Sorry for the lack of blogging. Lots of real-life stuff to catch up on (including the twins first round of shots at the doctors office… yikes!). I’ll try to most more this weekend, but here’s an open thread for y’all to flame away in. Just try to keep it reasonably civil.
Open Thread
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Looks like the liberals’ “no Filibuster” Deal has already fallen through. They are already going back on their word by filibustering Bolton.
Damn. I was really hoping that deal would work.
An open thread with full license to run my mouth? What could go wrong there?! ^_^
Cam, I feel ya, brother. WAY too much going in in real life these days…mainly scouring the internet and message boards/forums for information on motorcycling…the same way I got educated about guns and politics.
I found out something funny yesterday. My friend Adam has a special deep-seated hatred for Osama Bin Laden for a reason you might not guess–not only is it a day of mourning for all Americans, but that bastard OBL f-ed up his birthday, which happens to fall on Sept. 11th. Adam had a few choice words for Mr. Bin Laden…something along the lines of Muhammadjihadderkaderkaderka!
I’m taking my Motorcycle Safety Foundation class this weekend. I have instructed my wife to post something here in the event of my untimely demise. Wish me luck.
Justin
Have seen SW Episode III twice now. How can a movie be that good when you know how it has to end to fit the following episodes? It is that good, though!
Woody
Justin,
Good luck on the motorcyle safety course. If you live in Oklahoma, you will not have to take the drive test with the DPS. They will waive the tests when you show your certificate of completion from MSF. Your insurance agent should give you a discount also.
The real question, Justin, is what type of bike are you going to get?
Cam,
^_^ This has been a plan long in the works. I got a crazy notion to buy a bike months ago. I sold my 2001 Honda Prelude –sniffs, wipes eyes– and I helped my wife buy a Jeep (you don’t have to tell me how clever I was to get her a new toy first). I’m driving her paid-for Sunfire for now, and it’ll be avaliable for me to drive when the weather’s nasty or the bike’s in the shop.
Wellllll, I’m thinking I’m going to buy a used Kawasaki Ninja 250R. My ultimate goal is to buy a late-80s model BMW K100RS (a 1000cc sport-touring model) for the ability to carry my wife and cargo on longer trips, along with the fun of turning my own wrench on an older bike. I figure it’d be best for me to get something sporty-ish to get used to the riding style, besides the gruff bikers-in-leather-with-eardrum-shattering-pipes-on-big-cruisers just isn’t me at all. This is a first bike, not my last, and should be treated as such. Maybe I’ll hate it and opt for a cruiser next time around. Who knows.
The Ninja 250 is known around the campfire to be VERY beginner-friendly, weighs in at about 300lbs, and can only top out at around 90Mph. It’s an in-town commuter and 2-hour or less trip maker. You can’t go from zero-to-stupid as fast on a 250 as you can on something larger, and you can’t beat the gas mileage (around 70MPG) and ease of maintenance. The motors are practically bulletproof and haven’t been redesigned since the late 80s, so parts (stock and aftermarket) are readily available. The price tag is nice, too–$2,750 or so for a GOOD used one only a year or two old, which I’ll be able to pay outright. Insurance is comparable to a cruiser-style bike twice its engine displacement size, but still, on a 248cc sportbike, it’s practically a rubber stamp–$300 or less PER YEAR.
Compare it to starting out shooting a 9mm Makarov instead of a .38 revolver. Power is about the same, it just looks and functions a little different.
I already have all my safety gear (helmet, armored leather jacket, gloves, boots, pants) so I’m hoping to beat the odds. Statistically speaking if I make it 6 months, I’m out of the woods. Not drinking, not riding a bike more powerful than I can handle, not doing stunts, staying alert (I consider myself a superb and very watchful car driver), taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Basic Rider’s Course, and always wearing my gear should put me ahead of the pack so to speak.
Besides, they look cool. ^_^ The only thing I’ll have to get over is my buddies on their 800cc cruisers laughing at me. Oh well, there’s a saying in biker circles that goes-Ride your own ride. It happens in gun circles, too. Somebody always has to dog on the guy who carries a .380. When you pull the trigger, it goes bang just like their .50AE.
