most cases. I had many reasons for entering ketosis and my Dr. fessed up the last time I saw him and told me that he agreed with all the reasons I gave. He continues to tell me to kepp doing what I'm doing. Easy to do 'cause I never felt better.

Heck, you're doing great too. 👍 I know I've come a long way since I started my therapy 3+ years ago. Back then I had a hard time walking in my dooryard w/o calf pain that would bring me to a halt. Just today I got my app't for another vascular study to find out just how much I've done. I was getting 33% blood flow in my right leg and slightly more in my left. I know it's not 100% but it IS better today. I don't think they allow cameras in the gym. Maybe I can get one of the folks behind the desk to do it for me so that they know I'm not intending the biden routine. Whoops, sorry, no prepubescent girls so it can't be bidens routine.

I don't think this is the first time they tried this. I seem to remember a push in this direction maybe 20-30 years ago and it didn't work back then. Here it is again, what a surprise, huh? A different bunch of anal sphincters but the same idea from out of the freedom stealing catalog.

Stay warm SB ! Last week or so we were teased with warmish temps and did lots of melting but it was just a tease to make us think we were going to get an early spring. In Maine? No way! Snow here today also Sagebrush. Not much though and that's good, but it's cold. When I woke up it was 20°, not more than 1/2 hour later it was 14°. We've been hovering there ever since. I have no idea what the wind chill is, but the wind is gusting, or it was. It'll be colder tonight and more snow is forecast. At these temps I use the heavy duty heat "system" called a wood stove. It delivers steady heat with no short term fluctuations. But it delivers too much heat if it's much warmer outside. Cold for the weekend is also predicted. I have no idea when the cold will break. But the sun is getting higher in the sky and is delivering warmth, so the battle between cold and warm will begin in earnest in the next month or so. We can also get the worst weather of the winter as the moist southern (Gulf of Mexico) air collides with the cold arctic air and dumps on us. But the end of winter isn't far away. Yipppeee! In years past I liked winter, not so much anymore.

Thanks. The biggest difference between rowing when I was a child and now is the moving seat as found in racing hulls. As a child it was just a rowboat and the seat was stationary. Now I can add leg muscles to the stroke. Thanks for the thought to help me get it right. This is not a complaint, I like having no one competing for time on the rowing machines, but I wonder why more folks don't use them? "My" gym has 6 of them and I've only ever seen one other person using one. Again, not a complaint, just curious. The other part of my rehab is the treadmill that is Rxed for me (1.8mph @ 15% grade at this time) and there are times when I wonder if I can find one to use and they must have at least 20+. They're very popular when right outside is a place where the scenery sorta changes. After I max out my Rxed treadmill rehab I plan to walk out there when it's not hot or icy cause the real world is more difficult than the treadmill for some reason I can't fathom. Maybe the moving belt vs non moving pavement? IDK

Ha, 50 years later! Don't I wish!