analog_kidd

Not sure what channel it was (I'm certain it wasn't BBC) but I saw the full version last week. It was probably FOX News,one of the DIY's, Science or History, which is what I usually watch.

Yeah, some of the framing looked a little sketchy to me. In fact if you look at the 2nd picture I posted, look at the 2x4 that is holding up the landing on the stairs. It looks like an "S" due to the buckling. He does have it shored up just outside the picture and It looks pretty stable to me. I overheard the owner talking to a visitor and saying that an engineer had visited one day and gave him all kinds of advice on where to improve some structure. I figured thousands of people have visited and nobody has got hurt yet, so It's probably OK. We climbed all the way to the bell tower, and could feel it swaying. We didn't stay up there very long

Perfectly said. I think this will be Microsoft's biggest blunder. They are not saying anything about it yet, but I predict it will be an epic fail once released.

I had seen this in a travel guide a few years ago, and wanted to go ever since. This past week I've been on vacation from work, so my wife and I took a motorcycle ride out to see it. This place is pretty cool. This minister started building a treehouse on his property years ago and just kept going with it. I think he is still adding on all the time. Now the thing is HUGE. It's got to have 5 or 6 stories, and I don't know how many thousands of square feet. It's free to visit, but they do have a donations box if you feel like helping them out. It's is located in Crossville, TN. Get off I-40 at exit 320. There is a road that parallels the north side of the interstate called Cook Road. Head east on Cook until it takes a hard right turn. Instead of following the curve, turn left on Beehive Rd and go to the end of that road. Beehive ends at the parking area.

I'm a MIcrosoft guy all the way. I make my living working with MS servers. I loved the Windows interface ever since Win95. Didn't care too much for Vista, but that was due to stability issues mostly. I think Win 7 is the best O/S they have ever come out with. I loaded up Win8 as a Virtual Machine, and absolutely hate it! There is no way that I can use this O/S. For a power user, the interface is intolerable. I like to have multiple windows open all the time. Win 8 forces everything to run as a full screen. There is no way this O/S will work in a business environment. It may be OK for home use, but it just is not geared toward businesses. Removing the Start button is just crazy. For nearly two decades now people have been used to the way Windows works. Now they change it so drastically that it just frustrates you to try and do anything that you are used to. The tiled interface may be the evolution of the user interface, but I think they should have eased people into it. It's just too much all at once. I personally won't use it, and I will be recommending that we stay away from it at work.

We just visited the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, TN and I picked this guy up while I was there:

I guess freedom of information is all good if you're an oppressed Chinese citizen, but if you're a second amendment loving, free and proud American, well.....

If you haven't been camping in a while, you're going to want to keep it simple. A bad experience just means you'll never do it again. Camping is a great activity, you don't want to spoil it with a bad first experience. Cook out, but use matchlight charcoal. Cook easy stuff you already know how to cook: Burgers, chicken, etc. Pancakes and bacon are great for breakfast. Nothing smells better than bacon cooked outside. Have a really good campfire at night. Bring lots of dry wood. Don't try to find stuff out in the woods while you are there. Bring dry, seasoned wood. A fire is your TV set at night. You'll sit around it, mesmerized for hours while you talk. If you spend the night blowing on it and throwing gas on it, you'll just end up frustrated. Bring marshmellows to cook, or cookies. My favorite camp cookies are Pecan Sandies, or something homemade. Practice setting up your tend in the back yard. Setting one up for the first time can be frustrating. Look like you know what you are doing when you get to the camp site. HIking is a great thing to do during the day, but don't make it a death march. Find a nice, reasonable hike, maybe three or so miles long, and bring a lunch and water. Be a hero and pull out a couple of Snickers Bars at the halfway point. If you both like it, bring a frisbee, football, horseshoes, etc. Cards are good too, if you know any games. Or bring a board game. Its fun to play a game at a camp table outside. Makes it an all new experience. If you have a GPS, or a phone with a GPS in it, go to Geocaching.com and find a few caches in the area. Trust me, you'll love it. Look for actual caches, and stay away from virtual, or micro caches. The cache pages usually say what kind of cache they are. Above all, enjoy the trip, relax and have a good time.

