MacGyver

Neat! I'd love to pick up a good Garand example one of these days.

All three of my kids talked about it at school today...

I always take a moment to reflect - as unnecessary as that is since I can still smell it and taste it when I close my eyes at night. Today - 16 years on it strikes me that my children are closer to he age I was when it happened than I am now. And, that makes me angry and profoundly sad. In just a couple of years we'll have kids deploying who weren't even alive when we entered this war. But, do good. Tell the people you love that you love them. The world can change in an instant.

Just saw a thread by an expert on these surges. Cited a 1900 hurricane where the rise when it came back was 4 feet in as many seconds. This is definitely different than your typical nor'easter depression. It reminds me of the signs in beaches in the Pacific Northwest warning you to be aware of the tides because you could be caught out unable to get back to the trailhead. One in particular changed 18 feet over during some phases. Edit: link to the twitter thread for the interested: https://twitter.com/mikamckinnon/status/906946816523956224

That's the leeward side of the island. Mix the low pressure from the storm, a tidal swing and the wind - and it just sucked the water out of there. It'll come back in with the surge The other time this happens is the time you have to really worry about. When you see the water leave and it hasn't been preceded by a major weather event like a hurricane, that's a good indication to seek higher ground because a tsunami is forming. I heard from some friends in Guatemala this morning that felt the earthquake in Mexico last night for more than a minute and a half.

I don't really know what kind of discussion this will generate, but this article by Peter Lucier is one of the most powerful things I've read in some time: https://wp.nyu.edu/therevealer/2017/09/08/not-your-messiah/

If we're talking other Vietnam movies, I think We Were Soldiers is the most powerful to date.

We left some of the best of that generation over there. It's kind of neat watching my dad now. Since he retired, he's gotten really involved in veterans advocacy issues down in Atlanta. He had such a hard time when he came back, but now it's almost like a switch has flipped. He remembers how he was treated and does his best to make sure that nobody suffers through that now. I remember when he was first starting out, they had him talking to a ton of veterans just coming back. He didn't think he had that much to offer or that his story was that interesting, but as it turns out the part of interest was that he made it. He transitioned back into society, had a family and now at 65 years old is still alive. I don't know if he'll watch it or not. He still occasionally wakes up in the jungle and I guess has learned not to turn over some rocks.

I'm looking forward to this.

My Boy Scout camp growing up was Bert Adams Scout Reservation in Covington, Georgia where they filmed a lot of the show. I can attest to the fact that there were a bunch of trashed chargers out there.

You're not likely to find better for soaking up recoil than the S&W - maybe download it with some low recoil .38 Special rounds. That's going to be similar in recoil to a .380 coming out of that small frame Bersa. She's going to want something with a steel frame to soak up recoil. Maybe she could go to an older .32 Smith or something?

The scary thing is that this storm is currently 400 miles across. It's right at 400 miles from Tallahassee to Miami!

There are things you can control - and things you just can't. The older I get, the more wisdom I see in taking care of the things you can control - and leaning on insurance for the stuff you can't. I'm certain there are a bunch of folks in Houston who wish they had left before the storm - and are in exactly the same place now regardless of the fact that they stayed. Mind you, all of that comes from my middle class perspective having options and means to leave. There are a lot of places in the path of this storm where that's not going to be the case.

There is one road out of the Keys - US-1. Dropsonde measurements from earlier today are being verified, but a reading of 226MPH was recorded. I learned one thing on a search and rescue crew back in the day. If you wait until you know you need to leave, you're way too late.

The takeaway on "Category 6" is probably more relevant to south Florida than it is in the Caribbean islands it's about to hit first. For south Florida - the impact of a storm of this size would be devastating in both damage from the wind and the storm surge and flooding that is sure to follow. But, that's in the US, with modern building codes - and those in south Florida have been strengthened over the years to try to lessen wind damage from storms like this. In places like Cuba, Haiti and most of the leeward islands it would all but wipe them off the map.

As a native Georgian and an engineer, I pull for Tech when I can. My wife is Bulldog born and bred, though. So, I have to be careful if I want to sleep inside.

I pulled 9 kids from 3 to 13 behind a boat all weekend long. Once the rain cleared out mid Saturday morning, they were in the water despite an air temperature in the low 60s. My favorite may have been a six year old - who despite showing me that she knew all of the hand signals - only ever gave me "go faster" sign once in the water. I didn't get in the water a single time, but the joy a kid finds the first time they get up on a board is priceless.

Having that hard of a time against North Avenue Trade School doesn't bode well...

Riding around in my dad's old MG listening to Katy Lied on 8-track is one of my earliest memories. I'm not sure there is another band that made music quite like Steely Dan.

I feel like some of the rule changes over the last few years - both in where you can fly and how you can get trained has made it hard to fly. Have they changed rules so that someone else can ride in an experimental aircraft? Paramotors are pretty safe, but a lot of people would still be nervous learning without an instructor alongside.

Man, I'm sorry to hear that. Sounds like you were lucky to know him!

The interesting thing about the SPLC is that it doesn't really matter how we feel about them. If we were to get listed, there are some of us - because of the nature of our work - just won't be able to one out to play anymore.

As close as I can tell - and someone please feel free to send more if you have it, the Oath Keepers email is referencing this guy. Full transparency, here's the email Oath Keepers sent out: https://www.oathkeepers.org/urgent-call-to-action-texas/ - note this links to the Oath Keepers site - so be advised if you're at work. And, this shouldn't belittle what the Cajun Navy group is doing at all - those guys are doing work that our federal agencies aren't capable of doing right now. And, they've distanced themselves from the guy making the claim of being shot at.

Okay, @Randall53 sent me a link to a report from a Louisiana ABC affiliate with the claims from a Cajun Navy volunteer: http://wgno.com/2017/08/28/cajun-navy-coming-up-with-new-plan-after-looters-shoot-at-boats-try-to-steal-them/ Though the main Cajun Navy group seems to be distancing itself from the guy making the claims: http://wgno.com/2017/08/29/update-cajun-navy-says-no-shots-fired-at-rescuers-statements-made-by-another-rescue-group/ I'm going to open the thread back up, but with a strong warning. This rhetoric is inexcusable. Period. Using a potentially made up story to link a group of hypothetical criminals to a people who disagree with you politically is dangerous. Especially when the post imagines violence. Oath Keepers is already listed as a hate group. Try visiting their website from your office. You know what'll likely happen? Nothing because it's blocked by your employer's internet filter. But, your internal IP will show up as visiting sites affiliated with hate groups. We'd like to keep TGO off of those lists. Appreciate your help.

I'm closing this thread because I don't like the direction it's going. If someone wants to send me evidence from a reputable news source I'll open it back up.