Thanks Eagles!
If anyone’s interested, the Iditarod starts today. 2 pm east coast time.
I actually do have a dog in this race. His name is Talese, he runs with Blair Braverman, who drew bib #11. It’s Blair’s first Iditarod, tho definitely not her first race.
If you want to follow Blair, use twitter hashtag #uglydogs, if you’re interested in the race generally, try the Anchorage Daily News, https://twitter.com/ADNIditarod, or Iditarod Insider.
CW put up a sports thread about DOGS!!
A few bits: There are 14 dogs per team. You may drop a dog during the race, you may not add any.
There are mandatory rest stops/check points where the dogs are checked by vets. These require x number of hours rest, eg, 8 hrs. The dogs will get the rest, the mushers won’t, they have to repair equipment, prepare meals, etc.
On average, every dog will consume TWELVE THOUSAND calories a day.
Altho these dogs look like mutts to most people (Huskies and Malamutes are the usual breeds thought of as sled dogs), these are pure bred sled dogs. The AKC does not recognize them as a breed, thank god, so they won’t be ruined anytime soon. Their coats are layered, their feet are meant to grip. They are not suitable for pets as normally understood. They live to run.
Enjoy the race.
And this is ‘my’ dog, Talese, on the right. His sister, Hunter, is on the left.
Usually, people chose a theme for puppy names when a litter is born. The theme for Talese’s litter was ‘journalists’ and he was named after Gay Talese, Hunter after Hunter Thompson.
https://twitter.com/BlairBraverman/status/1094367392652763136
Here’s another source with a race map, etc. They will be doing live coverage
https://www.ktva.com/iditarod
To get some idea of what it’s like to actually run this race, you might want to watch a documentary called “The Great Alone”. It’s about Lance Mackey who is an Iditarod champion, but it didn’t come easy. It does show you a bit about a musher’s life and the race. There’s no glamour.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3288930/
Thanks for the perspective Eagles. One tends to forget that these are critters that one is using for this race and they each have their own dispositions the the musher has to take into account and harness toward the goal.
Remember, when buying a firearm research is vital. I found a great deal on a pistol this week and grabbed it figuring that it would be a good small caliber starter for my kids. Turns out that a .25 is not comparable to a .22 in ammo cost, lol. Now I have a nice cheap pistol that fires expensive rounds. (.75 cents to 1.00 a round.) Though I did finally find a 50 round box for 19.99 but I had to search all the sporting goods stores in town.
@ Deplorable Martian Overlord:
Worst one I bought was the .380 Micro-Desert Eagle. Cute little gun, fits in a pocket easily, great for concealed carry. Yeah, not so much. It is double action only, all rounds, the trigger “snaps” rather than pulls, and the recoil will make you cringe firing it. Because of the trigger snap, being able to hit anything closer than 5 to 10 feet with any degree of accuracy is nigh unto impossible. That little pistol now sits in the gun safe, its pocket carry position being filled by a Sig P-238 380 that I absolutely love. Looks like a baby 1911, accurate out beyond 25 ft (actually, I regularly shoot out to 50 feet with it, and very civilized vis a vis recoil. Wish I’d seen reviews on that Micro-Desert Eagle. Turns out it is a copy of the Czech Kevin that was carried by Czech intel officers. Not sure why, they were not a threat carrying that.
@ AZfederalist:
I carry a Makarov (Russian ppk)
@ AZfederalist:
The Czechs made my favorite pistol..cz52, a beast. Too big to conceal
@ Deplorable Martian Overlord:
It’s a supply and demand thing. .25 auto (and .32 auto) are basically all but obsolete these days. The “pocket pistol” market has been taken over by guns chambered for .380, so nobody wants those other calibers.
@ coldwarrior:
One of these days, I’m going to get an FNX-45 Tactical. That thing is definitely a beast.
A .45 ACP with a 15 round double stack magazine, threaded barrel and high-profile sights intended for use with a suppressor, and the new ones come with the slide milled to accept a miniature red dot sight.
