Miscellaneous Discussion Thread II
I read some of the Tom Swift Jr books, but not the original Tom Swift novels.
I read some of the Tom Swift Jr books, but not the original Tom Swift novels.
I suspect that the 1890s images of Nicolai Tesla and his electric arcs might have inspired fictional electric rifles and ray-guns.
Quote: EvenBob\]Quote: DougGanderQuote: EvenBobI distinctly remember the first time I read about the laser beam was in 1957 in an issue of Boys Life Magazine. I was 8 years old and I was hugely impressed that this is going to be used as a weapon. Here we are 70 years later and it's finally being used in a weapon by Israel. They are shooting missiles out of the sky with laser beams. The cost of each shot by the laser is $3 to $5. Say what?
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No they aren't. Assuming they aren't making it up - which they have a long history of verifiably doing with anti missile tech going back to Gulf War I, the stated range is about 10km and the utility is confined to drones and mortar fire, no one has claimed it works on ballistic missiles.
The tech is basically useless in most conditions. You can only fire at one target at a time so it would be overwhelmed by multiple rockets/drones etc. And it doesn't work with dust clouds so if one rocket etc gets through that makes the laser completely useless.
The capital cost of manufacture, infrastructure and maintenance of these things runs into hundreds of millions of dollars, the cost per shot is accurate but very misleading as a headline figure.
It should be added that despite how visually striking rockets/mortar attacks are they barely exist as a form of mortality statistically. Rockets have never killed more than about 30 people in any given year in Israel whereas around 450 died last year from road deaths. If any one were actually concerned with saving lives they'd spend the money on road safety or better still, healthcare.
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"The Iron Beam (Hebrew: Or Eitan), developed by Rafael Advanced
Defense Systems, is a 100kW+ ground-based, high-energy laser
defense system designed to destroy short-range rockets, mortars,
and drones within seconds. It acts as a cost-effective,
unlimited-magazine complement to the Iron Dome, using directed
energy to intercept targets."
On 28 May 2025, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced the world's first-ever combat use of high-power laser systems to intercept aerial threats. The engagements happened in October 2024 during the Gaza War; 40 Hezbollah UAVs were intercepted.
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You wrote the laser shoots missiles out of the sky. It doesn't. It shoots small objects. The Rafael statement confirms this by implication.
And whatever misdirection they may be using by focusing on cost per shot, it isn't remotely cost-effective, it costs multi-millions to install.
"Ray weapons first appeared in War of the Worlds in 1898 and were frequently used in Buck Rogers books in the 1920s. I would imagine the idea comes from somehow shooting electricity out of a device. In 1900 electricity was the wonder of the world."
Wells wrote about a "heat ray" clearly a thermal weapon rather than a laser or ray gun both of which came later.
Quote: AutomaticMonkey
I play cards for money.
The money is so I can live life on my terms.
Not grudging tips to employees who traditionally are tipped is one of the terms I choose.
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I deleted the part of my post where I said people who do jobs should do good work regardless of tips. Tips should be for special extra treatment that the customer ASKS FOR, or if you're a regular customer who expects it from employees who know that already to do that, as you're their regular patron.
Quote: HunterhillI never knew that DR J played for the Atlanta Hawks.
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He signed a contract with the Hawks, but his NBA rights were held by a different team. I think the whole thing was resolved in a few days. There was a lot of that in those days. The Knicks signed George McGuiness even though the 76ers held his rights. The ABA had a center named Jim Chones, who was supposed to be the next big thing. At the ABA All-Star game, his lawyer left a suitcase in a bar. It contained signed contracts from Chone with an NBA team, even though he was under contract with an ABA team.
The ABA of 1974-76 had more talent and a better product than the NBA. They had a big advantage because they could sign players before NBA teams were allowed to, but most teams were horribly underfunded.
Television cameras captured the savage beatings and beamed them into America's living rooms, forcing the nation to take action. Congress passed the Civil Rights bill of 1965, largely based on this.
Television cameras captured the savage beatings and beamed them into America's living rooms, forcing the nation to take action. Congress passed the Civil Rights bill of 1965, largely based on this.
John Lewis and Hosea Williams led the marchers on "Bloody Sunday", while Dr. King and many national leaders arrived for a second and third march
On Tuesday I have an MRI scheduled, estimated price of $6877. Fortunately, I do have insurance so my cost is only $400.
