MacGyver

That’s really disappointing. Not terribly surprising this day and age - but disappointing for sure. Let us know how it shoots.

I’ve killed a bunch with a Ruger 22/45 over the years. Two different setups. Historically I enjoyed hunting with a set of crimson trace grips zeroed at 25 meters. That’s fun as long as the sun isn’t too bright. My preferred setup is with a RMR up top. Suppressed, it’s not even that critical that you hit it the first time. It’s a great skill to develop that will feed you in a survival situation. There’s a reason that my 22/45 is always in my ruck. Tossing a golf ball out a ways and shooting it on the move is great for developing the skill.

Not MPC - but kind of related - a leaflet from the same era: The top photo is of my grandad at Pearl sometime around late 1943.

Asus wouldn’t exist if Dell hadn’t offshored production in a series of steps that I’m sure made complete sense to their management at the time. Now you can buy an Asus laptop for a lot less than a similarly spec’d Dell. Everything has a cost.

A chip foundry is a 10-15 billion dollar investment - and at best 5 years before you fab your first chips. Some of us have argued for years about the national security issues associated with offshoring it. The problem is - for Dell or whoever - the decision to offshore makes total business sense (or at least it did.) If you want to move it back here - you’re going to need deep pocketed investors, knowledge that we’ve big chunks of, and years. And you still need chips in the meantime. There really aren’t many easy answers. It’ll take government level investment - and there are a whole lot of folks who aren’t really interested in seeing the government spend money on much.

As wonky as it is, I hope that old rifle put meat on someone’s table for a lot of years.

I don't think you'll have much to worry about in terms of the optic itself, but if it's going to be stored in the heat or the cold - I'd choose lithium batteries over alkaline.

A site like armslist is necessarily about the money. Bandwidth and server infrastructure isn’t cheap. Organizations do some stupid stuff sometimes - but rarely do the purposefully blow the whole thing up. I have no idea what their finances look like - but I’d be willing to bet they’re not great. I’d also be willing to bet if there was any other way to make ends meet they’d take it. Not a lot of big companies are willing to do advertising on gun sites these days. Those that do are often filtered through aggregators where surprisingly little money actually flows to the site. There’s a second scenario - which is they’ve figured out that there’s a smaller group of people who are quite willing to pay for the services they provide and they actually make more money with fewer customers and less heartache. Regardless, if a service is worth something, it’s worth paying something for. Support the things you care about - whether it’s a community like TGO (where benefactors literally keep the lights on) or it’s your local newspaper or the nonprofit down the street.

I'm so thankful your daughter was able to be released. Despite still needing oxygen - I'm convinced recovery happens better at home than in a hospital. With everything you've been through lately - I'm glad you haven't had a breakthrough infection.

Long story, short. I survived.

I learned not too long ago that ticks generally need to be attached more than 48 hours to transmit most tick-borne illnesses - Lyme disease, etc. So long as you're pretty careful about checking yourself after you come out of the woods and take a shower - you really don't have much to worry about. I wish I had learned this sooner than I did - I would have spent a lot less time thinking about it.

I find running braid helpful because I can feel light bites better. I find a lot of trout to act sort of like crappie - where they take the bait and hold it for a minute before they decide wheat they're going to do with it. I'm sure a better fisherman might be able to do just fine without it. The 6# Suffix Ghost is a great line though. It's super thin, strong, and pretty easy to see under lights at night.

I'd guess you're either oversprung or something is dragging enough to make it not cycle on the amount of gas you've got from 2 1/2's. Does it run better with more lubricant? If I couldn't find evidence of a part rubbing where it shouldn't - I think I'd oil the heck out of it and run it dirty for a few hundred rounds. Let the oil and the abrasive from the fouling polish whatever needs polishing. It could certainly be oversprung. If a replacement spring were cheap enough, I might buy one and take a coil or two off.

Not typically. If I do, it's to a 6'6" Light/Fast St. Croix on a 2500 size reel. I'm still generally running light braid and light leader to get good casting distance from the tiny stuff. You can have a whole lot of fun fishing that stretch on an ultralight rig. The last few times I've fished it, it's been on a 7' Panfish rod with a 1000 size reel running 6# suffix ghost and 2# or 4# fluorocarbon up front as a leader. You've got to really dial down your drag - but even small fish are a lot of fun. There are some big trout coming out of there. TWRA has done a good job managing our various fisheries over the last few years - we're really starting to see some trophies come out of some of our streams.

My in laws live on the river a few miles down river from there. I’ve always had good luck with in-line spinners - especially the holographic ones from Walmart. Those are really my go to lure. Don’t neglect a trout magnet under a float either. In sections of the river where you’ve got some ripples, they really do catch fish.

Prayers continued for y’all. I’m sure her doctor will suggest it - but monoclonal antibodies really seem to help so long as they’re delivered in the first 10 days. Hopefully by Tuesday this is a complete non-issue for her. Do let me know if y’all need anything.

In a polite society, the open display of weapons will never seen as normative. Open carrying is seen by the public at large as potentially disruptive to preserving order. We have people that we choose to put forth as a community to protect that order (law enforcement - at least in theory.) When an individual or group takes it upon themselves to open carry, it’s making a statement that they’re operating outside of societally agreed upon bounds. It’s always going to be anti normative. None of that affects an individual’s right to defense. You can carry a gun for defense. When you make the choice to strap on a gun you either become an asset to society or a liability. When you open carry the community around you also gets a vote. Choose wisely.

Honestly, y'all are going to have enough to deal with in the coming days - that I don't know that it makes sense to add a dog to the mix in the near term - especially one that hasn't already had extensive previous training. A lot of dogs can be taught the brace command - but having a true service dog involves a lot more.

Please reach out directly if there is anything I can do to help, or we can do as a community.

Is there an Asian grocery store that isn’t good? Seriously. If they’ve got a plate lunch, I’m in.

A little over 3” here at my house last night. Minor flooding around town in all the places that are prone to that.

Early on in my career, someone told me something that's stuck with me for a lot of years. There is no them. Even if there was some organized cabal - they're just not smart enough to pull anything off on that kind of scale. Rephrased - never assign to malice what can reasonably be attributed to incompetence.

Most of the manufacturers have good, free planning tools, too. You can do the design on a great system and then install it in whole or in parts.

Here in Nashville my neighbor was quoted around $5500 for irrigation in a relatively small suburban yard - maybe 1500 sq ft once you take out all his landscaping He wound up doing it himself.

Monoclonal antibodies are as close to a miracle treatment as we have for this thing - so long as they diagnose early and you get them early. Prayers for him and y’all. Keep us posted.