It’s about as concealable as a Desert Eagle, but I still want one.
coldwarrior wrote:
This is the micro desert eagle:
https://gunblast.com/images/MicroDesertEagle/DSC06691.JPG
Perspective on size:
https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.XMx5f0CMkSg5huehdglSHQHaFj&pid=Api
This thing is probably the worst firearm I’ve ever used.
Love my Sig P238 though
@ AZfederalist:
You’ve never seen a Jennings J-22, I take it?
lobo91 wrote:
No, never had seen that before. The micro desert eagle is functionally useless, not dangerous. Yeah, that definitely wins. As in the “what were they thinking when they brought that to market?” kind of winning.
@ lobo91:
Wow.
I picked up my new rifle today. And I was able to find the scope rings I wanted at Cabela’s, rather than having to order them online.
might want to bookmark this. 4 minute tutorial on how to use Dissenter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYsdpKfe0w4
lobo91 wrote:
Cool. Looking forward to hearing how this comes together.
AZfederalist wrote:
Damn. That Sig does sound nice though.
lobo91 wrote:
Yep, found out after the fact. Oh, well the gun was only 100 bucks I can afford a few rounds at that price.
I was looking at a unique little pistol at a pawn shop for 300, it was a chrome and black Hungarian 9mm. But, at 300 I can go to any of the sporting goods shops in town and grab a sccy or similar for less and it will be brand new and surprise free. (Plus it was only a single stack mag.) Cool looking though, it’s a complete knockoff of the Walther PPK.
@ Deplorable Martian Overlord:
It’s a makarov. They are excellent pistols. 300??? Nahhh
Trump gonna veto.
https://www.axios.com/rand-paul-supports-resolution-block-trumps-emergency-declaration-3ddfdfbf-e11c-4362-b897-3191c8d3e148.html
GOP threatens rebellion…go ahead, assholes. Show your true colors
@ coldwarrior:
Grandstand Rand is going to force a veto.
coldwarrior wrote:
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory once again.
Someday, I’m going to go on one of these cruises.
Until then, I have to live vicariously through YouTube.
Sam’s hangin’ with the big dogs!
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/03/more-gop-senators-plan-vote-against-trumps-border-wall-emergency/
@ coldwarrior:
Did you see the morning news shows? It was insane Trump bashing including that goof Chris Wallace.
They are taking pleasure in what they view as a Trump failure in Vietnam.
It was not a failure,Kim needs the deal not Trump. He was right to walk away and anybody who has ever negotiated anything knows that.
The timing of that circus with Cohen was to subvert Trump at the negotiations.
Clinton gofer Stephanapolous even said that he found Cohen credible. The guy is going to jail for lying!
@ Deplorable Bumr50:
True colors
Gonna be stuck In the hotel again…cant get home, too much snow.
coldwarrior wrote:
Then I won’t tell you about the chicken and dumplings I made for dinner… 🙂
@ lobo91:
I had a salad…from the hospital’s cafeteria.
US 80 is limited to 35mph, I ain’t driving home in that.
coldwarrior wrote:
300 is about the lowest around here unless you’re looking at hi-point or sccx or similar.
@ RIX:
trump could cure cancer ans the press would complain that he put thousands of oncologists out of business
coldwarrior wrote:
And he wants people cured so that they are well enough to visit his golf courses and hotels.
I don’t know what state Kellyanne Conway uses as her legal domicile, but before the Trump admin is over, I hope she’s got every asset possible in her name. Because when Trump leaves the WH, her husband is getting kicked to the curb.
Meet the asshole she married, George. George never misses a chance to trash Trump, even if it impugns his own credibility as a lawyer.
Jane Mayer reports Trump ordered Gary Cohn to pressure the DOJ to file the lawsuit to block the AT&T/Time Warner lawsuit …
https://twitter.com/Hadas_Gold/status/1102525401426001921
If proven, such an attempt to use presidential authority to seek retribution for the exercise of First Amendment rights would unquestionably be grounds for impeachment
https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1102544748886310913
‘retribution’.
Every business analyst I heard had questions about this merger for solid legal reasons, but Trump? Retribution.
