analog_kidd

The story of Murderous Mary the elephant, who met her demise in Erwin is an interesting read: https://blueridgecountry.com/archive/favorites/mary-the-elephant/

I've kinda gotten out of it for a while, but I used to go all the time. here's me on Bald River Falls over by the Tellico

Yeah, we got TSA Pre-Check because my son moved his Family out to Vegas, and with cheap Knox flights out there, we figured we'd be doing a lot of flying. TSA-Precheck is great everywhere EXCEPT Vegas. Every time we have flown out of Vegas coming home, the Precheck line is closed. They scrutinize us at the scanners like we are Precheck, so we don't have to do the body scan/shoe removal and what-not, but we do have to schlepp our way thru the long line, like a couple of commoners

I'm with you in the fact that I wouldn't want to carry the passport around, and so would never use it domestically. However, they do make a wallet, driver's license-sized card that you can use as a passport. Its not valid for International air travel, but is fine for domestic, and land / sea ports of entry. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/card.html I would have gotten one when I renewed my passport a few years ago, but it costs EXTRA, and I'm cheap. I also noticed on that link above that they are modernizing the passport, which I was not aware of. They started in 2021. Won't require a replacement until you have to renew.

I must not be doing it right... I have a fence line in the back 40 that I fight with every year. It's always overgrown with these hellish thorn bush things and thorny blackberry bushes. They get me every time I mow past them. I want that fence line to be a wasteland, a foot on either side. After reading here about diesel being effective, and also reading more about it on Google, I was willing to give it a try. I got a couple gallons, put it in a sprayer and doused every living thing along that fence. Covered all the leaves, and gave a spritz to the ground as well. Several days later I could still see diesel residue on the leaves, but the weeds looked even healthier. So I gave them all another treatment. A week later and they are still going strong. AND to make matters worse, my entire back yard smells like a truck stop disaster. So, what is the correct method for applying diesel, and why won't these weeds die?

If there is not wailing and gnashing of teeth from the media and usual suspects by now, then I'm betting the shooter does not fit the normal stereotypes, and they just want this story to go away.

The Rock Band RUSH is one of my favorites, and they have a song called The Analog Kid. I'm an IT Engineer, working with computers every day. On that same album is a song named Digital Man, and you would think with my profession I would identify more with that song. However, even tho I work on Nerdy stuff, I'm definitely not a Nerd. I don't like video games, and once work is done, I turn of the tech. I'm into outdoor stuff, and am more happy when there is no electricity nearby. So, Analog Kid fits better

Yep, been to each of those places too, and you are right, they are amazing hikes. Other one in BSF that is fantastic is the Honey Creek loop. Back at Cumberland Gap, the 3 day backpacking trip along the entire ridge is on my bucket list.

I'm convinced the massive number of pumps at Buccee's is to allow you to pull up to a pump, get gas and then just stay parked there while you go in and leisurely shop. At a place like Love's, you feel rushed to move away from the pump to let the line behind you pull in for gas. A buddy and I stopped in the Crossville one a few weeks ago after a weekend backpacking trip to Virgin Falls. Virgin Falls is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. It's absolutely spectacular, but Buccee's was one of the highlights of the weekend for my friend.

And for some people, taking the meds is what makes them easy going, "regular" people, who are perfectly capable of owning and possessing a gun. In some cases, someone might just not take the meds anymore so they can own guns, which could result in their becoming unstable and doing something rash. Thereby, this law would cause the exact thing they think it will prevent.

It's been decades since I had a reason to know what a bag costs. I somehow stumbled upon an article the other day listing the average cost of an ounce (seriously, I wasn't looking). I was surprised to learn that where it is legal, they are selling it for $300-ish an ounce. Seems like that was what the going rate was back in the early 90's. It may be the only thing not affected by inflation.

And this happened today: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/four-children-killed-pre-school-attack-southern-brazil-2023-04-05/ Guy with an axe jumps the fence and kills 4 kids at school. Crazy people will always do crazy. It's just that for the U.S version of crazy, a gun is the most convenient tool. If crazy doesn't have that tool, they will find another. You know what did stop this crazy guy? A good guy with a gun

There are armed guards at the White House. There are armed guards at the Capitol There are armed guards at the Supreme Court There are armed guards at the Governor's Mansion There are armed guards at the State Capitol There are armed guards at my local courthouse Seems like the .gov folks all think some people are worth paying for armed guards for their safety.

