MacGyver

Oh, what a shame!

The sad thing in losing this member was that he actually had some useful stuff to contribute.  He through hiked the Appalachian Trail with what most would consider ultralight gear.  From my perspective, being able to hike 2000 miles with less than 20lbs. on your back gives you some wisdom that a lot of folks on here could benefit from.    I hope that he finds what he's looking for.

Squared away.

I'll change it back tomorrow.

I actually read this one as a weird sign that things may be changing for the better. Here's the thing. That post was around 0345CDT, and I don't think I booted him until around 1100. When I saw the post, I was worried that someone had reported it and no one noticed. I checked the reports and no one had reported it, yet. To my mind, that means y'all were making pancakes, out shooting or doing something. We love an active community, but I feel like several of the administrative decisions we've had to make over the last year or so were directly related to people just not having other outlets and thus spending maybe more time than is healthy on here. So congratulations? I hope y'all were out shooting some .22LR bulk packs or something :)

It was actually up for a good while. Note for anyone thinking about making a last stand around here, do it on a weekend morning. Life is busy. I know I'm usually making my kids pancakes or at church on Sunday. Our other mods certainly have stuff going on, too.

I don't have any problems with contrarian views on things. While AB28's most recent posts would have been better in their own thread - as opposed to junking up someone else's - as a staff we have zero issue with contrarian views. And frankly, we encourage those debates so long as they're civil and the participants are willing to bring more to the conversation than rote talking points. AB28's last two posts were racist in a way that was so over the top that I have to believe it was intentionally provocative. I don't think anyone of my generation uses that language without knowing exactly what they're doing. We strive to create community here. As a general rule, I think we do a pretty good job, and our members are just as responsible as the staff for creating that. We will have no tolerance for racist language. It makes me sad if you feel that in your own life, but to be clear, if you express that language here you're gone. Period.

Well...I'm not sure what causes a member who's been here for years to go off the rails, but AB28 has done it of late. To be clear, TGO has no tolerance for racist language. Post that garbage here and you're done.

That's pretty sweet!

This thread needs a real update.   Unfortunately, I fear the lack of one likely indicates that there's no movement to report.  Let's hope otherwise.

I guess it depends on your use case and what you're really hoping to affect.   A standard mil-spec trigger is reliable, and thus the reason it's been installed in millions upon millions of rifles.  While it's not a particularly great trigger, it's plenty sufficient for a "battle rifle", and is probably plenty sufficient for you as well at most distances and in most use cases.  That said, there's a reason they upgrade the triggers in DMR rifles, and if you're looking to shoot precision at longer ranges, a better trigger may in fact be a good choice.   For the vast majority of AR owners, a standard mil-spec trigger will fill any functional need they have.  So really it's about wants as opposed to needs.    Bill Geissele's triggers are the best triggers on the market today.  If you can afford to give one a try, you won't be disappointed.  If after trying it, you decide it's not for you, you can certainly sell if for most of what you paid for it in short order.

The craftsmanship in that is amazing! Congrats.

UV exposure is the biggest threat to the pontoons themselves.  Keep it out of the sun when you're not using it.  Partially inflated   - enough to keep the shape to avoid creases - will help extend the life as well.   Get a good patch kit.  You hope to never need it, and the boats themselves are really tough these days, but being able to patch your boat in the field can keep an inconvenience from turning into a really bad day.

I like to think my child is a genius, but it's pretty accessible to her, especially working with me.  I personally know two 10 year olds who are using them to do some pretty cool stuff.   Adafruit has a bunch a step-by-step tutorials.  Look at a few of their projects and see how that lines up with your skillset.   It's never to late to learn - and you guys are young.

You can basically look at this as a $25 computer that has the horsepower and functionality to allow you to add logic to your projects. They're fun to play with, but they open up an amazing amount of space for creative innovation. My seven year old and I are about to put together a watering system for our garden that waters based on the moisture content in the soil at different levels. They're a great intro to logic and controls. I can't wait to see what she comes up with.

I'm at least partly who I am today because I had an allowance and a Radio Shack within walking distance when I was a kid.  Seven segment displays, bar graph LEDs, were a big part of my childhood.  And, you can buy a lot of that stuff on a $5 allowance.  Add in the Arduino and Raspberry Pi units that are available today, and the possibilities are truly endless.  Honestly, when I start up the Raspberry Pi out in the garage with the kids, I feel like I'm a kid again right alongside them.   I'd argue that any parent today would be well served to buy their kid a $30 Raspberry Pi and a starter book for kids.  Give them that and some space to play, and I expect you'll be surprised by what they come up with.  You might even turn them onto an interest that will feed them one day.   Take a look at these project, any of which can be built with your kids for less than $100 and see if you don't see something that would interest you and them:   https://learn.adafruit.com/category/raspberry-pi   http://www.adafruit.com/category/105   http://www.adafruit.com/category/117

I've been impressed by every variant of the Savage 93 series that I've shot.  I've got one of the thumbhole variants in .17HMR, and it's one of my favorite rifles.  It's a tack obliterator.   For the money, I think you'd be hard pressed to beat them on a new production rifle.

Here's the funny thing about the cardboard box they used for the bus.  Back in January, my wife found a police car that Target had put on clearance after Christmas.  It must have sat on the shelf for a little while, because she got a $500ish dollar electric police car for my son for his birthday for about $75.  It sat in our attic for months until his birthday rolled around.   The police car is awesome.  It has lights and sirens, a loudspeaker that works and is motorized. My son loves it.  But, if the girls pull out the school bus while he's in the car, he'll leave the car where it sits and go and get in the bus - which is literally the box his car came in.   I'm all about cool projects - especially when you've got your kids working alongside you on something they're interested in.  But, I think that we're also probably pretty susceptible as parents to constantly compare our efforts against the Pintrests and Facebooks of the world instead of the needs of our kids.    I think it's incredibly humbling to look at our kids and see that they're pretty happy with a box or a half a sheet of plywood perched in a tree. We could probably all step back and learn a little bit, there.

Mike, I sat and watched that video tonight with my wife and my middle daughter who is 5. As she was looking at the kid in the spacecraft, she looked at my wife and said, "mom, that's like the school bus you made us!" Earlier this summer we got something in a big box and my wife helped them make a school bus and let them paint it themselves. They've played with it all summer. A kid's imagination is an awesome thing!

I don't even remember what we booted the last guy for, but looking at this guy from an admin perspective, he was a multi-faceted, multi-gendered individual who I'm guessing had nothing in mind but stirring stuff up.

Wow!

This is a problem that could probably be solved by some good training - both in the classroom and on the range.  Think about this a little bit and I think you'll come to the conclusion that the cons far outweigh the pros.   Not that you couldn't sell the heck out of one.  Lord knows the gun owning public has repeatedly proven that they'll buy about anything.    Both of my primary carry pistols carry lights, specifically Surefire x300s.  Turning them on when I need them isn't an issue.

To the OP, getting asked to leave once doesn't give you license to ride this train under another name...

No one should look anywhere else before calling Mike.

Me too. We all have our flaws I'm sure, but if this world had a few more folks as selfless as Gordon it would be a heck of a lot better place.