This is probably seminal. Satellite tech found the fields for fracking, but it’s found something else. Looking for volcanic activity, they’re finding – well – good stuff.
. Unexpectantly, a new technology’s look into Earth’s volcanic interior also reveals fossil fuel pockets.
And because we see this globally, we know what resources everybody has.
One more thing.
it turns out that North America has more oil and more natural gas and more coal than anywhere else in the World.
bada bing.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/02/28/how-perception-of-fossil-fuel-futures-have-evolved/
And MAYBE a reasonable Linux browser coming.
Beaker: the Decentralized Read-Write Browser
This goes thru how to download it to try it (I’m not running Linux, so…) but some people here do more with their systems than keep Computer Geeks on speed dial.
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/beaker-decentralized-read-write-browser
@ eaglesoars:
I might have to try that browser out. Running Linux Mint 19 here currently with no major issues.
@ PaladinPhil:
see, I knew there would be SOMEBODY….
here is a very quick clip of Blair leaving the starting line for the beginning of the Iditarod yesterday. ‘My’ dog, Talese, is on the 3rd team from the back, on your left. He’s paired with Ebony. They’re in what’s called the ‘team’ position, which is basically muscle.
https://twitter.com/ConnieStarr/status/1102416585275322369
She’s just finished up a rest, moving well. If you want to see how physically demanding mushing can be, here is a 4 min vid of Jeff King and his team during the 2014 Iditarod. The horror story is always that you fall off the sled and the dogs keep going. It happens. King is not a slouch musher, either, he’s won the race 4 times. That race was run on what’s called The Northern Route, this year they’re using the Southern Route. Don’t ask, I don’t know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAHa-6VkUQY
Keep it up, we’re buying more ammo
Maryland Sheriffs Won’t Enforce New Gun Law Say It’s A “Suicide Mission” For Cops
Maryland’s HB 786 is a “suicide mission” for law enforcement, according to Sheriffs from three Maryland counties. Blue Lives Matter reported that they told the Maryland assembly that taking guns away from citizens would cause citizens to shoot at officers, and the laws were unconstitutional so they will not comply.
Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis testified “The way the bill is written, it is impossible to comply, I can’t send (my deputies) on a suicide mission.”
https://lidblog.com/maryland-sheriffs-gun-law/
ummmm…….
Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Department of Justice.
A Justice Department spokesman told The Hill that Whitaker’s last day was Saturday but did not expand on the circumstances surrounding his departure or his plans after leaving.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/432477-whitaker-out-at-justice-department?__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true
Embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) ignited another firestorm on Sunday when she made anti-Semitic comments to a Jewish member of Congress, accusing the congresswoman of wanting her to have dual loyalties to Israel.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), who is Jewish and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, condemned Omar on Friday for anti-Semitic remarks she made last week, calling her comments “vile,” “anti-Semitic,” “outrageous,” and “deeply hurtful.”
…the new face of the national democrat/socialist party.
@ eaglesoars:
MMMMUSHHH!!!!
happy, runnin’ dogs
@ coldwarrior:
Crap now I have to buy Makarov ammo. Got them down to 250.
zippety do dah!
AOC’s chief of staff ran $1M slush fund by diverting campaign cash to his own companies
buh bye
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/ocasio-cortezs-chief-of-staff-ran-1m-slush-fund-by-diverting-campaign-cash-to-his-own-companies
@ Deplorable Martian Overlord:
They are great pistols. It’s a ppk. They are made very well and are easy to conceal.
@ eaglesoars:
Lol
Deplorable Martian Overlord wrote:
On tozshe makarovnik
Welcome to the club
http://makarov.com/
Blair has had to drop a dog. Xander has been examined by a vet who says he just pulled up with a very tight quad. Good that it’s nothing serious, but that means more energy required from the remaining 13 dogs. IIRC, Xander was running in one of the ‘team’ positions, directly in front of Talese. We don’t know how Blair has rearranged the team.
so……
coldwarrior wrote:
It’s a FEG PA-63. Does it still count? Lol.
Found it. CW, from a physiologic aspect, people are looking at sled dogs.
