MacGyver

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.

Generally, items are designed in something like a traditional CAD program - and then those designs are fed into special software that "slices" it into the layers that the printer can work with and generates the G-code that drives the printer. Most of the design work that I do is done in a copy of Autodesk Inventor (but that's only because I have a license and am comfortable with it) - there are plenty of free/low-cost programs out there. I know many folks who use SketchUp's free personal plan. I use Cura to import my models and slice them up. I use a free version of that - even though I have access to some other tooling that will do the same thing. It amazes me every time I open it - just because I know how expensive it would have been not too long ago. If you want to check out some of the designs others have made, Thingiverse is a great place to start.

Yeah, it's a weird pace we're in. I mean, it's truly amazing what you can do with a sub-$500 printer. Full stop. I can remember a time when even the free version of Cura I regularly use would have been mid-5 figures. At the same time - the ability of some of the $10K printers is equally mind-blowing. We're going to be able to do some really great stuff in the future. I'm impressed that you've gotten good results with a 0.12 layer height. That's skinny. I'm running a RigidBot that's a few years old. 0.20 is about as good as I can get reliable results with.

I've only got a single nozzle on my printer, but I'm really impressed with their water soluble support filament, too.

Cool. I've been messing around with some of the CarbonX filament - in my case PLA with carbon fibers impregnated. I haven't done actual strength testing - but I like the results so far. It's not that much more expensive than a spool of regular PLA. https://www.3dxtech.com/carbon-fiber-3d-filaments/carbonx-pla-cf/

Fun. Are you printing in PLA or ABS?

I’m kind of surprised Ivanka hasn’t filed to run for his seat yet.

What a stupid way to die.

Someone said to me earlier, "He was my first movie star crush. He could sing and dance, looked good in a suit, and genuinely hated Nazis."

I put a set of Goodyear Kevlar ATs on my Tacoma in November after the previous set last 65k miles with no issues at all. Super happy with them. Great tire. Right at $800 OTD. I think there was a rebate I sent in later - maybe $100?

If I get 40,000 miles out of a set of tires, I'm gonna be mad.

I found close in an old harbor freight assortment I had sitting around. It's only 3/4" though. We're going to need to see show and tell when you're done.