GlibFit 4.0 – Coronavirus Edition XVIII: And Then the Wheels Came Off The Car Caught Fire

by | Jul 19, 2020 | Fitness, GlibFit | 225 comments

I thought I was going to suck it up after the mask requirement was reimposed last week. I was wrong. I managed to get a run in last Sunday but that was it for the week. The reclosure of my gym Monday night took a toll. Tuesday through Friday I had a plan to get up and workout at home. It didn’t happen. Not.A.Single.Day.

I couldn’t figure it out at first. Sure, Late Night Glibs™ is a lot of fun and keeps me up too late. But I could have turned off my phone and went to sleep. Except I noticed my sleep was often fitful and I was getting up more than usual during the night.

I was tired in the morning but I don’t mind drinking an extra cup of coffee and grinding out my day. But I found my myself dragging, distracted, and less productive than usual.  Midweek it hit me after a court hearing. I thought I was under a bit of stress leading up to the hearing because it was pretty important for my case. But I didn’t feel any real relief later that day. The f***ing gym closure, mask requirement, and general sense there was another shoe ready to drop was making me perpetually anxious. I hate my governor.

The other bit of drama involved whether my kids would be going back to school in the fall. The oldest attends college on the east coast. It seemed like the school administration was making a genuine effort to get the students back on to campus. It was good news when we learned that was so.

My youngest starts high school. This one was a nail biter. Two neighboring counties will have remote “learning” in the fall.  Another neighboring county is was bringing kids back to school. A local poll found 70% of parents wanted schools to reopen in the fall. I was cautiously optimistic it would happen for my youngest. Then Newsom dropped the other shoe. Motherfucker.

This is my weekend to feel sorry for myself and get my act together. Monday starts a new week and I’ve got to adapt to circumstances. I’ll almost certainly go back to my previous at home routine and look for some more twists on those exercises. I’ve ordered a kettlebell. I have to figure out what to do with my pull up bar. It damaged my doorway after 4 months of use.

This week’s music. For Rhywun. How are you doing Rhy? You’ve been scarce since the surgery.

I’m feeling self-indulgent. One more for me.

 

 

 

About The Author

Chafed

Chafed

I'm looking California but feeling Minnesota

225 Comments

  1. Gustave Lytton

    What size? My mini kettlebell arrived… but I haven’t used it yet.

    Yard work sort of counts, right?

    • DEG

      Yard work sort of counts, right?

      I hope so. I did some yesterday after the Sun went down behind the trees. I want to get a little more done once the Sun goes down more.

      • juris imprudent

        No shit about waiting out the sun. I was just out getting a pork roast on the Traeger – I’m probably burning half the normal amount of pellets to hold 250.

      • robc

        Trying to get it done fast and skipping 225?

      • juris imprudent

        I do most of my low and slow at 250; I guess I save a little time, but I wouldn’t call it fast! This was an hour and half to IT of 145.

    • Chafed

      GL 25 lbs. I’ll use it for kettlebell swings and maybe farmer carry.

  2. leon

    COVID is overplayed and cliche at this point. I wish the writers would come up with something new.

    Also remember that COVID wasn’t a problem when you were protesting for socialism, but protesting against the lockdowns kills grandma

    Only made it to the gym twice this week, but I’ll be grateful for being able to go.

  3. Yusef drives a Kia

    I walk, a lot, but my right lower leg is affecting my Right hip, it’s getting hard to walk,

  4. Nephilium

    Yeah. Everything is FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Dread) now. I’ve lost most motivation to get out and exercise, Got in a spin class yesterday morning, and bounced back from the shitty job I did the week before (Avg Watts back up to 191 from 135, distance back to 14.8 from 13.4). The weight trend line is slowly starting to go down again. I’ve got a vacation planned in two weeks, and even though it’s a local place, I’m really looking forward to it.

    • Chafed

      I envy you having the vacation coming up.

      • Nephilium

        Me and the girlfriend are just going to Put-In-Bay for a weekend in a B&B. She (somehow) has never been there, It’s on a small island (3.5 miles by 1.5 miles) in Lake Erie. From quick looks, most of the places are open, a couple are closed (including the kayak rental place). It’s traditionally been a party city, and they’re 100% dependent on tourism dollars to stay open. The only real plan is for her to see the longest bar in the world and the Perry monument. Everything else is open (we may take the ferries back and forth to make it over to a neighboring island one day).

        It’s no Europe or Las Vegas, but it’s a lot less likely to need to be cancelled.

