Good morning!!!!

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Life is too short to worry too much about degree symbols, but I wouldn't want to offend anyone, so maybe I should just say - it is very mild for December.


Or, in accordance with Don's student notes (in perfectly-proper-degree-less-Kelvin )

It is 280 K now


Anyone else want to try their temperature using the Kelvin scale today ?
(Ideal for winter - the big numbers make you feel much warmer :laughing

So I have the left overs from a crazy science project at work. It is called a cold head. It uses a helium refrigeration compressor, a 3phase additional chiller, and a decent sized dewar. In it's "stock" state, it was made to produce liquid nitrogen at a balmy temp a bit less than 77K. But we "Hot rodded" it (or should I say cold rodded) with some additional cooling capacity and it got down low enough to liquid oxygen, then we it got even colder to freeze the oxygen below 54.3 K. They told me frozen oxygen is pretty dangerous stuff so they backed off and the project kind of dwindled. I saw one solicitation for an 18 wheeler sized unit that could produce jet fuel from thin air...I guess with scads of electricity??? I don't know if anyone at our facility proposed a solution for that or not....

Some of youz guyz Kelvins are getting down there.

Kyle, Giddings is reporting ZERO visibility. it must be very foggy there this morning, be careful.

Yes, not quite pea soup, but a few places were about 100' (32 m) visibility. Made for a slower trek on my 68 mile commute.

Don, glad you got your mother to come visit and showed her around.

 

[Jim Nelson]

I'm going to rile you up a bit.
The last 13 years before I retired and for several years before that I performed calibrations for a Pharmaceutical company.
I was amazed at the millions of dollars and years of time to get a new drug approved by the FDA.
Several clinical trials lasting years each, phase 1, phase 2 then finally phase 3 then submittals and a few more years.
Tons of documentation to be submitted in both technical pharmaceutical terms and also government linguistics and
bureaucratic nonsense.
On top of that hundreds of ideas don't get to trials, thousands are dropped after stage 1 or 2, many at stage 3 and then
more are rejected by our FDA or other countries equivalent.
So the few successful ones are supporting all the failed one and the ones under development.
Are some of the charges high yes, but what is the alternative.
Or should we stop all of the new advances?

I'm pretty well aware of the problems getting new medical devices and drugs to market as one of our neighbors is a consultant who specializes in guiding the manufacturers through the govt. rat holes and he tells some real tales about it.I still believe that much of it is very over priced and that is mainly because the big boys can afford to buy politicians and we the people can't. Enough of that,I don't want to get off track and have this banned to the f.p. forum. I will not accept a gout drug that costs nearly $40,000 per month and really think the cost should be disclosed up front, regardless of who is paying for it.

 

[Looking4new]

"I gotta go to the butchers today and the PO, that is all"-----LFN

Looking, you probably shouldn't use 'butchers' and 'PO' (parole office) in the same sentence! :laughing:

I will laugh right along with you. The PO is Post Office and my picture has NEVER been on the wall there.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 38F this morning, fog, very limited visibility, calm wind. fog lifted about 9AM, light wind all day, partly cloudy till after subset then increasing cloudiness, high temp 62F. pulled all the batteries from the boat, using my old 8 amp charger on them, 1 is fully charged, the second should be close, and the third just went on the charger. Bike ride, then trip to town for comprehensive grocery shopping and dinner.
RNG you had a productive day.
Kyle sounds like a cool project
Jay is it going to cool off in TX (North of Dallas) or stay the same?
Prayers for all.

 

[RoyJackson]

2018-12-19, 0315

7 degrees right now...high about 32....

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Just a soggy 50F here. yuck.

 

[Buppies]

29 chilly degrees high of 52 later today getting ready for another big rain Thursday we’ve already set the record for the most rainfall in a year and now more

Polar Vortex will split sending us cold weather but not until mid January or so. Not sure if it has staying power for 6 weeks of cold for the country or just a hard shot one and done. The pacific jet is strong so it will be who wins out in the end

Tractor goes in for a few ad ones soon air ride seat front hydrolyics on fel fix one of the spools on the back end that is leaking and complete service

Prayers for all

 

[Looking4new]

21 and going to a high of 37F. Wind SE 7 mph. 40% chance of flurries.
Although it isn't warm enough to get naked and sunbathe yet, it is getting there. Only another 80° or so to go.

Energy conversation is the topic for me today.

Have a good day all

 

[daugen]

Good morning. And a thank you once again to Irv for starting all this.

26 climbing to low 50s, partly cloudy day
helper coming this afternoon, we will work on the last of the leaves together.
Ground is still pretty wet, and more rain coming tomorrow night.
I bet we set some kind of record this year for cumulative rainfall.
Wilmington just South of me apparently has.

Found out that my goddaughter's husband, an airline pilot for SouthWest, has an internet business selling worm farms.
I will likely get one of their small kits and try it out, sure is marvelous stuff for the garden.
I'll start another thread on this when it comes in, not sure you all want to look at worm poop. And more worm poop.
Apparently there are a few options for worm selection so going to see if they have some heat tolerant ones that like sandy soil.
Also a variety of choices for what to add to soil including veggie scraps. Time to learn about worms.

 

[ronjhall]

Drinking first cup of coffee. 24° with mostly clear skies this morning. Heading to 41° with partly cloudy skies. Yesterday was a nice day. But never got a chance to get anything done. Girls Day turned out to be a take me here and there and just enjoy each other. Some good stories from my 90 year old Aunt. From when she was a 13 years and I was a newborn baby. Thanks to my Aunt I had a very good babysitter.

Took me awhile to read all the post from yesterday.