The world’s greatest athletes, of any species, are the canines who pull sleds at the Iditarod. Now, in a project funded by the Pentagon’s research arm, he’s coming up with ways to make us more like them.
[]
Tony is a sled dog, which means he’s a mutt, with a little Siberian husky in the mix, who’s been specially bred for speed, desire, and resilience. When Tony’s in peak condition, his VO2 max a measure of his ability to take in and use oxygen in the bloodstream tops out at more than 200 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. (Back when Lance Armstrong was racking up multiple Tour de France wins, his famously high VO2 maxed at around 85.)
[]
when he’s competing in the Iditarod, he’ll be able to run an average of 100 miles a day over eight or nine days, working at 50 percent of his VO2 max for hours on end. As part of a team, he can run sub-four-minute miles for 60 or 70 miles.
“When it comes down to sheer capacity for prolonged exercise,” says Ken Hinchcliff, an Australian veterinary physiologist who’s done more research on sled dogs than any other scientist, “there is no other animal, including humans, that comes close to competing.”
https://www.outsideonline.com/1918306/its-dog-you?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tweet
@ Deplorable Martian Overlord:
FEG is hungarian, i took a flyer at their version of the browning hi-power. i own a belgian FN hi-p as well. this was a present to myself for finishing college.
FEG is/was (?) a heavy industry conglomerate/commie means of production chibol sort of amalgamation of industry thingies. their version of the browning is quite good. accuracy almost to the FN model (both are unadulterated and stock). i have taken the FEG into the swampy, mud, snow shit-mist PA, i wouldn’t do that to the belgian version as it costs too damn much. i have beat the snot out of the FEG and treated the FN with kid gloves. the FEG prolly had about 700 rounds put through it by me, the FN…well…maybe 100…after each rare use the FN is carefully cleaned and lubricated and placed back in its case with a lullaby and plush toy.
the FEG gets cleaned/lubed and goes back in the holster at my bedside.
side by side i WANT to say the FN is more accurate than the FEG (again, these are both stock)…but I am aware of bias and placebo effect in studies.
FEG makes a great gun.
Deplorable Martian Overlord wrote:
to answer that question…i say YES! (mrs coldwarrior and i have matching maks.)
on tozshe makarovinik!
while technically it isnt a “makarov”, its the same damn design and bullets. close enough for me, as it all comes from ppk lineage
Fegyver- és Gépgyártó Részvénytársaság (“Arms and Machine Manufacturing Company”), known as FÉG, is a Hungarian industrial conglomerate founded on 24 February 1891 in Csepel (now part of Budapest). The company came under the ownership of MPF Industry Group in 2010.[1][2][3] Since the acquisition, FÉG is one of the biggest exporters of HVAC products to the international markets in the East-Central European heating device industry.[4]
coldwarrior wrote:
Yeah, I went online to look for the manual so I could figure out how to field strip (easiest field strip ever BTW), and the manual online also had a ton of history of the gun and company and a bunch of reviews. Interesting reading.
Just cleaned and oiled all 5 of my guns (3 this week, lol). Now I’m ready to go to the range and finish my membership application. (They had 25 bucks a month and waived the 100 dollar initiation this last weekend only). I’m a happy person right now and don’t need any more firearms until I do.
@ Deplorable Martian Overlord:
i love my makaraov…its what me and mrs coldwarrior carry. youll love it. they are an odd piece, but nice.
Deplorable Martian Overlord wrote:
send me a link…
and now i have to go to the gun store tomorrow…i have an itch and some money
https://petesimontabibito.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/feg-pa-63-pistol-extensive-users-instruction-and-safety-guide-manual2.pdf
coldwarrior wrote:
Oh, that’s a dangerous combination. Have fun!
Just thought I would stop by to say hello…
Hello…
doriangrey wrote:
helllllooooooooo!!!!!
ooooo!
ooo!
oo!
Holy crap. Take a look at these pictures:
Scroll down
lobo91 wrote:
How on earth do you do that?
@ AZfederalist:
“That’ll buff right out”
/s
AZfederalist wrote:
Trust me. You’d be surprised how ‘easy’ it is !
