MacGyver

Young eyes or old eyes, it takes a lot of dry fire practice to reliably get that red dot in your field of view on presentation. And, you've got to get that squared away before you consider moving to trusting it for EDC. But, what it actually highlights for most people is the training scars that they've acquired through years of maybe less than ideal practice. So, going through the dry fire process a lot will actually be working to correct some of those old scars with new, better ones. They're worth putting the time into. Watching your hits go reliably out from where you were comfortable before is pretty cool.

Leroy, if I wanted to try it out - and make sure I could get my money back out of it if I didn’t like it - I think I’d buy a Zev Tech G19 slide and put it on the G32. I think those frames are the same - but verify it first. A 7MOA RMR is the way to go for a fighting pistol. And again, you can easily flip it if you decide it’s not for you.

I’m glad for the ownership at Gamaliel’s if this is something they were seeking. But it’s a net loss as far as I’m concerned. Just a recent look at all the manufacturers that still haven’t come back online after the Remington bankruptcy should give anyone pause.

I was listening to some geneticists that I know the other day talk about mutation possibilities amongst themselves and some other biologists. One thing that at least gave me a little comfort was their comments that mutations generally get less deadly over time. Basically, it's bad form - and bad for the virus's long term evolutionary prospects to kill its host.

Not apples to apples - but here in Nashville my wife got her first shot on Sunday through Vanderbilt Health. From the time she got out of the car to the time she got back in the car was just over 21 minutes.

The warming trend (last week notwithstanding) was more of a macro observation than a local one. If you look at some of the big hotspots nationally - Florida, California, etc. that we’re driving big numbers - those places are starting to get warmer. I don’t know what to tell you about ICU and bed metrics. Those numbers are public and generally a lagging indicator. But, for example here in Nashville these were in the red all of December and January but are starting to go down now: https://www.asafenashville.org/reopening-key-metrics/

I don’t have anything to add to this thread other than this: Wear eye protection! I saw a primer go off one time not contained within a piece of brass. It left little pieces of metal buried deep within the plexiglass shield that was being used for safety. I can’t imagine they’d be able to pick those pieces out of your eyes - and cornea transplants aren’t any fun.

We've dropped below 2000 deaths per day (7 day moving average) for the first time in 78 days. There are generally 5 things that the drop is attributed to - these are cumulative (they all work together): 1. By far the biggest - hospitalizations have been reduced to the point where there is better capacity to keep you alive. It sounds crazy when you make this a supply chain issue - but fewer available beds and taxed staff will result in more deaths. All other things equal - you're a lot more likely to leave the hospital alive right now than you were in December. 2. Warming temperatures leading to lower infections. People being able to spend more time outside is a good thing. Sunlight and heat are good at destroying the lipid layer that surrounds the virus. As humidity goes up - those water vapor droplets will attract virus particles and drop to the ground faster. It's easy to get complacent right now - but if you're going to be in a group of people - you can be a lot more comfortable outside. 3. Vaccinations are up - we're way behind the curve in Tennessee at large - but a decent number of our highest risk people have been vaccinated. Nursing homes are almost done. Since that made up for a lot of deaths - getting those folks vaccinated helps a lot. 4. A smaller pool of available hosts - Almost 12% of Tennessee has tested positive at this point. There are simply fewer people who can come in contact with it, get infected, and as such pass it on. 5. We don't know but we'll take it - I know this one makes a lot of folks mad - but the surest way to know whether or not you can trust a scientist is to ask them about what they still don't know. There are still a lot of unknowns. 5 years from now, I hope we have a lot of those answered once we can catch our breath and look back at this pandemic from a forensic perspective. But, for now, there's still some stuff we don't know. And since cases are going down - we'll take any help we can get.

Hey, good to see you on. I feel like it’s been a minute.

I can’t imagine the business model of running a theme park. Insurance by itself has to be insane. I remember my wife having some choice comments about the pricing last time they went. I guess there’s always that place down in Chattanooga where all the old county fair rides go to die. Man my kids love that place.

Just for fun, I’m going with a Gary Powers special - High Standard HD-M/S. Fun fact - while these were delivered in 1944 - there are still a bunch of them in use. The combination of a liquid charge with a baffle wipe made coupled with a slide lock made it unbelievably quiet.