Quote: DRichFor the last nine weeks I have been dealing with some back problems. Unfortunately with the steroids and drugs they have me on I have ballooned up to the highest weight that I have ever been. I am up to 175 pounds and my body is so swollen, my legs and ankles feel like they might just explode from the pressure.
On Tuesday I have an MRI scheduled, estimated price of $6877. Fortunately, I do have insurance so my cost is only $400.
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175 lb? That's my ideal weight, I wish I weighed 175 lb. I'm 5'11 so you must be about 5 ft 6 if 175 is a lot for you.
Quote: EvenBobQuote: DRichFor the last nine weeks I have been dealing with some back problems. Unfortunately with the steroids and drugs they have me on I have ballooned up to the highest weight that I have ever been. I am up to 175 pounds and my body is so swollen, my legs and ankles feel like they might just explode from the pressure.
On Tuesday I have an MRI scheduled, estimated price of $6877. Fortunately, I do have insurance so my cost is only $400.
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175 lb? That's my ideal weight, I wish I weighed 175 lb. I'm 5'11 so you must be about 5 ft 6 if 175 is a lot for you.
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I am 5'10" and 175 is my highest weight. I have very skinny arms and legs but my belly seems to be the only thing growing.
Quote: HunterhillWhat happened to BillyRyan why is his name in red?
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He was suspended for 3 days for violating the forum rule regarding "No personal attacks".
Quote: DRichQuote: EvenBobQuote: DRichFor the last nine weeks I have been dealing with some back problems. Unfortunately with the steroids and drugs they have me on I have ballooned up to the highest weight that I have ever been. I am up to 175 pounds and my body is so swollen, my legs and ankles feel like they might just explode from the pressure.
On Tuesday I have an MRI scheduled, estimated price of $6877. Fortunately, I do have insurance so my cost is only $400.
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175 lb? That's my ideal weight, I wish I weighed 175 lb. I'm 5'11 so you must be about 5 ft 6 if 175 is a lot for you.
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I am 5'10" and 175 is my highest weight. I have very skinny arms and legs but my belly seems to be the only thing growing.
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That is my height and I am 210 or so. I am a runt no muscle. When I was in the hospital a month I only went down to 185.
Quote: AZDuffmanQuote: DRichQuote: EvenBobQuote: DRichFor the last nine weeks I have been dealing with some back problems. Unfortunately with the steroids and drugs they have me on I have ballooned up to the highest weight that I have ever been. I am up to 175 pounds and my body is so swollen, my legs and ankles feel like they might just explode from the pressure.
On Tuesday I have an MRI scheduled, estimated price of $6877. Fortunately, I do have insurance so my cost is only $400.
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175 lb? That's my ideal weight, I wish I weighed 175 lb. I'm 5'11 so you must be about 5 ft 6 if 175 is a lot for you.
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I am 5'10" and 175 is my highest weight. I have very skinny arms and legs but my belly seems to be the only thing growing.
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That is my height and I am 210 or so. I am a runt no muscle. When I was in the hospital a month I only went down to 185.
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I am 5'9" and 179lbs with muscular legs like a soccer player. For the past year I've been losing about 1/2 pound every month and I'm targeting a weight of 175.
Quote: HunterhillWhat happened to BillyRyan why is his name in red?
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I think he was running a triathlon and he never returned. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. He has to burn off them 3,000 calories a day he eats somehow.
Quote: DRichOil (WTI) was up to $119 today but has fallen back to $95. My mind can not comprehend how the market thinks.
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Wow, Oil back down to $87 and the stock market up for the day.
Quote: DRichQuote: DRichOil (WTI) was up to $119 today but has fallen back to $95. My mind can not comprehend how the market thinks.
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Wow, Oil back down to $87 and the stock market up for the day.
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Stuff like this might have something to do with it.
"A car Toyota dealership owner in Erbil, a city in Iraq’s Kurdish
autonomous region, revealed that an Iranian Kurdish militia
group purchased 50 Toyota Land Cruisers. He paid cash."
Things are about to get serious. Toyota actually advertises to militia groups all over the world that the Land Cruiser is indestructible in combat situations. It's been used for decades and the board of directors at Toyota is grinning ear to ear ever since this whole thing started.
https://www.thereisadayforthat.com/holidays/usa/national-dishwasher-appreciation-day#:~:text=On%20March%209th%20each%20year,in%20our%20homes%3A%20the%20dishwasher!
