What I did today -instead- of Rocketry.

[Sandy H.]

Working on one that requires an empty Jameson bottle.

Used as a club...

What you guys are going through is nothing like anything I've ever even considered. Having said that, I imagine the trap will be more accurate when the bottle of Jameson's is full, but the ability to reset and try again gets higher as the bottle gets emptied. Please let me know if your experimental results are similar to my predictions.

Sandy.

 

[GrouchoDuke]

My everything hurts.

 

[GrouchoDuke]

Moving sucks...

Agreed! This is our 15th place in 22 years. I’m really hoping to stay for a while.

 

[teepot]

Agreed! This is our 15th place in 22 years. I’m really hoping to stay for a while.

And we only had three duty stations in 20 years. 1981 to 1987 Mtn Home, Id. 1987 to 1991 RAF Lakenheath, England. 1991 to 1999 Nellis AFB Las Vegas, Nv. My wife retired in 1999 and the next day went back to the same office, same desk as a contractor at twice the pay. After a half dozen years or so she went from the Nellis ranges to the Nevada Test site. And again at twice the pay. Finally retired the last time 5 years ago.

 

[jqavins]

Humane traps, usually $15, are being scalped at the markets for $50. We're innovating home-made traps out of buckets, coat hanger wire and drink bottles.

I'm sorry to say it, but humane traps are not the way to fight this. They'll just lead to getting the same 14 mice in your house every day. Been there done that, albeit on a much smaller scale.

I imagine the trap will be more accurate when the bottle of Jameson's is full, but the ability to reset and try again gets higher as the bottle gets emptied.

Also, a full bottle is more prone to break on impact than an empty one. Smashing a mouse is one thing, but smashing a full bottle of Jamison's is criminal.

Don't you just gotta love invasive species?

Surely you must have realized what would happen if you removed the tribbles mice from their predator-filled environment into an environment where their natural multiplicative proclivities would have no restraining factors.

It must be tempting to introduce owls and/or wolves, but that way lies madness.

 

[Jim Hinton]

Getting might tired of this mouse plague. Currently averaging 14 a day just inside the house. The little are currently chewing their way through most things stored in the workshop and a small platoon has moved into the occasional use caravan.

Humane traps, usually $15, are being scalped at the markets for $50. We're innovating home-made traps out of buckets, coat hanger wire and drink bottles.

And apparently the plague is still 150+ km (93+ miles) away. We must have advanced troops...

For what it's worth, I've worked in municipal facilities with similar issues. Steel wool works pretty well to seal crevices, vents etc. They don't seem to be able to chew through it.

Jim

 

[dhbarr]

I'm sorry to say it, but humane traps are not the way to fight this. They'll just lead to getting the same 14 mice in your house every day. Been there done that, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Also, a full bottle is more prone to break on impact than an empty one. Smashing a mouse is one thing, but smashing a full bottle of Jamison's is criminal.

Don't you just gotta love invasive species?It must be tempting to introduce owls and/or wolves, but that way lies madness.

And whatever you do, definitely don't run a bunch of double-sided walk-the-plank traps -- many people would consider it inhumane to drown so many poor little defenseless
filthy invasive disease carriers.

 

[dr wogz]

getting planes ready to start R/C flying again!

 

[boatgeek]

Quick break from the mice and moving. Way back in post #2950, I talked about a client's boat that burned up. That boat just left for Mexico for scrapping. It's the last boat in the chain here--they were able to save a little money by doing a tandem tow with another boat that another client bought but couldn't make into something workable. That's the middle boat, and the tug is the leader.



In line with the series about vacuum chambers in the Jokes thread, it's truly amazing how much effort the Coast Guard went through to make sure that two boats that had all of their pollutants removed were not going to sink in deep water on the way down the coast.

 

[jqavins]

After making so sure they pollutants are removed, heaven forbid we should place an artificial reef for the fishies. Except that's done a lot. But oh, no, can't do it where it isn't planned! (Actually, I suppose many tons of steel falling to the bottom could do real damage to whatever's there beforehand, physically if not chemically.)

I never thought before about the great length of towing cable used. Do the craft in tow steer themselves?

 

[boatgeek]

After making so sure they pollutants are removed, heaven forbid we should place an artificial reef for the fishies. Except that's done a lot. But oh, no, can't do it where it isn't planned! (Actually, I suppose many tons of steel falling to the bottom could do real damage to whatever's there beforehand, physically if not chemically.)

I'm pretty sure you're supposed to do a lot of planning to install an artificial reef. It would also be polite to get its location onto charts so that fishermen and anyone anchoring in the area don't snag on it. But, yeah not a huge catastrophe in general. I would hope that any mobile critters would get out of the way of a 200-foot flyswatter landing on top of them, though of course that doesn't help shellfish fixed to rocks.

I never thought before about the great length of towing cable used. Do the craft in tow steer themselves?

That's even relatively short for transit in the confined-ish waters of Puget Sound. Once they're out at sea, an oceangoing tug will spool out 1500'-2000' of wire. The catenary of the 2"-2.5" steel tow wire really helps even out shocks on the towline.

Steering under tow is way more complicated than it first appears. In general, the tow won't have any active steering. On a towed ship like this one, they'll set the rudders at neutral and hope for the best. Since the tow is connected to the towline at the bow and the CP is well aft of that, it usually works out OK. Occasionally, you get boats that behave badly and go out one way and then back the other way. In extreme cases, the tow can be large enough and far enough to the side that it can roll the tug over. When we do stability calculations on a tug, we check for that failure mode.