  5. DEG

    I thought I was going to suck it up after the mask requirement was reimposed last week. I was wrong. I managed to get a run in last Sunday but that was it for the week. The reclosure of my gym Monday night took a toll. Tuesday through Friday I had a plan to get up and workout at home. It didn’t happen. Not.A.Single.Day.

    Sorry.

    Then Newsom dropped the other shoe.

    I recommend this site. It is better than PornHub as I have donated to the recall effort but I have never given PornHub money.

    I’ve ordered a kettlebell.

    From where? Last I checked Rogue, they were out of everything but 9 lb, 180lb, and 203 lb kettlebells.

    Last week’s weigh in was an anomaly. 277 to 280 to 276.4. Still slow loss, and yes, I need to cut back on the alcohol. No day drinking for the last several weeks but I still go out a few nights a week. I am careful about what I eat on those days and what I order when I go out. I need to be a little more careful.

    My gym is still open. Now that the Massachusetts branches of the chain are open, hopefully they will be able to stave off bankruptcy.

    My morning leg and back pain are worse than before, but fade more quickly than before. Odd. I’ve bounced back fairly well from last week’s setback.

    I like the Mötorhead song. The Judas Priest song is OK (hopefully Rhywun is healing up). I never really cared for Alice in Chains.

    • DEG

      Whoops. I put the umlaut in the wrong spot. Motörhead. I will hang my head in shame.

      • Chafed

        Given your generally good taste in music, I’ll just assume reasonable minds can differ.

    • DEG

      From where? Last I checked Rogue, they were out of everything but 9 lb, 180lb, and 203 lb kettlebells.

      I checked again. They have some, but all 97 lb or more.

      • Chafed

        Believe it or not… Walmart.

      • DEG

        Huh. Interesting.

  6. egould310

    Hi Rhywun. Hope you’re feeling well.

    I ate pretty well all week. Except for pizza last night, and jelly donut this morning. Ran alot this week. Yesterday was epic. A four mile run along the ship canal. Than a mile hike up a series of stairways to the top of Queen Anne. And another four miles back to home. 38 floors according to the health app. https://faculty.washington.edu/smott/Galer.pdf

    Stay fit, Glibs!

  7. Mojeaux

    ±0 this week.

    I am feeling sorry for myself, so I had half a reuben sandwich. I have also been sneaking a couple of peppermints each day.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      The other night, I had a dozen rolls from a local barbecue chain, on top of the half pound of brisket and the half pound of sausage.

      Felt like absolute shit the next day, but I stepped on the scale this morning and was +/-0, so no harm no foul. Next week starts in the morning, and I’m going to lose weight next week.

    • IRBE

      Well at least you didn’t gain back any of the 7# you lost…consider it a gift or warning of a potential yo..yo. Somehow you need to change the momentum back to losing weight. Increase you activity during the day or create a shortened feeding window. Something…have a plan like a couple of weeks ago.

  8. Mojeaux

    @Rhywun…check in soon, please.

    • leon

      Yes. I don’t know what happened, but I hope you’re safe.

  9. mrfamous

    I’m with you on the home workouts. I have a pullup bar and a 25 pound dumbbell (just one). With those two and pushups I can at least get something of an upper body workout, but the motivation is hard.

    Original order to close the gyms ends a week from tomorrow and my gym owner says he plans on opening again on the 27th unless the order gets extended. If it does I’m immediately making plans to leave town for a week.

    • Nephilium

      I remember a time when emergency orders had expiration dates.

      *sigh*

      I’ve got the equipment to get a workout in. It’s just trying to get myself off my ass to do it. The girlfriend has been better then me about it these past couple of weeks.

  10. Drake

    Schools are closed to avoid a virus that doesn’t affect kids and kills healthy adults at a rate of 0.04%.

    I assume it’s all over in November one way or the other. If Joe wins, it will be like the second coming of Christ. The skies will open and the “news” will report that all is safe – and the feds are bailing out all the broke blue states.

    If Trump wins, they’ll drop the act but report how they have to take extreme risks and sacrifice thousands of lives because Orange Man bad.

    • mrfamous

      I hope you’re right. It’s just the name “Richard Reid” won’t get out of my head. He’s managed to fuck us for 18 years now despite a body count of 0.

      • DEG

        Yeah.

    • Nephilium

      The problem is the people. There’s too many that appear to have bought into the fact that this is the new black death, and to get it is to die. To leave the house without a talismask is to get it, and if someone leaves their house, they should be struck down to appease the illness. I don’t see that changing, they’re all in. These people are like the Y2K preppers, but with the media telling them they’re right the whole time.