Quote: GenoDRPhPlease join me, as well as homemakers and restaurant owners the world over, in celebrating National Dishwasher Appreciation Day! Please thank this humble appliance for eliminating the need to prewash the dishes off of which we eat our daily bread, doing it in less time and using less water and energy and more hygienically than doing our scullery by hand, as well as saving our upper prehensile appendages from the scourge of dishpan hands!
https://www.thereisadayforthat.com/holidays/usa/national-dishwasher-appreciation-day#:~:text=On%20March%209th%20each%20year,in%20our%20homes%3A%20the%20dishwasher!
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GenoDRPh,
As a.former professional dishwasher, I humbly accept your thanks on behalf of us all! 😁
Dog Hand
Quote: GenoDRPhPlease join me, as well as homemakers and restaurant owners the world over, in celebrating National Dishwasher Appreciation Day! Please thank this humble appliance for eliminating the need to prewash the dishes off of which we eat our daily bread, doing it in less time and using less water and energy and more hygienically than doing our scullery by hand, as well as saving our upper prehensile appendages from the scourge of dishpan hands!
https://www.thereisadayforthat.com/holidays/usa/national-dishwasher-appreciation-day#:~:text=On%20March%209th%20each%20year,in%20our%20homes%3A%20the%20dishwasher!
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A friend of mine managed to empty a bottle of washing up liquid into one of these devices once (he genuinely thought that was what you were supposed to do). It created a biblical amount of bubbles.
Quote: DogHandQuote: GenoDRPhPlease join me, as well as homemakers and restaurant owners the world over, in celebrating National Dishwasher Appreciation Day! Please thank this humble appliance for eliminating the need to prewash the dishes off of which we eat our daily bread, doing it in less time and using less water and energy and more hygienically than doing our scullery by hand, as well as saving our upper prehensile appendages from the scourge of dishpan hands!
https://www.thereisadayforthat.com/holidays/usa/national-dishwasher-appreciation-day#:~:text=On%20March%209th%20each%20year,in%20our%20homes%3A%20the%20dishwasher!
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GenoDRPh,
As a.former professional dishwasher, I humbly accept your thanks on behalf of us all! 😁
Dog Hand
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I was a prisoner (in my mom's kitchen) doing dishes. That's the way I remember it. I can Zen out in some repetitive work like a monk, but dishwashing was never one of them.
"When you can snatch this dishwashing rag from my hand, you may go."
Quote: DogHand
GenoDRPh,
As a.former professional dishwasher, I humbly accept your thanks on behalf of us all! 😁
Dog Hand
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In high school, I washed dishes at a nursing home.
Compared to newspaper routes and fast food jobs, the hours were much better.
They didn't pay kitchen help anything like the CNA's made, but we also didn't need much in the way of certifications.
He only needed to put a drop or two, that is enough to cause total disasterQuote: DougGander
A friend of mine managed to empty a bottle of washing up liquid into one of these devices once (he genuinely thought that was what you were supposed to do). It created a biblical amount of bubbles.
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Quote: DieterQuote: DogHand
GenoDRPh,
As a.former professional dishwasher, I humbly accept your thanks on behalf of us all! 😁
Dog Hand
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In high school, I washed dishes at a nursing home.
Compared to newspaper routes and fast food jobs, the hours were much better.
They didn't pay kitchen help anything like the CNA's made, but we also didn't need much in the way of certifications.
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When I was in high school in the summer I worked in an orchard picking peaches and apples and whatever else was needing to be picked and in the winter I worked in a car wash. It was the only way I could get money cuz my parents certainly weren't giving me any. When I was a senior in high school teen labor force participation was about 48% and it reached a peak of 57% in 1979. It's been coming down ever since then and holding steady at about 33% today. They're too fat and lazy to move away from TVs and computers. When I was a senior in high school my best friend had a full-time factory job that he went to after school five days a week. He lived at home and paid no rent and had so much money he didn't know what to do with it. Two years later he got drafted went to Vietnam and never came back alive. That was the late 1960s. I was in total denial and for years I would think I haven't seen him lately and then I would remember, oh yeah, he died in Vietnam
Arizona doesn't observe DST, so half the year we are on California time, while the other half we are an hour ahead.
The Navajo Nation, which spans much of Eastern Arizona, decided to adopt DST because parts of the reservation are in New Mexico and Utah.
The Hopi Nation lives on a reservation entirely within the borders of the Navajo Nation, but they use standard Arizona time, so you have Native students attending the same high school and college while using two different time zones.
Quote: billryanMore Time Zone madness.
Arizona doesn't observe DST, so half the year we are on California time, while the other half we are an hour ahead.