Enough said about Medicare. Except cost of prescription is out of control. As I have said before my wife takes a drug that is $12K per month. A ridiculous amount for 2 pills a day the size of a baby aspirin. The good parts is it works. Now if they could develop a cure for ALS and other illnesses that have no cure at this time.

Drew, worms may not do well in sandy soil. But they love to help reduce a pile of compost to dirt.

Good Morning All.

 

[toppop52]

Buppies, I said earlier I thought the Arctic cold would hit after the January thaw, but now I’m not sure it will be cold enough before then to need a thaw.

22 ° going to 50 °. Big old rain moving in tomorrow through Friday.

Taking club donations to Operation We Care and the HALO shelter today.
Visit mom, going to Ocean City to see light display at 5.

Good day guys, God be with you.

 

[Thomas]

11F clear sky upper 20's for high.

Put BIG dent cleaning out downstairs basement yesterday,couldn't have gotten another bag/box in the pickup for the dump run....Mrs. was :shocked::dance1: today sweeping vacuuming etc. for the basement.
3:30pm both kittens have vet appointment...always interesting with those 2. :confused2:
Turkeys squirrels doves foxes must have decided We serve pretty good eats here by the looks of the critter food bill.
Guess I better feed critters continue on basement project.

Enjoy the day all.

 

[ronjhall]

Turkeys squirrels doves foxes must have decided We serve pretty good eats here by the looks of the critter food bill.
.

Same here. Did a restock yesterday at Menards. 200 lbs. I hope will make it until late February. Good thing Menards is about 1/2 the price of TSC and other places.

 

[txdon]

Good morning! 55 ˚F, overcast 60% chance of rain today.

Drew the worm farm sounds interesting. I currently have a 65 gallon compost bin that I got at Lowe's that matched the criteria of the the rules of the CA. It has a door at the bottom so you can take out the finished project. It does not turn but has air holes in it and I have a stirring tool. It has a drain hole, (lower left) which I attached a tube to to collect the compost tea.
https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/homedepotcanada/p_1000701367.jpg
I did put screen in the holes to keep incepts out but somehow the solider flies found a way in (probably when I left the top off for a day) and now it has the same munching larva that I had in the country. I consider this a good thing, like worms they eat the veggies and leave soil poop. We have use it for 6 months, adding veggie scraps to it daily but it is still not even half full.

I have some questions for your pilot: Can worms be added if there are solider larva or should there be no competing critters in the same container? Is this a suitable house for the worm farm? Would the worms eat the larva or vise-versa?

Has anyone out there tried Britbox BritBox . I seem to gravitate to the British shows on Netflix and this is all British.

 

[Thomas]

ronjhall
Same here. Did a restock yesterday at Menards. 200 lbs. I hope will make it until late February. Good thing Menards is about 1/2 the price of TSC and other places.
...........................
I try WalMart wasn't impress to much small sticks empty open shells went back to TSC.$20 for 50#,about 100# week just for bird seed.

 

[Bird]

51 degrees going for 61 today with a slight chance of showers. This year is certainly different for us. We had our Christmas here at our house with all the kids and grandkids Sunday afternoon. And instead of all the cooking that's usually done, we had carry out Domino's Pizza.:laughing: My wife did make a big banana pudding for dessert.:laughing: The change in date was because our grandson is taking his mother (our younger daughter) and sister on a Caribbean cruise the week of Christmas. It'll be something new for all 3 of them.

Then my wife and older daughter have decided we'll go out to eat Christmas Day instead of cooking at home. Since our son-in-law manages a funeral home, we never know whether he'll be with us or not. If he gets a call to pick up someone who dies that morning, he'll go himself in order to be sure his employees have the day off to be with their families.

 

[wngsprd]

Same here. Did a restock yesterday at Menards. 200 lbs. I hope will make it until late February. Good thing Menards is about 1/2 the price of TSC and other places.

Same here. We get bird seed at Costco...good % of sunflowers in it compared to others we have bought. But then the meal worms, pure sunflower seeds, peanuts, etc add up.

 

[wngsprd]

26 and frosty going to 50 and sunny, except the dozens of contrails left hanging.

Had a good early hike...heard geese flying over but too dark to see them.

Cleaned a lot of windows yesterday, more to do today. Had to take a break to watch the new Eco-fan working...I am easily amused...I must say it is fascinating...Eric, I'm sure there must be a tiny piece of plutonium in that little motor.

 

[PJSprog]

34°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 56° today. No frozen oxygen in the STL area today.

Speaking of which, Kyle, when I was working in aerospace, I saw a similar device used to make a bearing fit into a hole of the exact same diameter. You can indeed make two surfaces occupy the same space by cryogenically freezing the bearing until it shrinks enough to go into the hole, then re-expand as it warms again. Neat stuff.

Spent much of the evening last night trying to source some new guitar parts. Seems I'm already modifying the guitar I haven't even built yet . Looking at replacing the hardware for the bridge and locking nut on the neck, the parts that came with the kit. I already don't like the design of the locking nut, and the tremolo bridge doesn't look very hearty. I found a 13-part blog written by a guy who built one of these a few years ago, and he noted that his bridge failed after a couple of months. Cheap Chinese stuff. Found a website that only deals with parts for headless guitars, and they look like they have some decent stuff. They even call out this specific bridge. Prices aren't too bad, but those two parts are going to cost about the same as the cost for the entire kit. Oh, well ... so long as it's a good, functioning instrument, that's the whole point, I guess. :confused3:

 

[Bird]

Had a good early hike...heard geese flying over but too dark to see them.

Yesterday, a bit before noon, my wife and I were out in the car about 20 miles north of Dallas, when we saw good sized flock (big V) flying southbound.