I had the perfect day. I started it off with a visit to my favorite restaurant, Waffle House, with my wife and son.Then he and I spent the day kayaking the Ocoee River. Came home to a fantastic meal prepared by my other son's wife. Finished off the evening with a beer near the pool watching the grandkids swim. Doesn't get any better than that!

I say that's what they get for living there. It's part of the deal. Just one of the costs for living in "paradise"

You can get a membership without a sponsor, I think they just have to read your name at two consecutive meetings, instead of just one. I've never been to one of the meetings, but I think they ask if anyone knows why an individual should not be a member.

This is from one of my favorite websites: http://artofmanliness.com/2012/06/05/survival-tampon/ Sounded a little strange at first, but it has some pretty good points.

Maybe he'll smooth everything over with the locals by bringing in some free 24oz Cokes

I want to know why the dad was getting drunk with his minor kids. Sounds like the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

I haven't heard it yet, but I did give a listen to the new Rush album that came out on Tuesday. Why does every song of theirs lately sound like every other song? They haven't come out with anything original for a couple of decades.

Here's one of me on Bald River Falls near the Tellico River: Here's one of me doing something "dangerous":

Another interesting fact about 911 on a cell phone is that many of them will make a alerting beep for several minutes after dialing. This is so EMS can locate you if you are unable to speak upon their arrival. It's very bad tactically speaking if you are hiding in the closet when an intruder is in your house and you want to quietly call the police. You can turn it off, but you should know about it and turn it off before you need to use it.

I have a couple of Zippo's that I recently bought. There is just something about them, the way they light up, the way the sound when you snap one closed. They are a piece of Americanna. The one thing I dislike is that the fuel will evaporate from the lighter in about a week. If you have one in your bob, you might check to see if it still lights up. A bic is a better option for a long term lighter.

It seems like I saw a knife like this advertised somewhere recently, but I can't recall the maker. I'm looking for a multitool, but not the typical Leatherman style double folder over. I want something that is primarily a knife, and looks more like a conventional knife. I want to be able to carry it clipped into my pocket, with the blade tip up. The blade would need to have the thumb stud on it for one-handed opening, but there would be some basic tools that fold out, perhaps a screwdriver, bottle opener, etc. Anybody know if something like this really exists?

Wan't it just a few years ago when the Democrats held up an entire Presidential election because they wanted to make sure that the FL elections were on the total up and up, making sure to count the chads, disqualify the hanging chads, etc? I thought that the constitution says it is up to each state to appoint Electors, who in turn will elect the President. It is up to each state to determine how they want to choose those Electors. Sounds to me like this is a case of the Fed overstepping their bounds and messing with State Rights.

One of my favorites is the Alley Ford hike on the Emory River. The trail is part of the Cumberland Trail. Put on the trail at the Rock Creek campground at Nemo Bridge. The hike is only about three or four miles long, but it ends up at this really great sandy beach on Clear Creek. I'm not sure how good the fishing is, but it is very remote there. You can get a map of the area from the Ranger Station in Wartburg.

Thank you, thank you , thank you!!

Blackberry season is approaching and I'd like to pick several gallons of the berries to make some wine. Anybody know where there are abundant patches of them near Knoxville on public land? A buddy of mine said Max Patch over near where I-40 crosses into NC is good, but it gets a lot of traffic with other pickers. Plus it is over an hour long trip for me. Was hoping to find somewhere a little closer to home.

IF the holes are golf ball sized, I would use the mesh. The mesh makes quick work and it doesn't get any easier. If the holes are baseball sized or bigger, I've had good luck with the 1x2 method described by Dolomite. The only step I would add would be to put a screw in the middle of the 1x2 that you can use as a handle while you are screwing it to the existing drywall. Once it is fastened securely, remove the screw handle and screw in the patch. If the hole is big enough for you to get your fingers around the 1x2 then you won't need the handle.

The only thing I have that is even close is the Forefront Identity Manager position. It requires quite a bit of programming to pull of what we are doing with it. It seems like IT Pros with that skill set are hard to find. I think I may have to hire someone and train them. To me the perfect person would be a Sys-Admin that knows how to program, or a good programmer with some Sys-Admin skills. You would need to know (and/or be able to learn really quickly) XPath, XML, C# and PowerShell, in addition to knowing a bit about Active Directory and Windows Server in general. I'll PM you my email address if you want to send me a resume..