The Navajo Nation, which spans much of Eastern Arizona, decided to adopt DST because parts of the reservation are in New Mexico and Utah.
The Hopi Nation lives on a reservation entirely within the borders of the Navajo Nation, but they use standard Arizona time, so you have Native students attending the same high school and college while using two different time zones.
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In an office I worked a guy next to me almost started a physical fight over this! I kept saying "3 hours back." Before blows I pointed to his time zone map (HIS!) with AZ Rez land shadowed out, and small type. I said "I can't see that but it says AZ does not observe DST except on the Navajo Rez so it is 3 hours back!"
Guy bends over to read it, his finger under the lines as he reads. He apologized but still hated me.
Quote: AZDuffmanQuote: billryanMore Time Zone madness.
Arizona doesn't observe DST, so half the year we are on California time, while the other half we are an hour ahead.
The Navajo Nation, which spans much of Eastern Arizona, decided to adopt DST because parts of the reservation are in New Mexico and Utah.
The Hopi Nation lives on a reservation entirely within the borders of the Navajo Nation, but they use standard Arizona time, so you have Native students attending the same high school and college while using two different time zones.
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In an office I worked a guy next to me almost started a physical fight over this! I kept saying "3 hours back." Before blows I pointed to his time zone map (HIS!) with AZ Rez land shadowed out, and small type. I said "I can't see that but it says AZ does not observe DST except on the Navajo Rez so it is 3 hours back!"
Guy bends over to read it, his finger under the lines as he reads. He apologized but still hated me.
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I’ve travelled to Newfoundland. They are 1 1/2 hours earlier than NY. Yes, 1 1/2. That’s just stupid.
Maybe Newfoundland split the difference between standard and daylight savings time. There has been talk about doing that as a compromise.Quote: SOOPOOQuote: AZDuffmanQuote: billryanMore Time Zone madness.
Arizona doesn't observe DST, so half the year we are on California time, while the other half we are an hour ahead.
The Navajo Nation, which spans much of Eastern Arizona, decided to adopt DST because parts of the reservation are in New Mexico and Utah.
The Hopi Nation lives on a reservation entirely within the borders of the Navajo Nation, but they use standard Arizona time, so you have Native students attending the same high school and college while using two different time zones.
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In an office I worked a guy next to me almost started a physical fight over this! I kept saying "3 hours back." Before blows I pointed to his time zone map (HIS!) with AZ Rez land shadowed out, and small type. I said "I can't see that but it says AZ does not observe DST except on the Navajo Rez so it is 3 hours back!"
Guy bends over to read it, his finger under the lines as he reads. He apologized but still hated me.
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I’ve travelled to Newfoundland. They are 1 1/2 hours earlier than NY. Yes, 1 1/2. That’s just stupid.
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You don’t understand why? Well most people don’t like switching back and forth between the daylight savings time and standard time. So it’s a compromise between the two and it would be permanent. I’m in favor of it.Quote: billryanThere is a bill in Congress that will eliminate DST but permanently put the US time zones a half hour ahead. I don't understand why.
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Quote: HunterhillYou don’t understand why? Well most people don’t like switching back and forth between the daylight savings time and standard time. So it’s a compromise between the two and it would be permanent. I’m in favor of it.Quote: billryanThere is a bill in Congress that will eliminate DST but permanently put the US time zones a half hour ahead. I don't understand why.
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Switch or don't switch. Moving a half hour seems like cutting the baby in half. It will totally muck up Zulu Time.
Quote: billryanQuote: HunterhillYou don’t understand why? Well most people don’t like switching back and forth between the daylight savings time and standard time. So it’s a compromise between the two and it would be permanent. I’m in favor of it.Quote: billryanThere is a bill in Congress that will eliminate DST but permanently put the US time zones a half hour ahead. I don't understand why.
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Switch or don't switch. Moving a half hour seems like cutting the baby in half. It will totally muck up Zulu Time.
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Now that we all walk around with phones, let's use two times. UTC for the whole world, where things need to be synchronized, and local solar time, for things that serve local needs and don't need to be coordinated with anything else.
A lot of the argument for time changes has to do with kids going to school, trying to avoid them either going in or coming home when it's dark. But with Eastern Time for example stretching from Maine to Michigan there's no way to avoid that for someone. So why can't daily school times be based on solar time in that town? What difference does it make if they start school 5 minutes earlier than kids in a town 100 miles away? Your phone can tell you both times, based on both its connection to time standards and its location detection abilities.