Barges have skegs (aka fins) aft that help keep them in a straight line. The old school way basically just adds drag to the back of the barge to push the CP further aft. There's a few more elegant (and expensive) approaches that reduce drag and improve tracking.

 

[jqavins]

I'm pretty sure you're supposed to do a lot of planning to install an artificial reef. It would also be polite to get its location onto charts so that fishermen and anyone anchoring in the area don't snag on it. But, yeah not a huge catastrophe in general. I would hope that any mobile critters would get out of the way of a 200-foot flyswatter landing on top of them, though of course that doesn't help shellfish fixed to rocks.

I was thinking more of the rocks than the creatures on the rocks. Dropping an artificial reef right on top of a natural one sounds like a bad idea, or rude at best.

 

[Dane Ronnow]

Occurrences like your pipe drilling exercise have often led me to 'speak in tongues'.

That's funny. Reminds me of Ralphie's dad (the furnace fighter) in Christmas Story. Occasional strenuous exercise of the vocabulary can be a good thing, depending on who else is within earshot.

 

[boatgeek]

I was thinking more of the rocks than the creatures on the rocks. Dropping an artificial reef right on top of a natural one sounds like a bad idea, or rude at best.

I suppose it's a little rude. In any fight between rocks and ships, bet on the rocks every time.

 

[Cape Byron]

I'm sorry to say it, but humane traps are not the way to fight this. They'll just lead to getting the same 14 mice in your house every day. Been there done that, albeit on a much smaller scale.

The only reason we use humane traps is to avoid the possibility of killing marsupial mice and other natives. After a quick inspection the evil ones go into a bucket of water. Not a trap and release program. Only found one native mouse so far...

It must be tempting to introduce owls and/or wolves, but that way lies madness.

It wouldn't be a problem in warmer weather. We have resident pythons in every building.

 

[teepot]

We have resident pythons in every building.

Pythons in buildings, Snakes in drawers, a plague of mice, Crocodiles, Sharks, Lions, Tigers and Bears. I would love to visit, but only if I can go around armed to the teeth and in full battle rattle.

 

[Cape Byron]

Pythons in buildings, Snakes in drawers, a plague of mice, Crocodiles, Sharks, Lions, Tigers and Bears. I would love to visit, but only if I can go around armed to the teeth and in full battle rattle.

Seriously, it's a lovely place. Nothing here has tried to kill me this week.

Oh, wait. Nothing here has tried to kill me in the last couple of days.

 

[BrendanH69]

Oh, wait. Nothing here has tried to kill me in the last couple of days.

.... Just the multiple highway drivers at 6pm in the dark with no lights on.

 

[Cape Byron]

.... Just the multiple highway drivers at 6pm in the dark with no lights on.

Well, yeah.

There is that.

 

[kuririn]

We have resident pythons in every building.

Aussie reptile park:


Ripped roo:


Box jellyfish and irukandji:


Koala (!) causes traffic pileup:

Seriously, it's a lovely place.

OK

My aunt took a vacation there some years ago, said she had a great time.
On my bucket list.
If it doesn't cause me to kick the bucket.

 

[Smoothrivers]

getting planes ready to start R/C flying again!

putting bigger pushrods on the big carbon Z T28

 

[GrouchoDuke]

And we only had three duty stations in 20 years.

Dang.

 

[PatD]

And we only had three duty stations in 20 years. 1981 to 1987 Mtn Home, Id. 1987 to 1991 RAF Lakenheath, England. 1991 to 1999 Nellis AFB Las Vegas, Nv. My wife retired in 1999 and the next day went back to the same office, same desk as a contractor at twice the pay. After a half dozen years or so she went from the Nellis ranges to the Nevada Test site. And again at twice the pay. Finally retired the last time 5 years ago.

Gotta love the Air Force. In the Army, in 21 years, I was stationed at Ft Ord California, Ft Knox Kentucky, Baumholder Germany, Ft Riley Kansas, Illesheim Germany, Ft Knox Kentucky, Kitzigen Germany, and Ft Stewart Georgia. Granted that the first two were training postings. And of course the sandbox, man do I hate deserts and dust.

 

[Smoothrivers]

Ft Knox KT, Ft McClellan AL, Ft Polk LA, Geissen, Germany, Budingden, Germany--10+ Rotations to NTC, might as well of been stationed there, lol.

 

[n3tjm]

 

[Funkworks]

What did you buy and did you install a dedicated 240 volt line for it?

It's an Ioniq plug-in hybrid, so my battery is only good for 28 miles, because it also has a fuel tank to cover 600 more. But because the battery is smaller than that of a 100% EV, it only takes 6-8 hours (less than a night) to charge on 110V. There is no point for me to get a 240V charger. In practice, I never do 28 miles on a typical weekday so in my case, this car was perfect.

But considering what I would spend on gasoline with an ICE car over the next 5-10 years (easily over $10k), a 240V charger at $500-$1000 is still cheap. I just don't need it.

Still, I did spend much of today seeking and testing out the local public 240V chargers. Useful to know when doing errands without a schedule on the weekend.

 

[Antares JS]

Finished playing Mass Effect Trilogy: Legendary Edition today. I had an absolute ball, but now updates on my build threads should be much more frequent.

 

[n3tjm]

I loved mass effect

 

[Hobie1dog]

took a ride in an IndyCar 165 mile an hour

 

[Cape Byron]

Grabbed some more facemasks. Byron is a fun place this week...