MacGyver

I guess I’ll call myself thankful to get to spend a few days and share a meal with people that I truly love. My mom has a habit of buying people presents that are things they’d never buy for themselves. I asked her about it one time and she said, “you and your sister are productive members of society. You never call and say the kids are going hungry or we’re going to lose the house or anything like that. I’m glad to get the chance to do something nice.” I recognize that’s a privilege a lot families may not have - for a whole lot of reasons. Life is complicated sometimes. But, that’s something that I’ve tried to incorporate into my own life. Sometimes it’s nice to do something really nice for someone with no expectation of them doing anything in return.

I’m interested in this. Let me see what trades I might have.

There’s always time if retirement is getting to you

FWIW that's probably a sign that she's in the right place. When I talk to students about going into forensics, the question I most often ask is whether or not doing the same thing, exactly the same way over and over brings them joy. If they look at me weird, I can encourage them in a direction that's more suited to them. If they're like, "oh my goodness yes - then they've found their people."

That’s a nice pistol.

You should be aware of privacy issues on some of the Samsung smart TV’s before you buy one. Make sure you know what you’re signing up for.

Yeah, this actually took place this summer. They didn't bring anyone over. The group that bought them basically bought them for the name. The new owners will leverage the fact that most people won't know or care that they're not the classic company. They'll shift all of the manufacturing for whatever lines they keep overseas and "cut costs" to increase their return.

I should have been more clear in my statement above. They manufactured the military contract knives here in the states. I expect winding down the GWOT had an impact on those contracts - I could look them up I guess - but it's not worth it. Like Colt and so many others - when you depend on the .gov for paying higher than normal processes for a product - you're likely going to have a hard time getting by when those contracts end. Most of their folders went overseas years ago. I remember specifically the outcry in the knife community when they got the rights to produce the RAT folders and did them in China. It's a shame, I guess. I hate it that those folks lost their jobs. But - I can't find any tears for the company or the private equity folks who cashed out.

I guess Ontario was an “American company” in principle - but you’d have to stretch to really call It that. To my knowledge pretty much every knife they made was outsourced to China years ago. Now, there are some Chinese producers that are making decent production knives for cheap - and Ontario lost all their margin. That's a game you’ll never win

Pistols generally do less damage because they generate less hydrostatic shock than supersonic rifle rounds.

That’s very true - and there are some legit questions about how long consumer spending will last. 70% of GDP is consumer spending. So, to be clear - the American consumer is propping up the whole economy. It’s not awesome - but it is how it has been for a long time. Mind you, all of us *should* be pulling for Taylor. It matters. Some of y’all might have noticed that the Fed - with their dual mandate - did 15 consecutive interest rate hikes to try to get inflation down. They’ve gotten it from better that 9.5 to a little over 3%. All the while, they’ve kept unemployment low - including some historic lows for some historically underemployed groups. If you want a proverbial “soft landing” - that is monetary tightening without causing a significant recession - most economists would quietly admit right now that this is about as good as it gets. They don’t want to jinx it. For better or worse - consumers spending on stuff like the Eras tour plays a significant factor in this

I expect it’s contagious.

Seems like she repeated it again this week: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/12/11/taylor-swift-donates-1-million-tennessee-tornado-fund/71882903007/ So much of the text is identical though - seems like the crew at Gannett just did a copy and paste. Support local journalism…

She gave out $55 million in bonuses to the crew that worked her tour - including $100k checks to each of her truck drivers. She didn’t go out and talk about it. Of course she knew that the recipients would. They talked about it like it was life changing in some instances. Good on her for supporting the people it takes to put that whole thing on. https://www.ajc.com/life/taylor-swift-gives-over-55-million-in-bonuses-to-crew-of-her-eras-tour/ZRDGDMJQVRDCFCHB4XX37AVXPM/

Her tour this summer was significant enough to be measured on a national economic scale. It was literally quoted in the Beige book as being a differentiator for regions that hosted shows. There seems to be a group of people looking to get folks stirred up against her. I think they’ve likely picked a poor target. I’d bet on her.

Someone told me once that Billy Joel sings show tunes for people who won’t admit to liking show tunes.

If I were buying an air rifle right now - it would be a Umarex Gauntlet 2. It‘s a PCP. From my perspective for the price - there’s not a close second. But that’s too much rifle for an 11 year old who’s likely still getting handling basics squared away. I’m partial to the classic Crosman 760 Pumpmaster.

This is the one of only a few people I’d trust to absolutely do it right.

Absolutely thrilled to hear this.

We've got a handful of Vietnam vets on this forum. I'd be so interested in hearing any of their perspectives to the extent they're comfortable sharing.

How do you figure? Kissinger was hard to classify into any one particular bucket - but he was a conservative's conservative. I know some Vietnam vets who would argue that his fingerprint was on every death in SE Asia between 1968 and 1975. I think that's a stretch on some levels - but I see how they get there - and I'm not about to second guess them on their lived experience. Augusto Pinochet on the other hand - I think you can reasonably put every one of the 40,000 Chileans who were disappeared under the Pinochet regime at Kissinger's feet.

Hey Mr. Pinochet…

That’s it.

The Yojimbo is made with CPM S30V. It's a great, easy maintenance steel.

The more we understand about sleep - the more we understand how it affects so much health related stuff. I totally get how that's not really something that's in your control - with kids - especially ones with needs - you can only do so much. I spent a decade sleep deprived - and that also corresponded to almost every sports related injury I've ever had. I wouldn't hesitate to back off the running some. There are plenty of other ways to get into that fat burning zone and keep your cardio capacity up. Honestly, one day a week of good cardio is probably sufficient. Remember that you need to be doing moderate cardio exercise for more than 45 minutes to really start burning fat - and that stops almost immediately once you stop. On the other hand, weight bearing exercise will keep your metabolism up for the rest of the day. I'd trade the cardio that hurts for one I enjoy - the kayak is great. I have a longboard and a paddle that I love to cruise on. The bike can be a great fit too. These last few pounds will likely have a longer tail than the first ones. As with anything, the last gains are always the hardest. I've found as I age that those last few to get into race shape take real intention. It sounds like your intention is dialed in. It's the calories and the specific ones that are going to get you over the hump.