bluewing
@bluewing@lemm.ee
- Comment on It is very therapeutic to garden, though. 2 days ago:
It depends on what and how much you grow in your garden. Growing up and even when our kids were young and at home, we grew a large garden to save money. Growing things that store well, like potatoes, squash, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, and other root crops will save you money because they require no very little to no extra processing to store.
Tomatoes, while VERY tasty straight off the vine, often get highly processed into sauces and jarred to preserve. That is time consuming and expensive. But, if you have enough freezer space, you can freeze tomatoes and peppers very easily. But you need enough freezer space for them. Growing string beans are also fairly efficient crops that require little processing to freeze. But, there is still some extra work to be done with them. Sweet Corn take a lot of room to grow enough to make it worth your while preserve.
But best of all is to garden because you want to and you enjoy it. I no longer grow a large garden - me and Grandma don’t need much anymore, but I still grow tomatoes and peppers, turnips, green onions, and amaranth. Amaranth is often used as a background plant in flower gardens, but the whole plant is edible. From the roots to leaves to the seeds. It has a wonderful nutty flavor and is stupidly easy to grow.
- Comment on 2x2 lumber at Home Depot is now 1.28x1.28. Nominal size is supposed to be 1.5 1 week ago:
I’m not an architect, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn.
The easiest way to think about an element being “structural” or not is is to consider what can happen if you remove that element - will the roof/wall collapse on top of you or not. If the answer is no, the roof/wall will not fall down, it’s not “Structural” or “Load Bearing” If the roof/wall can fall down on if you remove it, it is “structural” or “load bearing”.
So, using your example, if you were to remove the drywall and furring strips from that cement block wall, will the wall and ceiling be in danger of collapse? If it is, then it was structural. If not, then it wasn’t structural.
The Architects and Civil Engineers that I have known, do not consider drywall or furring strips to “structural” when designing a building. I’m going with their consensus on this matter.
- Comment on 2x2 lumber at Home Depot is now 1.28x1.28. Nominal size is supposed to be 1.5 1 week ago:
You simply change the expected specs…
- Comment on 2x2 lumber at Home Depot is now 1.28x1.28. Nominal size is supposed to be 1.5 1 week ago:
For a machinist yep. For home gamers, a waste of money. They don’t have the knowledge of where and when to use them nor the skills to get accurate repeatable measurements. So for OP’s use whatever CCC, (Cheap, Cheerful, Chinese), caliper he’s got is good enough.
It’s the definition of “nominal size is what ever we say it is” that pisses me off. Buying wood/lumber is the worst offender of Nominal sizing, but even metals are getting worse. I used to buy a round bar of say, ASA1018 and it would be +0"/-.002". It’s now +0/-.006", (that’s +0/-.05mm and +0/-.15mm for those living in Boca Raton). At the end of my career as a toolmaker I was often forced to purchase oversized stock and waste time turning said stock into the actual sizes required.
- Comment on 2x2 lumber at Home Depot is now 1.28x1.28. Nominal size is supposed to be 1.5 1 week ago:
Can’t you see those are safety sandals. And just like safety squints, are approved PPE across the whole 3rd world industrial sphere. OP will be perfectly safe.
- Comment on PSA: Do not approach the wildlife. 2 weeks ago:
Wall Drug did that dumb stuff 80 years ago. Not much original thought to it by Buc-ees. Can you get Free Ice Water^tm^ there also?
- Comment on Let π = 5 3 weeks ago:
Or it’s from an ME. They seldom can remember the rounded value of Pi, but they’re pretty sure it’s somewhere between 3 and 4. But you probably should use 5 just to be safe…
- Comment on Or we could do metric time 4 weeks ago:
Ah yes, decimalized time. An idea so bad even the French said no, just no after trying it.
- Comment on Brow raising article 4 weeks ago:
I think Groucho did it better. Though if she grew a mustache she could be close.
- Comment on Am I going fucking crazy? (Regarding explicit songs being censored on various music streaming services.) 4 weeks ago:
That happens to a lot of songs with a a snippet of “socially” frowned upon lyrics. From a “Boy Named Sue to “My Dingaling” to When You Get a Hair Cut” to “Money for Nothin’”. Recording artists often have recorded 2 different versions of some songs - one for people to buy and one that can be played on the radio due to “decency laws” set by the FCC and local ordinances.
It’s been that way since the 1930s in the US.