      • Chafed

        So much this. I have some very intelligent friends who are not very political. They think better safe than sorry is the way to handle this. I’m sure being able to work from home is a big factor. I don’t think much will change unless it hits people hard in the wallet.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        yep. looking at myself personally, it doesn’t change much. there are plenty of second order effects, but I have a job where work from home is easy to pull off. Getting out of the house sucks, but I’m an introvert, so the suck is limited.

        My wife, on the other hand, hasn’t worked since March. she loved her job, so it has been a huge adjustment for her to not have that as part of her life. Even if a gym was hiring a trainer, she’s 6 months pregnant…. nobody’s gonna hire her for 3 months just to have her go out on leave. Her saving grace has been proximity to family, or else she would’ve gone insane by now.

        judging our two reactions to this bullshit, I’m irritated, but she’s pissed. They took away a bit money from me. They took away her livelihood and her balance as a parent.

      • Nephilium

        One of the spin instructors I spoke to said that her business was booming during the lockdown. She said a lot of her clientele didn’t want to get out of shape during the lockdown and she did video training and the like. I just commented that her circle of people she knew was very different then mine.

      • Viking1865

        “Just get a spin bike and a nice white collar 21st century job you can work from home!!!!” -The Shutdown Cult.

        I don’t personally know anyone who’s taken a huge financial hit from this who supports it. Every single BETTER SAFE THEN SORRY piece of shit I know is working from home, or not working from home as the case may be but still getting paid. Or they are on that fat and juicy federal unemployment money.

        If you’re a government or BigCorp paper pusher, you’re doing just fine. Not saying everyone in that category agrees with the shutdown, but it’s an intellectual disagreement.

      • Nephilium

        Oh, I don’t think she was in favor of the lockdown. In fairness, my change has been working from home 5 days a week instead of 3. I’m still against all of the lockdown bullshit.

        The class sizes where I go went from over 30, to ~20, and now it’s down to 13 maximum. They’ve started adding a couple more classes in the evening, but even with that classes are booking up 3-4 days out. Back in the before times you could almost always show up and drop in to a class. I was planning on suspending my membership over the summer, but with the lockdown, I’d rather drop the cash to support a local business (and give me motivation to sign up for classes and get in).

      • Viking1865

        Yeah I wasn’t saying she was one of them, but her client base are the people that can afford to buy a spin bike In These Trying Times. My wife is in a similar line of work, where she is reliant on the affluent post industrial knowledge worker class for her income, people who have good jobs and have disposable income to spend on her.

        It’s very class based. If you’re a blue collar diner waitress, you are struggling because no one is Door Dashing a greasy spoon breakfast. They’re hitting McDs breakfast or eating at home instead.

        But some of the nicer restaurants are doing pretty well because the Stay Home Stay Safe hashtag brigade is doing their part by Door Dashing their local bougie restaurants special.

        My actual job and compensation have no changed. We had one short paycheck, then the PPP loan kicked in and everyone went back to full pay. My wife had a huge financial drop off during the lockdown, but its picked back up.

      • Nephilium

        Viking1865: No offense taken or intended. I was just clarifying.

        I’m white collar IT (VOIP), so once the lockdowns started, my workload exploded. It’s been slow for the past several months as things have settled down. But I’ve been getting paid through it all (minus 401k matching, bonuses, and raises). The girlfriend works retail, and was out of work for months. She didn’t get a check from unemployment until after her job had opened back up.

        Some of the nicer restaurants started selling their high quality and dry aged steaks. I didn’t pull the trigger on any of them.

      • Ted S.

        “Just get a spin bike and a nice white collar 21st century job you can work from home!!!!” -The Shutdown Cult.

        I’m reminded when our human filth governor responded to people complaining about being put out of work thanks to the lockdowns that they should go out and get an essential job.

        It’s why I like to say, “Heroes worked here until the governor put a gun to our heads and said they’re not essential.”

      • Drake

        As I said in an earlier thread, my gym crowd isn’t all that political, but they are absolutely outraged at the runaway dictatorial government we now have.

    • Urthona

      It’s dumber than that.

      Have you looked at the contact tracing studies among children? They spread it at most at about 1/8th the normal rate to other children and adults. And are never superspreaders.

      I understand some teachers are over 55. Sub in for them then if it’s really unacceptable risk.

      • hayeksplosives

        Teachers are busy trying to find out how to make the most of the covid panic by continuing to collect full benefits for themselves while literally phoning in the work, at the same time they destroy charter and at-home schooling.