I’ll check back in and let you know how it goes. I’m so excited, I’m probably not going to be able to sleep!
Justin
Oh yeah,
Kevin–Texas does it the same way. I can skip the driving test with the DPS with my certificate of completion of this course. And I’ll get an insurance discount because of it. But thanks for the tip!
Justin
70 MPG—wow, just imagine if you could get a motorcycle that ran on compressed natural gas!!
Also, did anybody see that news report about the guy who cryogenically freezes car parts and it makes them last damn near forever? He froze a car engine and it increased his gas mileage and the engine lasted over a million miles. The report also said some NASCAR drivers are doing the same thing now, freezing car parts, making them last longer.
Remind me to log onto ebay and check into how much a cryogenic freezer goes for.
Freezing engine parts -
There has to be some truth to this. The super cooling will shrink the parts damn near visibly. This would tend, I believe, to further compress or meld alloys together, especially since those alloyed elements would have different coeficients of expansion(contraction on the cooling side of the equasion). When returned to room or operating temperature, these “enhanced” parts will return to norman size but may have attained greater toughness, flexibility, or hardness. This may be due to the molecules being brought closer together and more of them bonding.
I can also imagine this could have a different effect on some alloys where the shrinkage difference between some alloy elements could exceed the bond strenth or elasticity between the elements and cause microscopic fractures, granulation, or even crystalization - substantially weeking the alloy.
So, be careful.
Woody
Hey Justin, don’t forget, in a few months or next year even take the Experienced Riders course also. It adds to you knowledge and skills base, and remember the #1 rule of motorcycling on the open road, YOU ARE INVISIBLE! to everyone.
Have fun and stay safe.
Re: Star Wars
I agree, woody. That the feat Episode III accomplishes is an incredible one. The manner in which nearly all of the big loose ends were tied up really showed some attention to quality as well. As did the close-ups of Natalie Portman
I went home and watched Episode IV afterward and also noticed that my focal characters had shifted. Ever since I was a child, I’ve always followed Luke, Leia, Han and Chewy more so than Darth, Obi Wan, Yoda and the droids. This time it was different - and the fact that the two characters who can’t say anything - R2D2 and Chewbacca - both know Luke is Vader’s son is all the more intriguing.
Martin,
I surely hope this success prompts GL to go ahead with Episodes VII, VII, and IX. It ought to be worth a few extra hundred million to him!
Woody
Welp, today I went to the gun range and had the opportunity to test the Bakil/EAA “Bounty Hunter II” 12 guage model double barrel shotgun we bought a couple months ago. It is the model with cocking hammers. (The hammers cock the gun but do not actually fire the gun. Internal hammers do that.)
It has 18″ barrels and no choke - made best for home defense - you know, a real scatter gun. Not having shot trap in probably 30 years, I was still able to take out about half of the clays with it.
If someone were interested in shooting trap or skeet, this is not the gun for that. If you wanted to use it to hunt, you could……Provided you could get within 15 yards. Forget duck hunting. But, for cowboy action shooting or for self/home defense, I don’t think you could do better than this gun unless you need more than two shots in less than , oh, 5 to 7 seconds.
It is called a scatter gun for one main reason - the scattering of the shot. I think it would scatter any group of BGs who might have invaded your home, too. Once you take out one or two of them, I doubt the rest would wait around to see how fast you could reload and finish the job.
This is a suprisingly tight shotgun. The break open action is snug, slop free, yet not stiff. It will take some time to “loosen it up”, but that is a good thing. Fit and finnish are superb for such an inexpensive arm.
Trigger action was smooth and hammer release was crisp. It was easy to find the release and to plan on it precisely during trigger pull. During home defense this is hardly on your mind at the time, but it would definately be appropriate to practice enough with the gun for familiarization. You don’t want to have to figure out how to make it go bang in an emergency.
In closing, I doubt you could do better for double the money. It was under $300.00. If you need something more, buy something more, but you won’t do better if you just want to have some great fun!
Woody
I’ve given the old site a facelift. Stop by and check it out!
unixdude.blogspot.com