MacGyver

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.

Maybe the best classic mill ever made. It’s the one I learned on.

I still like the old Body For Life method of eating with intention for 6 days a week and giving yourself a “cheat day” to eat literally whatever you want. If your exercise is right - and you’re getting enough sleep and water - that cheat day not only won’t derail you - it’ll show your body that you’re not going to starve it. Even though it’s probably 30 years old, and is dead simple, it is in my opinion still the single best “program” out there. I bet you could find a copy at a used bookstore or EBay cheap.

There’s an old saying that abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym. I know you’re not going for a six pack - but you may have found yourself in the same territory. You’re likely going to need to eat your way into the last few pounds - and take this from an athlete at almost 50 - calorie restriction probably isn’t working for you right now. I think your calorie intake is actually probably way too low for that level of activity. You may be tricking your body into a starvation mode and unconsciously derailing yourself. Fixing it is likely to look a little different than it would have when you were 35. You could eat whatever you wanted then and it didn’t matter. Now, you’re going to have to be specific about your inputs - and they’re going to need to be good ones. For me, that looks like smaller meals, enough protein, and good hydration. On protein, I find a meal replacement shake (Ripple chocolate ftw) is a great way to supplement easily during a busy day. Good luck.

To be fair, his “yard” was more or less a wreck. The sheep couldn’t have made it worse. I’ve got a client in Texas with sheep that he keeps for the same reason. His grass looks great - but he’s probably on 20 acres and almost certainly seeds regularly.

The hardest thing about multiple groundhogs is you only get one shot before the lot of them disappear. If you've got two - you need to bring a friend.

When I was in survival school - I remember the instructor telling us that a raccoon would feed a grown man for a week in the wild. We all turned up our noses at it. A week later when we snared one in the field after subsisting on whatever we could fine - you would've thought they were serving prime ribeyes. -- I have a friend who raised sheep for years for meat. He said they were about as low maintenance as livestock could be, significantly cheaper to finish than cows, and they kept the grass around the back of the house mowed. He said the biggest thing you had to keep in mind was "cattle not pets" - but if you could get past that it was a really great source of good protein.

I had a '96 4Runner that I sold at 300K miles. The guy I sold it to sent me a picture of the odometer when it turned to 400K.

There are giant differences between our southern border and the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. There's not much similarity other than - it's a border. Look, it's a low bar to look at what Hamas has done and condemn it. It's evil - and will likely not exist after the coming conflict. It also doesn't take a lot to look at the conditions just over 2 million people live in and say "I totally disagree with this - but I can see the path to how we got here." You can only be kept in what's essentially an open air prison for so long before some portion of the population is going to resort to violence. Multiple things can be true at once, I guess. But it's just not apples to apples with our southern border.

damn avocado oil that all the hipsters rave about doesn't season my cast iron worth anything.

I'll make a couple of additional comments for context. Rarely is a member here banned for a single comment. It has happened in our history - but that's generally when someone doesn't have a history on TGO and it's clear that they're just here to be inflammatory. Most bans have quite a deal of discussion behind the scenes amongst the moderating staff. We currently have a staff that does a lot of work to keep from banning people. If you've been on TGO for a long time - you'll note that you see far fewer actual bans today than in the past. That's frankly because of mods like @Chucktshoes who are quite willing to disagree with folks - and who can keep their own opinion separate from the job they do here. TGO is a better place because of it. I made the decision to ban crc4 yesterday after discussion with the moderating team. It wasn't a single point issue. He's been here for less than a year - and has had quite a few posts taken down. His history is still here - you can probably go back and find a lot of it if you're so inclined. If you're looking for where the moderating line is - we've got a code of conduct. Repeatedly posting things that are racist will put you over that line. There are members in this thread who've posted things in the past that are over that line and have received warnings because of their history in this community. We can't police what you believe. But we can expect better in your rhetoric here - and those members have course corrected. crc4 received those warnings, and did not course correct. That's why he was ultimately booted.

You really ought to check with your PCP. It's probably worth picking up a fingertip oximeter - they're not that expensive: https://www.amazon.com/Zacurate-Fingertip-Oximeter-Saturation-Batteries/dp/B07PQ8WTC4 If it drops below 95% - that's a direct prompt to go get help.