Snow, ice, cross wind, low visibility. All of the requirements are there to take an off runway sojourn ‘cross-country’ !
🙂
Wet Runway with a short runway, a solid cross wind is also problematic, especially at night in heavy rain and a ‘black hole’ runway approach like Rarotonga, where there are NO surrounding lights. Just hard rocks and rough ocean !
This kind of shit is VERY easy !
That’s why they pay us guys the big bucks !
🙂
It’s not for the average trip when all you do is manage the systems and everything works just fine. The big bucks are for those times when you’ve lost one or two engines and you’re trying not to kill yourself, your crew and everyone who’s trusting you to take care of them!
🙂
doriangrey wrote:
Hiii Yaaaa Dorian !
🙂
Oh yes and then there was the IGA R/W13 approach in Hong Kong’s ‘old airport’.
Decent to 650 feet on a LLZ and fly towards two white and orange ‘checkerboards’ on the side of a mountain until you see the ‘rabbit’ a set of flashing lights sequenced to lead you around the ‘corner’. No other lights in HK were allowed to flash except the ‘rabbit’. Then you fly down a valley between the high rise units and look into the kitchen windows of Mrs. Lee and Wang etc as they cook dinner. Then once you pick up the approach lights set your airplane up for a cross wind landing.
It ALWAYs seemed to be a right to left crosswind so you had to bank steeply to make it around and get lined up ASP. Offset the nose between 15020 degrees so that the runway is not out front but off to the left.Maintain the decent on a glide path using the red white lights. Just as you cross the threshold kick the rudder left to align the nose for landing and lower the right wing to stop the crosswind drift to the left at the same time rounding out by raising the nose. Our the Starboard wheel bogies on the ground on the ground and then gently lower the port bogies onto the ground whilst kicking in right rudder to stop going off the runway and ending up in HK harbour. (like landing on a carrier)Lower the nose wheel whilst selecting reverse thrust whilst maintaining the aircraft on the centre line. Put more reverse on the Starboard engines to help keeping straight until you get some nose wheel steering but not until you have the speed under control. Cancel reverse thrust and raise the flaps and request exit the runway from tower and steer the airplane onto the taxiway .
Oh yes .
Do that at night with a wet runway and 30 knots crosswind.
Once your pulse is down under 120 relax.
🙂
Never embarrassed to take the big bucks going into Hong Kong!
🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PCOcyt7BPI
Hong Kong on a nice day!
🙂
Most of these guys do the ‘Boeing landing technique.
Set up a crab into the crosswind and let the aircraft hit the ground and jerk straight.
Not very comfortable for the folks down the back so the Air NZ guys went the extra mile and demonstrated their superior technique.
🙂
Extra reverse onto the PORT thrust levers… NOT the Starboard you saw my obvious error!
HEH!
🙂
@ Aussie Infidel:
insanity at HK
@ Aussie Infidel:
i landed a piper 140 way out of the envelope for side wind…does that count?
AZfederalist wrote:
easy
coldwarrior wrote:
… as in it’s EASY to depart the Runway if you don’t watch yourself and allow yourself to get into a situation that requires you to demonstrate your superior technique.
The trick is to NEVER get into that situation in the first place!
HEH
🙂
Just walked down to the beach. The tide is flowing and the water is warm. A bit of a breeze though and cool when you get out.
Just 3 kids and 6 adults on the whole beach!
GREAT!
I asked one guy who had just arrived with his rod what he was after.
” anything I can catch”
HEH!
🙂
@ Aussie Infidel:
dude was at 35dgrees to center line when ho place the port wheels down.
the amount of black marks on that runway….
We have got 500 Kg of fresh grapes that are ripe. Been eating grapes and giving away heaps but there is still grapes for Christendom here. Even attempted to make some wine this year. It’s a job in process!
I’ll tell you if it was successful at the end of the year.
🙂
You STILL freezing your arse off there?
Sad about the tornados. It sounded like a really bad set of storms.