I’ve never been to Dollywood, but I’ve noted over the last few years how many moms I’ve heard say, “We went to Dollywood. That place was clean.” As someone who grew up at Six Flags where you had to be careful about touching anything for fear of either getting a handful or chewed gum or an STD, that comment has stuck with me. Theme parks aren’t really my thing - but I expect it’s kind of like the old Van Halen green M&Ms clause. If they care enough to get it clean enough that moms of young kids notice - they probably also care enough about things like maintenance and safety that you can feel good about getting on that ride.

During the tornadoes in the spring, we were out of power for 96 hours. The $400ish 2000W Honda copies are quiet and will run a fridge/freezer until stuff comes back up. I recently switched to a gas fired instant hot water heater. It can be run off a battery on an inverter. It really doesn’t draw much power. So, it didn’t tax it to plug it in, too. My family decamped to a place with power - but I had coffee, food stayed frozen, and hot showers. We could have lasted indefinitely.

The thing that’s interesting to me about Dolly is how she really does seem to thread the needle and avoid controversy. With someone of her status, I expect that’s due to three things: 1. A very specific focus on staying out of those topics and situations. This is a craft, and she’s good at it. 2. To that end, she’s almost certainly cultivated a team of people around her who she’ll listen to and can tell her, “You know what? Take a pass on that one.” I can think of a lot of celebrities who could take lessons on this one. 3. She’s probably honestly just good people. This just can’t really be faked - at least not for long. I expect she’d fit in just fine at any of our dinner tables. There’s an old story about her breakup with Porter Wagoner and the court full fights that went on for years after that where he basically tried to destroy any career she might have thereafter. But fast forward a bunch of years to when he was bankrupt in the late 80’s. If my memory serves me correctly, she basically bought his old studio out of foreclosure and gifted it to him. That lady has never forgotten where she came from. I hope folks will say the same about me if I make it to her age.

I don’t know what goes on in the rest of the state, but I know here in Nashville it’s managed by the local chapter of the United Way. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me to find that the legislature had provided funding or anything like that - I’ve yet to find a politician that won’t try to co-opt a good program to their benefit. But,I know we’ve donated in the past, and the tax statement we’ve gotten at year end has come from the Imagination Library/United Way.

I can’t say I’ve ever been a big listener. But as the parent of three children, I can’t think of anyone who’s actually done more for the children of this state. My oldest is 14, and I think she was among the first group to be a part of the statewide Imagination Library - where if you’re not familiar any child in Tennessee can receive one book a month in the mail addressed to them at no cost until their fifth birthday. We’re an affluent family that read to our children every night - but man did my kids look forward to getting those books in the mail. They’ve of course outgrown most of them - and though we’ve set some aside to keep and pass down - we’ve passed a ton more along to refugee groups and mission points we support. I’m certain there’s some kid in Haiti or Tanzania who knows the Little Engine that Could or Llama Llama Red Pajama because of Dolly. My wife teaches in a exceptional education in a school that is extremely diverse - both racially and economically. I can say that for some of the kids she works with - those are the only books they had ever owned. She’d get their vote.

Her ability to deflect political stuff and just serve the people of Sevier county and the state at large is so polished that no amount of money or training could buy it if you wanted it. She is as good a patron saint as Tennessee could hope for. She deserves a statue. I hope they’ll honor her wishes and wait until she’s gone.

My physics professor in college had an early heat pump. He said when he saw that emergency heat light come on he knew he was going to be eating peanut butter and jelly.

Modern heat pumps operate better at low temperatures than older ones - but the fundamental problem remains - there's just not much heat to pump in from the outside if you will. Somewhere in the 25-30F range is typically where running the heat pump isn't going to really be efficient anymore. If your heat pump automatically switches over to auxiliary heat - it likely knows where that efficiency point is and fires up auxiliary as needed.

Watching my kids and my dog playing out there. Sleds are rockets on the ice. They're not even making footprints.

I’ll take y’all’s word for whatever condition they’re in. I’m fortunate that I shouldn’t need to go anywhere.

These look great.

You should get a medal. And your “friend” should probably never be allowed near a long gun again.

Everybody needs a hobby. You can consult your wife on whether or not you need another hobby It's pretty neat that you can tinker with 3D printing a bit for a couple hundred bucks all in. Is it the best printer you'll ever see - no - but that's okay. If you wind up not using it, the local elementary/middle/high school of your choice will be thrilled for the donation.

You'd be amazed at how far CAD software has come - especially in terms of ease of use. As a "test the waters" first step - it might be worth just playing around with the free, web version of sketchup a bit. It'll import .STL files - which are what most of the models you find on the internet are. I printed a ton of other folks' stuff before I ever made or modified my own.