Quote: billryanQuote: HunterhillYou don’t understand why? Well most people don’t like switching back and forth between the daylight savings time and standard time. So it’s a compromise between the two and it would be permanent. I’m in favor of it.Quote: billryanThere is a bill in Congress that will eliminate DST but permanently put the US time zones a half hour ahead. I don't understand why.
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Switch or don't switch. Moving a half hour seems like cutting the baby in half. It will totally muck up Zulu Time.
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I am still in favor of abandoning local time zones worldwide and everyone using UTC (Zulu).
Shorter winters and longer mornings. What's not to love?
Quote: DieterQuote: billryanQuote: HunterhillYou don’t understand why? Well most people don’t like switching back and forth between the daylight savings time and standard time. So it’s a compromise between the two and it would be permanent. I’m in favor of it.Quote: billryanThere is a bill in Congress that will eliminate DST but permanently put the US time zones a half hour ahead. I don't understand why.
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Switch or don't switch. Moving a half hour seems like cutting the baby in half. It will totally muck up Zulu Time.
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I am still in favor of abandoning local time zones worldwide and everyone using UTC (Zulu).
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It's because of the railroads that we have standardized time zones in the United States. Before them if you lived in the town or city you could choose your own time. A small town in Iowa where it might be noon, in another small town 20 miles away it's 12:30. This drove the railroads insane they could not make accurate time schedules so Congress enacted standardized time zones that we still use. This happened in 1918 during World War I that Congress approved this. The railroads adopted time zones in 1883 when there were 144 different local times in the United States.
Quote: EvenBob
It's because of the railroads that we have standardized time zones in the United States. Before them if you lived in the town or city you could choose your own time. A small town in Iowa where it might be noon, in another small town 20 miles away it's 12:30. This drove the railroads insane they could not make accurate time schedules so Congress enacted standardized time zones that we still use. This happened in 1918 during World War I that Congress approved this. The railroads adopted time zones in 1883 when there were 144 different local times in the United States.
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Oh yes, and there were wrecks caused by trains being in the wrong place at the wrong time due to confusion about time.
But we got really good at measuring solar time due to ships. The ship's chronometer was a really accurate clock that didn't use a pendulum so it could be used at sea. You started by setting it to solar time at your port, just visually using the sun. Then you needed another device, the magnetic inclinometer, which is like a compass but with a needle that spins vertically. That gives you the angle of the earth's magnetic field relative to the surface. It's parallel at the equator and that angle changes as you get closer to a pole. So that device gives you your latitude. Then you measure the difference between the time on your ship's chronometer (which is still set to the time in port) and the solar time wherever you are now in the ocean, that corresponds to your longitude, and now you have enough information to determine your position accurately enough to get within visual range of anywhere you want.
Quote: AutomaticMonkeyQuote: EvenBob
It's because of the railroads that we have standardized time zones in the United States. Before them if you lived in the town or city you could choose your own time. A small town in Iowa where it might be noon, in another small town 20 miles away it's 12:30. This drove the railroads insane they could not make accurate time schedules so Congress enacted standardized time zones that we still use. This happened in 1918 during World War I that Congress approved this. The railroads adopted time zones in 1883 when there were 144 different local times in the United States.
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Oh yes, and there were wrecks caused by trains being in the wrong place at the wrong time due to confusion about time.
But we got really good at measuring solar time due to ships. The ship's chronometer was a really accurate clock that didn't use a pendulum so it could be used at sea. You started by setting it to solar time at your port, just visually using the sun. Then you needed another device, the magnetic inclinometer, which is like a compass but with a needle that spins vertically. That gives you the angle of the earth's magnetic field relative to the surface. It's parallel at the equator and that angle changes as you get closer to a pole. So that device gives you your latitude. Then you measure the difference between the time on your ship's chronometer (which is still set to the time in port) and the solar time wherever you are now in the ocean, that corresponds to your longitude, and now you have enough information to determine your position accurately enough to get within visual range of anywhere you want.
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That's why every town worth it salt had a clock tower so when it went off at noon all the men in town would stop what they were doing and check their pocket watches to make sure they were accurate. But they originally arrived at the fact that it was noon by the male leaders of the town getting together outdoors and watching the sun and agreeing that yes, right now it's noon and that's how they set the clock. That's why 20 miles away in the next town the time would be different because it was different men making the same decision.
The biggest problem a new establishment has is attracting and retaining customers. For the price of a burger, a beer, and a dessert, this place's management went a long way to winning my loyalty. It's got a nice location, decent food at fair prices, and a management team that seems to know what it's doing.