We used to be diehard Fox news consumers. We left Comcast and went with a couple different streaming providers, and the ONE deal breaker was they had to have Fox. We got tired of paying for the streamers too, but couldn't quit them because there was no other way to get Fox. Sadly, that was the ONE and ONLY reason we wouldn't cut them. Then they just started going off the deep end. Every prime time talking head repeated the same exact stories and events as the one that came on before them. It was mind numbing. Then Hannity, with his drama queen delivery got to be too much, so we stopped watching him. Tucker just seemed to be off the rails, so we stopped watching him. More and more we just stopped watching it. Now-a-days, if I need to see wall to wall reporting on something of a national scale, I'll watch NewsMax. They have a free app and you don't need a carrier to log into it, like Fox does. All the contributors that left Fox, or got fired, are all working for NewsMax. But NewsMax is also very unappologetically slanted to the right. The good thing is, we pretty much stopped watching Fox alltogether, which allowed us to just cut cable and all the streamers. I put up an antenna. I bought an HDHomerun tuner device and connected it to my Plex server, so now I have full DVR capability of anything I can pull in over the air. Our evenings consist of watching some local news, and the wife has to watch wheel of fortune. Our TV is free now, and we are saving a ton of money on subscriptions. Oh, and life without constant news running in the background is SO MUCH BETTER.

Old enough to know what's right, Young enough not to choose it

We have a couple rental properties in Oak Ridge (that are currently rented out), but are managed by Asset Realty Management. I don't know how they are from a tenant's perspective, but they have been good to us as landlords. They have some listings available on their web site: https://www.knoxvilleproperty.management/knoxville-homes-for-rent#properties?

So, if a bank I have DEPOSITS in goes under and the bank says, "sorry all your money is gone", what happens if I have a LOAN with that bank? Does that go away too and the house I have mortgaged is now mine free and clear?

I know we can't change the system, but what I want to know is what can we do to insulate ourselves from the impending doom? Do we stockpile cash in jars in the back yard? Start buying gold and silver? Real Estate? Do I need a years supply of stockpiled food?

They are saying the balloon shot down over Alaska may have been a hobyist club's balloon that got away from them. And we used a $200M jet and launched a $400k missile at a $100 toy.

Hollywood 100% has an agenda. I say to my wife all the time, "why is it that of the probably 400-ish people in my life that I know, I can think of only 2 or 3 that are gay. So less than 1% of my set of data points. Yet every single TV show has to have at least one gay person." Look, I don't care what you do in your own life, I'm a live and let live kind of guy. But, I don't want to see ANYONE being sexual on TV, gay or straight. It makes me uncomfortable to watch sex scenes, especially when my wife / (adult) kids / grandkids are in the room. Just stop showing any of it.

Here are some shows that we recently binged that were pretty good Yellowstone 1883 - One season is all there will be. This plays like a long movie. Tulsa King Dead to Me - The last season gets funky due to Christina Applegate health issues. Just accept it and enjoy it anyway. After Life The Terminal List Ted Lasso Ghosts - The US version. Stoopid and silly, but fun Severance - You'll either love it or hate it. Definitely a weird ride Alone - Good reality show about people being left alone to survive in wilderness. Last person standing wins $$ Justified - Older show, but it was great. Might go back and rewatch the whole thing.

I lived such a sheltered childhood of innocense, back in the day, I actually thought this song was about fireworks, the 4th of July kind. Re-listening to it now and thinking back, it must have been pretty risque for its time

I usually search <county name> TN Elections and I usually find the county website that has a sample ballot. I use that to research candidates, and make my selection before I go in to vote. One of my biggest peeves is people who have no idea who they are voting for, getting to the polls, and picking random candidates. That is insanely irresponsible and they may as well just stay home and let the people who actually care, go vote. At the very least, just skip over whatever sections you don't have an idea about. You don't have to cast a vote for every single section. Are you in Morgan County? if so, here is their website with a .pdf sample ballot: https://morganelections.com/

People who pronounce the word Suite as "suit" and not like "sweet". A bedroom "suit" are my PJ's, a bedroom "sweet" is what I put my PJ's in