peejman

Most colleges offer some sort of women's self defense class. My wife took one while were in college. http://catalog.chattanoogastate.edu/preview_course_nopop.php?catoid=9&coid=8383 There's this... http://www.nrahq.org/rtbav/index.asp

You get to pee out there? Cool. Ok, I'll be right out there barking like crazy. When they come see what I'm barking at, you climb up on the counter, get the box of treats, and take them to your room. Once they let me back in, we'll divide them up.

[quote name='Viracnis' timestamp='1354571512' post='854407'] Awesome stuff! You guys got me wanting to fire up the old forge! There was a SCA blacksmith that used a "dirt forge" like this exclusively - got himself a decent bellows and just used it side draft. He said you had to[b] [color=#ff0000]be careful what rock you use - some can explode! [/color] [/b]I used to use some sandstone bricks to shape my charcoal fire (had to make it deeper to weld with charcoal) and they'd spall pretty dramatically sometimes. He always sat cross-legged on the ground with his anvil (a sledgehammer head set into a stump. Really low-tech) by his feet to work. It was crazy, but he made some beautiful stuff out of it. [/quote] Yes. Some fire brick will go a long way. 1000+deg shrapnel is never a good thing. At least it'll cauterize the wound it makes... [quote] As far as the air coming from the bottom: Bottom draft forges are an american thing as I understand it. The books I've read seem to allude to the fact that English smiths used side draft and I read in one of the stack of books on my shelf that in Asia the smiths used to have people fan the fire with big fans - no tuyere at all! For the coal forge at the shop (which is sadly probably rusted away after 10 years of neglect) we just got creative with some heavy iron hot water pipe from Home Depot and a $5 hair dryer. Don't use galvanized! Even used a T joint to give it an ash dump! Whole thing couldn't have cost more than a few packages of Ramen, as we built it in college. I'll look for pictures. [/quote] Visited the [url="http://museumofappalachia.org/"]Museum of Appalachia[/url] over the weekend. They have several examples of forges from pioneer times forward. All I recall were side draft with a bellows.

[quote name='3rd24thindian' timestamp='1354597471' post='854675'] A subscription to Ancestry.com is pretty awesome. You can also call your local archives or historical society, they may have local genealogy books. [/quote] Yep. One of my aunt's got on ancestry and traced my Dad's family back 9 generations to the 1740's, two generations before they came across the pond. Really neat stuff.

Not being able to balance a check book is a far cry from being declared legally incompetent. But yes... there's definitely a pot/kettle issue here.

Sounds like a good learning experience. I'm curious where you found a range that allows drawing from concealment? Most don't allow drawing from an open holster, much less a concealed one.

Water purification system (filter, tablets, etc.), small camp stove, solar charger, first aid kit. Get the little one a shaker flashlight. Kids love flashlights.

Welcome!

[quote name='turkeydad' timestamp='1354376897' post='853366'] 2500+ rounds from my p95 dc not one hiccup. . .grip is a little slicker than I like. . other than that flawless. . easy to take apart to clean. . .rock solid [/quote] Get the Hogue, it makes a huge difference. I was gonna sell mine because of the slick grip. I figured the Hogue was cheap and worth a try, glad I did.

[quote name='KaNaPaPi' timestamp='1354298830' post='852905'] Home defense, plinking, groundhogs and snakes LOL Leaning toward the Taurus at the moment. [/quote] Either one will work fine for that. Get the one you shoot the best.

[quote name='UncleJak' timestamp='1354287547' post='852824'] UPDATE: I spoke to a machinst (idk if that's what you call it) this morning. He said this could be easily repaired by TIG welding it. Now, I just have to find a TIG welder. [/quote] [quote name='peejman' timestamp='1354124575' post='851994'] Assuming you can find out what alloy it's make of, a gunsmith or machine shop should be able to fix it quite easily. [/quote] I know several people who could easily weld it. But they're bit far from you.

[quote name='MacGyver' timestamp='1354304195' post='852964'] In 1992, I came to Nashville to look at Vanderbilt's engineering program. As an afterthought, I visited Lipscomb while I was here. One of their professors, Ralph Nance took a couple of hours out of his day to sit down with me, answer my questions about engineering in general and offer me some guidance on finding an appropriate program. During that time, I watched him interact with multiple students on a first name basis, both in and out of the department. I hadn't seen that elsewhere, and looking back, I can say that he talked me into going there - whether he realized it or not. [/quote] TTU is pretty similar. Most of my professors knew my name. Upper level classes typically had 20-25 students. 10-15 in grad school. On the odd occasion I've been back to visit, they remember me (or fake it pretty well). [quote] ... As a general rule, if you're working with a good engineering faculty at the undergrad level, [b]you shouldn't have to pay a dime to go to grad school[/b] as an American engineering student. Vanderbilt is even having a hard time filling graduate fellowships due to the fact that so many of them have ITAR restrictions associated with them, yet they can't find American students to fill them. [/quote] Yep. I got paid to go to grad school. It wasn't much, but I lived on it. There was a high percentage of foreign nationals in grad school. Some of them were really nice, others barely spoke English. [quote]I'm always happy to talk with any perspective engineering students. We need more good ones in this country. [/quote] Ditto.

Traxxis had a demo set-up at the NHRA at Bristol several months ago. Imagine getting paid to tour around the country playing with RC cars all day.... Anyway, they were jumping/flipping/rolling these things 6' in the air and landing on concrete and crashing into steel posts like it was nothing. Occasionally one would quit working, but given the severity of the beating they were taking, I was impressed. They also did a demo with one of the really fast (~70mph) cars jumping it probably 15 ft in the air. I recall some bits scattering when it came crashing down, but it still ran and they repeated it several times.