A lot of things can be true at once. 1. Hamas is a terrorist group that has committed unspeakable evils. For the first time in many of our lifetimes, there is a window of unanimity behind Israel. You better believe they're going to take advantage of that. The softening that's happening right now is just to clear a path for the ground invasion to come. They're going to level most of the Gaza Strip. 2. You can weep for the people affected by this. No one can possibly calculate to any reasonable decimal points the good guys and the bad guys. But, there are thousands of empty seats at dinner tables in both Israel and the Gaza Strip that weren't that way last week - and those folks didn't pick up a weapon. Most people just want to live their lives in peace - it should cause us pain when that peace is broken. 3. There are no easy days - and someone has to be willing to use force to stand in the gap. That's the way it's always been - and it's likely the way it always will be. There are certainly a variety of folks who've been looking for this fight for a long time - and there are plenty of folks who will try to use it to their advantage. 4. America is almost certainly at war here - and we just don't realize it yet. Two Carrier Strike Groups are already inbound waiting for the escalation that is to come. There are certainly Tier 1 assets on the ground waiting for actionable intel for rescues. It's going to get worse before it gets better. 5. There is an enormous humanitarian crisis in the making. Egypt has already closed its border with the Gaza Strip because they don't want the refugees. There will reasonably be a million people homeless when this is done. One more thing - I can't speak to anyone's faith here - but I can say that when you refer to people as 3rd world trash illegals or uncivilized peoples or whatever that speaks to a deeply seated racism that will not be tolerated on TGO.

This is probably the most significant escalation in anyone under 50’s lifetime. The response is going to be overwhelming. It’s mind boggling to comprehend how Mossad missed this. I’ve got thoughts - but that’s for another thread. I pray for the millions of people in Israel and Gaza that just want to live their lives in peace. I also pray for the folks in Washington who are doing their dead level best to keep Tehran from getting nuked.

A lot of businesses are incentivized from multiple directions to go card only. Think of it like this: a business wants to get its product into the hands of people who want to buy however they can. Taking a card actually costs them more than taking cash - figure about $0.30 per transaction and between 2.5 and 3% of the total purchase price. That’s a lot in most low margin businesses. So, there has to be other stuff at play to make them go with a more expensive way to sell you stuff. As it turns out, cash is a liability for a lot of businesses. If you’ve got a bunch of it onsite, you’re a robbery target. Same for the person taking it to the bank. Likewise, I’ve known plenty of businesses that have gone out of business because someone on the inside was stealing cash. Factor in that an increasingly small portion of transactions are cash - but a thief doesn’t know that - and you’ve still got to send someone to the bank. Your insurance is more expensive if you handle a lot of cash. Any of y’all tried to get an employee to fill out a cash report competently in the last few years? That Square reader does it right every time and imports it straight into your bookkeeping software. Suddenly your managers get hours in their day back. A lot of businesses are deciding it’s better for their business to go card only.

To quote Fletch, “if you’re gonna stop - you’ve got to plan ahead.”

Why weld when we’ve got chains? Thats really something.

This isn’t necessarily going to be a comforting answer - but for all intents and purposes - your dollar is already essentially digital in every way that matters. And, for everything anyone in this thread might be worried about - the Fed doesn’t need any new currencies to do any of that. But, on the flip side - I’m not the least bit worried about it. Why? For anyone who’s reading this, the dollar has been the global reserve currency for your more or less your entire life. While we don’t typically go through this exercise on a daily basis - the average American consumer actually benefits from this. A lot actually. There are a lot of countries (the BRICS countries specifically - but some others too) that would love to see that unlinked. This is the kind of thing wars are fought over. The system we have in place right now came into being towards the end of the last really big one. China is working on a digital currency. Their end goal is to replace the dollar. We’re absolutely going to do everything in our power to counter this - including developing our own digital currency. FWIW, when you see a story that’s trying to get you all spooled up about digital currency - and specifically trying to handicap that development - I’d encourage you to ask yourself what the teller’s end goal is. You don’t necessarily have to root for China to root against America - but the outcomes sure look similar.

This group is run by the Dorr brothers - who don't care about anything but grifting from gun owners.

Nope.