- Comment on I'm not bored or anything, it just feels like forever. 60 more years left of my shift on earth... 4 weeks ago:
As someone my mid 60’s, you’ve been around enough to have learned some things. Start thinking about what you will leave behind on the day you die. What is it that you can do to leave a mark on this world? It doesn’t need to be large and grandiose. Even if you only affect one person for the better, it’s a win.
I went from being a farmer to a toolmaker to a ME. And like you, I discovered that while I was accomplished in those fields, it meant very little in the grand scheme. So I became a volunteer firefighter, which lead to me eventuality becoming medic. When I became too old for that, I looked around and found a need in my local school for me to teach. I discovered community service was what I could leave a legacy in.
And when I do finally pass beyond this vale of tears, I will leave behind a legacy that will live on through the people I comforted though the worst moments of their lives. And also the hopeful seeds I have tried to plant in the future generation. It was never meant to be great or fancy. Just a few simple efforts for me to be satisfied with.
What will you leave behind?
- Comment on Still wondering why people from Alaska didn't post about the eclipse 5 weeks ago:
Don’t feel bad. I 3D printed the NASA approved pinhole camera to see an 80% eclipse I never got to see.
According to NOAA the chance of overcast has historically been 53% for the the 8th of April for where I live. I was on the the wrong side of the 53% chance.
At my age, in 20 years I probably will be dead according to statistics.
- Comment on This is a Test 5 weeks ago:
You very, very, seldom ever restrain a patient’s arms because you need to have access to them for vitals and possible IV access - which is why they can’t be handcuffed. The straps go under the arms and across the chest, and legs. And a cop in a squad car trailing behind the ambulance is of small comfort when you are getting assaulted. It takes a good minute plus for everyone to stop and the cop to get into the ambulance. Been there, done that, got some bruises, scratches and cuts on a few occasions. But no tee shirt. Just imagine how many times you could get stabbed in that minute. Nor do all patients come in via ambulances. More than one trauma patient just shows up unannounced in the ER Bay garage.
I own firearms. And I can and have made repair parts for modern and antique weapons from scratch - springs, screws, firing pins, and other such small parts that many people find unobtainable. I most likely understand them better than you do. I apparently understand them well enough to know what you do not - that it’s very easy to think you know something about them without understanding how much you do not know.
I used to shoot in trap leagues when I was younger, firing around 10,000 to 15,000 rounds a year. But I was never talented enough to hit the national shooting stage. I also used to do black powder shooting matches. I did travel to Friendship to compete once long ago. So I might have fired a gun or two over my life. I still hunt to this day, enjoying upland hunting with my dogs and fine fall days in the field with them.
- Comment on This is a Test 5 weeks ago:
I was a medic for 15 years. Ain’t no one EVER going to cuff a patient to a cot. We can’t even transport a cuffed patient. Hard restrains are illegal for us to use. And no cop is ever going to ride in the back of an ambulance. They will follow in a squad car, but they won’t ride with. And maybe the police secured the scene, maybe they didn’t. Maybe they had time to search the patient, maybe they didn’t. It’s not always picture perfect. And yes, medical mistakes kill more people. But, the job is to prevent killing more people due to missed or lacking protocols. So we do what we can to prevent even one.
And no, this isn’t a silly discussion. We do indeed need to have protocols in place involving weapons because it is a real thing and we discuss scenarios where this happens. And while I never had to remove a firearm myself, I have relieved more than one patient of knives, brass knuckles, tears gas, and one leather sap while doing my assessment. And it happened enough we equipped every ambulance with a lock box to secure them. When I retired, they were considering get kevlar vests for the us. Not so much because of guns, but knives. While not a perfect solution it did offer some small protection. At least a bit more than just a jump bag does. We could even take special self defense seminars on how to protect yourself in the confines of the ambulance, and do so without leaving a mark on a patient - it’s considered VERY bad form to beat up your patient. And it was an odd month were you didn’t get assaulted at least once. I think I averaged about 3 a month or so. Things often be whack after midnight yo.
- Comment on This is a Test 5 weeks ago:
The overwhelming number of tend to live like you also. It’s a just a few of us that make a choice to have to deal with such less than savory people.
- Comment on This is a Test 5 weeks ago:
You have no clue about medical liability do you.