        Everyone has an angle.

      • Chafed

        That is absolutely the truth in California.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      Schools are closed to avoid a virus that doesn’t affect kids and kills healthy adults at a rate of 0.04%.

      And also isn’t transmitted kids, according to studies out of Iceland and Germany and some other good European countries where they’re so much smarter than us dumb hicks over in the USistan.

      But apparently some people don’t fucking love SCIENCE as much as they claim.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        transmitted by kids.

  11. Ted S.

    My usual three walks with the dog this weekend. Didn’t see anybody after so he Friday, but everybody and his brother was out to beat the heat this morning. Two large groups of nice mountain bikers, with one guy remembering my parents’ cairn terrier Mollie that I used to walk. Mollie lived to a rule old age… and died at the end of 2006. Way to make me feel old!

    Yesterday morning there was a pair of women crazy enough to be running the trails — these are hiking trails with rocks and roots that are easy to trio over if you’re not careful. And one fucking idiot on a bike accompanied by his off-leash dog, which wanted to get too “friendly” with my dog. Fuck that shit; am I supposed to take your word that your dog is friendly?

      • Gender Traitor

        Yup! Purty doggie! ::gives virtual scritches::

      • hayeksplosives

        Thems fight in’ words, boy.

      • Tulip

        Very pretty

      • Ted S.

        I just wish he were better behaved. He wants to run full steam down hills, and can get skittish around strangers.

  12. Derpetologist

    My new strength training routine has 4 rounds – body weight only, dumbbells, weight vest, and dumbbells plus weight vest. Exercises include squats, lunges, curls, presses, and single leg deadlifts

    I ran 16 miles this week. Pace was about 6 mph, so more of a jog I guess. My weight and waistline have stabilized, which is good news in the sense that I have hit the limit of my not so great diet. I ate better this week though. Need to lose 2.5 inches off my waist to meet the standard.

    Drinking some fabulous Oktoberfest type beer now because I am an undisciplined slob.

    I’ve been collecting cool videos. I won’t bombard you guys with them, but I’ll share a few.

    This one was wild:
    Connor McGregor vs The Mountain from GoT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aaehn1aY8Ig

    • Ozymandias

      The “ring” and the “rules” they’re using both allow MacGregor to not get killed. OTOH, Mac can fucking strike, and if they were punching in the face, I expect the Mountain would be very unhappy. Mad respect to both for getting in there, playing around, and enjoying themselves with their boys laughing and teasing them. Having to move that much mass chasing MacGregor takes a ton of energy and my guess is that Mac’s got better cardiorespiratory endurance. Thanks for that.

      • Viking1865

        OTOH, Mac can fucking strike, and if they were punching in the face, I expect the Mountain would be very unhappy.

        I mean, less than 20 seconds in he has him with both hands, and if it was a real fight, that’s GG. To strike, you have to stand. Especially with their respective heights, you’re not gonna land a knockout blow against a guy that tall without having your feet under you.

        So if he can take your best shot and get on you with both hands, you now have about five seconds to break the grip of this guy

        I still think it’s just really cool that there’s actually a human being in real life who could be the actual Mountain if he’d lived 700 years ago. He probably could crush someone’s skull with his bare hands.

      • Drake

        That could have been a guillotine choke, or the point where he starts pulling off limbs like a fly’s wings.

  13. SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

    I’ve been distracting myself with work the past couple weeks. 55-60 hours two weeks ago. 60-65 this last week, with a progress demonstration on Thursday. The stress has been melting away after the demo, but not as completely as I’d like. I need to get back on the wagon after being dragged behind it for a while, clinging on by a fingernail.

    I’m doing better (but not perfect) with the food side. goal is 18 meals per week with zero wheat and minimal other grains. I’m averaging 16 or so. I need to get out tomorrow morning and restart the morning walking and lifting. Getting off work at 10pm isn’t conducive to getting up at 6am to go for a walk.

    • Plinker762

      It wasn’t a chicken!!

    • Chafed

      Who you calling a baby?

  14. KSuellington

    I’m with you on the school bullshit Chafed, we are still figuring out what in the hell we are going to do about it. My wife got 12 weeks of PTO for the summer, but then she is back mid August. We worked it last time by trading off homeschool days and me working until 8 or 9 at night. I really don’t want to go back to that schedule. Fuck that greasy shithead.

    I’ve been able to get up to 185 lb deadlifts in sets of 5 and 105 lb squat sets. I could go more on squats but I can’t get a rack as all gym equipment is really hard to source right now. Still waiting on a bench I ordered to arrive.