Aussie Infidel wrote:
bite me.
it 9f with a nasty north wind. -15f wind chill
Aussie Infidel wrote:
you have a few days to decide to stomp them or lose them
coldwarrior wrote:
its march. march.
coldwarrior wrote:
The Boeing technique was to leave the drift on and just land and allow the bogies absorb the massive forces and pull you straight. I didn’t like putting that stress onto the wheels as the alternative was available …. with a lot of practice.
In Wellington however it was….. just get onto the ground anyway you can and if you walked away it was a good landing!
One of the 13 Black Star runways in the world!
I HATED going in to Wellington in a Fokker F-27 with 40 aboard in a VERY turbulent NW, landing off the Cook Strait with water on BOTH ends and mountains on BOTH sides. Ailerons full left then full right and back to full left with some ruder as well just to stop flying into a mountain full of houses.
coldwarrior wrote:
HEH!
Well you will live there.
My blood is too thin to survive in extreme cold.
🙂
coldwarrior wrote:
I’ve been giving them away to anyone and everyone but they are still hanging there mocking me! Got 2 buckets of crushed grapes on the go and as Lent begins tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) I’m going to offload some as part of my alms giving to some folks at mass. Just waiting for the temperature to drop a bit before I go cut 20 Kg or so. Will drive them north tommy at zero dark thirty to be in Auckland for Ash Wednesday.
Gotta get my forehand ‘dirty’!
🙂
Aussie Infidel wrote:
its getting colder.
my trees start budding later, the soil temp is colder, i have checked temp for when to put in my tomatoes for 25 years. my put in dates are now 2 weeks later.
same tomatoes, old italian romas from the immigrants here in the early 1900’s.
mass yield is three weeks later…my grapes are ready for stomping 2 weeks later than they were 20 years ago.
@ Aussie Infidel:
make wine
coldwarrior wrote:
It’s the first time I’ve tried. Not going gang busters until I can find out what works. No aded yeast as there is plenty on the skins and definitely no assertional sugar as the grapes are very sweet already.
We shall see!
🙂
Sitting here in a pool of sweat…. melting as the sun heads for the horizon. Still about 90 minutes to sunset but it’s streaming into the family room and it’s humid
Phew!
If I could find a way to export some of this weather we’d make a fortune!
HEH
🙂
@ Aussie Infidel:
filtration will be your friend,
a commercial yeast plus what is on the skin will end up being your house yeast to start, give the skins a hand.
.
it will take a few rounds to get your own house yeasts, grow and guard it well.
Aussie Infidel wrote:
5f….north wind.
in march.
I know. We used to make Ginger Beer every summer and the yeast was perfect.
Swapped grapes for Snapper fillets earlier in the week. Delicious and fresh out of the sea that afternoon. The Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Ngarimu Bay strikes again. WE even have the bay library. An old bus shelter with some old glass cupboards. You read books and when you’re finished you leave them for someone and take some now books. You also leave fruit and veggies as everyone in the bay ( 30 houses0 grow food of some sort. We are independent with water and have reticulated water from our spring that costs us $60 each a year to maintain. We’ve even got a common usage tractor to tow boats down to the beach just in front of my place. Just hose it down after use and make sure it’s full of diesel and oil.
🙂
Bring on WWIII… we’re ready!
HEH
🙂
coldwarrior wrote:
Better you than me Gunga Din!
🙂
Gotta go cut grapes
Later
🙂
Aussie Infidel wrote:
grr
OK I arrested a hard 25 Kg from all the hard to reach bits for my almes contribution. Left the free hanging easy to reach ones for Mrs. Aussie Infidel. She’s coming down tomorrow for the rest of the week. Got to go back tomorrow for Ash Wednesday and to see a man about a roof guttering and then I’ll return to this little slice of paradise later in the day.
Due to have a MBA reunion with most of my old class Friday .
Looking forward to that.
🙂
Dinner awaits.
Lamb and mint sauce or something similar, spuds and home grown onions and silverbeet. Guess what for dessert…. grapes!
More bloody grapes.
Heh
🙂
🙂
arrested = harvested.
Grrr auto correct!
🙂
http://video.foxnews.com/v/6010133354001/
Good morning. AOC wakes up to accusations of criminal campaign finance violation!