What's your intended purpose for it? I have an old P85 and my Dad has a PT909. I like my P85 better, but it's a big, boat anchor of a gun. Good for the range and nightstand, much too big and heavy for carry. Hogue grips help immensely. I don't particularly like the slide mounted safety on the Ruger, but that doesn't matter much for my purposes.

[quote name='87toy' timestamp='1354297812' post='852893'] So you were part of the parking problem yesterday and today! Every year when we host the championship the entire campus is a wreck due to a large amount of the campus sectioned off for football parking. The only way we can park in the normal parking lot is to pay. [/quote] Heh, I remember those days. Thankfully I lived on campus so it wasn't a problem. Do they still have the cheerleading camps in the summer? Those made summer school a bit more tolerable...

[quote name='MacGyver' timestamp='1354290720' post='852844'] If you want a great engineering program in Tennessee, check out Lipscomb University. Small class sizes. Professors who care and are there because they want to be. Plenty of areas for undergraduate involvement - both in research and their awesome engineering missions program. 100% pass rate of the Fundamentals of Engineering exam 6 years in a row (quietly the best record in the state). [/quote] Forgot about them, but agreed. A friend is teaching there now. We went to school together and worked together for a while before he decided to go back for his PhD. Thankfully, I already know how to work a post hole digger. [quote name='MacGyver' timestamp='1354290903' post='852845'] I know plenty of big school trained engineers who look down their noses at Tennessee Tech engineers until they work alongside them. They have a great program. [/quote] Yes. Bigger schools are very much a double edged sword. Some have excellent opportunities to learn and do a lot of neat stuff. It's also easy to slide through and learn/do very little. I currently work with several UT grads who know their stuff. In the past, I've worked with a few who didn't know the difference between stress and strain.

[quote name='sigmtnman' timestamp='1354286844' post='852819'] Not familiar with racers edge, but here is a link to more specs on the the one in the first link: [url="http://www.rcplanet.com/Racers_Edge_2WD_RTR_Short_Course_Truck_Red_Body_p/rcep2scr.htm"]http://www.rcplanet...._p/rcep2scr.htm[/url] I don't see the exact one in the second link, but it looks like parts are readily available: [url="http://search.rcplanet.com/search/keywords-sc10--res_per_page-100"]http://search.rcplan...es_per_page-100[/url] It looks like the first one does not include a charger, so plan on buying that. The second one includes a charger. My boy was 4 the first time he drove the traxxis and he had no problem figuring it out pretty quick and out driving his 14 yo sister. You can gear them down and change the speeds on most of them to drop the top end and give it more bottom end. [/quote] Thanks. My boy does seem to have a knack for stuff like this so I think he'll pick it up quickly. I do think I'll need to get some sort of bumper for the front as I expect he'll drive it into stuff full speed repeatedly. Do I recall that the speed controllers might be adjustable? Like I could dial it back so full throttle isn't really full throttle? Re-gearing is a good option too.

[quote name='LINKS2K' timestamp='1354286681' post='852817'] We are looking for a good engineering program and he prefers to go out west [/quote] BSME & MSME here. They have an excellent engineering program. Other than perhaps Vanderbilt, best in the state IMO. What kind of engineering? [quote name='RobertNashville' timestamp='1354290032' post='852839'] I don't know if I'll have have good feelings about Cookville...I seem to recall that the police like to shoot family pet dogs at erroneous traffic stops. [/quote] Yep, that happens daily.

Nice.

Thanks for the advice. I was into RC cars some 25 years ago and was shocked yesterday when I found they still sell the old car I had... a Grasshopper. In fact, I still may have it somewhere.... I know all about breaking and fixing them. I broke that thing so many times it's silly. But I'm so far removed from it, I don't know what's good and what's not anymore. Keep in mind this is for my 5 yr old. I think even something like the Grasshopper would be too fast for him. I was just hoping for something relatively low speed with lots of torque that would just tractor around and climb over stuff. The one linked above is about double what I'd like to spend... $100-ish. These any good? http://knoxville.craigslist.org/tag/3444254274.html http://knoxville.craigslist.org/fod/3427672500.html

[quote name='Mark A' timestamp='1354252195' post='852732'] Peejman, when were you there? I graduated in 1980 Mark [/quote] [quote name='Patton' timestamp='1354229389' post='852566'] My mom graduated in 80 and my aunt in 83, what year was this done? I heard about it before. [/quote] Class of '93.

That gives you (and all of us) some good reinforcement that you can't just point a shotgun in the general direction and expect to hit anything. At typical home defense distances (15ft or less), the pattern is still only a few inches across.

If he liked Cookeville, why not go to school there? It's a great school, typically near the top of the "bang for your buck" lists (not that I'm biased or anything).

Here's a great reference in dealing with kids and guns (among other things).... http://www.corneredcat.com/contents/ I've used the "disarm their curiosity" method with my oldest and it seems to work.

I want to get my (almost) 5 yr old and RC truck for Christmas. He loves then and will sit and watch videos on youtube until we drag him away. My wife bought one off some facebook classifieds thing. Its a huge F150 with lights and such and looks really cool. Since it was (lightly) used, I figured I should make sure it worked properly before giving it to him. I'm glad I did.... while it works fine on the driveway, it doesn't go worth a flip in the grass. I keep my lawn fairly closely mowed and it bogs down within a few feet. The motor hasn't got remotely enough torque. I want something he can drive around in the grass, over small obstacles, and up the slope in my back yard. I don't really need something as elaborate (or expensive) as one of the big traxxas trophy trucks. Modestly indestructible would be good too, I'm sure he'll beat the crap out of it. Anyone have any recommendations?