- Comment on This is a Test 5 weeks ago:
At the least, someone might be getting to the head of the line quickly…
- Comment on This is a Test 5 weeks ago:
IF you run across a firearm on a patient, (which is really isn’t a common thing), it gets placed in a lockbox and then locked into a “safe room”. Chances are good there be a cop there in a short order anyway due to the patient having been shot by a gun.
- Comment on This is a Test 5 weeks ago:
It’s harder to learn for many people than you might think. There are 1000’s of different kinds of types and models many with subtle differences from one another from one year to the next. Nor do you know just how mechanically sound that gangbanger’s gun is either - what parts might be broken, missing, or badly modified.
It’s probably not worth the risk when you can just place it in a lockbox and call the cops to deal with it.
- Comment on This is a Test 5 weeks ago:
The general risk assessment is that medical personal don’t know as much about firearms as Law enforcement - and LEOs don’t know much. Besides, you generally have other things to do that are more important than causing a negligent discharge in the ER.
- Comment on You will certainly not regret 1 month ago:
There’s a pork chop in every bottle!
- Comment on All handy dandy 1 month ago:
The easiest way to solve the editorial issue for a lot headlines like this is to simply ask a teenager to read it. Their reaction will tell you if it’s correct or not…
- Comment on We have found it. 1 month ago:
In a different form than they do now. We have, and still do, genetically modified them to their current and future state. We’ve been selectively choosing and breeding plants for many millennia. Corn, beans, and tomatoes didn’t much look like what you buy in the store today.
So, how did they survive? Plants grow, plants die, and the rotting plant material gets returned to the soil. Add in a few dead critters, a bit of fire, and some rain, and Baby you gotta stew going!
We still do that even today. Gardeners often compost things like food scraps to grass clipping to create small scale “natural” fertilizers and work that into their gardens.
If you are a 'Murican you will have been taught that Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how grow food and hunt. Because you know, them Pilgrims was a bunch of City Slickers that didn’t know how to survive in the “wild”. There weren’t no Piggly Wiggly’s or Aldi’s around. They were taught how to grow the Three sisters - Corn, beans, and squash together for best yields. The beans, (legumes), fixed some nitrogen into the soil, the squash plant provided shade cover to limit the growth of “weeds” that could choke out the plants you did want and to hold moisture and keep the soil cooler so the corn, and beans would grow better. The Native Americans also understood, that adding some dead animal matter will also boost your yield. As did most any early farmers.
These days, we need to grow food crops on a very large industrial scale. And yields need to be vastly increased to provide enough for everyone to eat. To do that we need to create better varieties of plants that can withstand the high growing stresses from high density planting with more disease and bug resistance all while producing greater and greater yields. This does require the added use of fertilizers and even pesticides to reach the desired yield goals.
- Comment on It's spring, dammit 1 month ago:
I’m fine with it too. Cold and snow isn’t much of an issue for me. But I have had a mild heat stroke before so I’d rather be cold than hot.
Having just checked the forecast, I see we are now looking at 10 to 25 inches of snow and high winds starting on Sunday and lasting through Monday. I could do without that…So I suppose I should pick up the tractor tire from the shop and get that mounted and check to make sure the emergency genset is working properly.
- Comment on It's spring, dammit 1 month ago:
Another Minnesotan here, as of 5am it’s currently 5F, (that’s -15C for those living in Rio Linda or Boca Raton). We might hit 15F/-9C for a high today. But I also live north of Frostbite Falls too. So enjoy your warm cozy day!
- Comment on mycology 1 month ago:
I sincerely hope so! I’ll be hungry for more by then!
- Comment on Peak technology 1 month ago:
There nearest grocery store that might offer that kind of service would be at least a 200 mile round trip. And while we are old enough to remember sending real film to film labs for developing and then waiting weeks to get something back, she’s not very interested in doing so anymore. To her the cost is not worth the inconvenience of waiting anymore.
And frankly, some arguments are not worth having. In marriage, you need to pick your fights.
- Comment on Peak technology 1 month ago:
She has multiple digital frames. But she still wants to print some out. Grandma’s will Grandma…
- Comment on Peak technology 1 month ago:
Which is fine until Grandma wants to print out all the selfies and other photos our Grand kids send her. Then, that black and white anything won’t cut it. And I can’t afford a photo quality laser printer…
- Comment on Physics 1 month ago:
As one of my Daughters told the Chair of the Physics department at a large Big 10 collage to switch her major from ME to Physics, “I want know the answer, not guess.”