    Found this good article on Starting Strength, I enjoyed the discussion in the forums as well. We need much more of this kind of attitude.

    We Will Not Comply
    https://startingstrength.com/article/we-will-not-comply

    • hayeksplosives

      I’m in Cali too and asked one of my employees this week about school, since I’d heard Newsom wanted to shut them down.

      She said it’s still district by district, and that some schools are letting parents choose: at home, or in person. They just have to stick with their choice.

      We are in San Diego North County.

      • KSuellington

        Letting people choose. What a concept, that.

      • Chafed

        HE Newsom dropped the hammer on Friday.

    • IRBE

      Below are numerous links to heroic teachers who will defy school closures because of their unending dedication to teaching. Heroes one and all!

      :
      :
      :

      • Chafed

        Looks complete to me.

    • Chafed

      I’m not sure what we are going to do but I’m not going to rely solely on the school to teach my kid.

      • blackjack

        We are pretty much thinking homeschooling is the final solution. The three months when I had to do the teaching using school provided study aids was pretty sad. Mixed up jumble of mess, most of it. I just figured out what the end knowledge needed to be and taught him that my own way. Guess what? He learned way more and way faster that way. Besides, I heard there’s a tax credit for DIY. If they’re gonna send us stupid lesson plans, then they will forfeit one student’s worth of funding while I teach him in a way that works better anyway.

      • Nephilium

        Looking for the silver lining, I really hope this drives homeschooling/charter schools/backpack funding movements across the US.

    • EvilSheldon

      That, is pretty cool.

  15. IRBE

    HI Chafed, Thanks for the edition, although it was a little less uplifting and motivational this week but I am naturally pessimistic. Today was a magnificent hike. Compliments of our GovGavi. Perfect 60F with refreshing bay winds 8-10 knots. 7.5 miles, 1200 foot climb. A lot of people at trail heads but not in the hills. More people wearing mask. I predict an epidemic..”Better take a rain check on that, Art – he’s got a lip fungus they ain’t identified yet..”

    Gym is still not open but I checked my credit card and I was billed for the month anyway. I see it as progress..ive! Still doing the band workouts and general calisthenic..but I really need to get back into the gym for the most important reason of all for older men…the dreaded grandpa tits! It is just not the same workout just doing push-up and such. Any advice short of wearing the push-up Bro is appreciated.

    • Chafed

      IRBE checkout the Athleanx YT channel. He has a number of pushup videos. They are excellent. One, maybe two, specifically address man boobs.

  16. The Other Kevin

    I don’t know if working out at home is something you get used to, or something that’s just part of your personality. I’ve worked out in gyms before, but with work I found it easier to set up a room in the basement and work out there. Over the years I’ve accumulated benches, bars, kettle bells, dumbbells, even a SkiErg. I just got them at yard sales, Goodwill, gyms closing, etc. So when the RONA hit, my routine wasn’t affected. When her gym was closed, Mrs. TOK borrowed some bars and plates and set up in the garage, but only lifted once or twice. She usually goes to they gym early so it’s not like she missed the company. I think it was just physically being in that place that mentally triggered “now it’s time to work out.”

    Tonight I’m back at hockey practice. We are still limited to 7 skaters, and no bags in the building so you have to put on all your gear in the parking lot, But the last few times weren’t too bad, and for now we start an hour earlier, so I appreciate the extra sleep.

  17. Ozymandias

    I stopped smoking this week and trained pretty hard. Man, what a difference! Whew. Might be on the wagon for a good bit to get myself to where I want to be.
    5 workouts in the last 7 days culminated in an ice hockey game on Friday night. We only had 8 guys show, so I think I took 4 or 5 “breaks” during the whole game. (We kept it close until the end, too.) Unfortunately, I took the puck off a young kid right near the end and as I turned away he gave a subtle poke in the skate that made me toe pick and I tweaked a hammy. Not awful, but it’s still tended, so weighted pullups, handstand pushups, and the like, until that thing isn’t tender. That’s the toughest thing about aging: takes so much longer to recover from injuries. Being young is like being Wolverine – you can get a finger chopped off and grow a new one back in, like, three days. You get over 35, you cut your shin and you’ve got a scab for a month.

    Diet has been MUCHO better, so I dropped about 7 lb this week, much of it water with eating fewer carbs. (Carbs make you retain a shitton more water). Now I’m on a roll, so can’t let the injury be an excuse to backslide.

    Stay fit, Glibbies! Keep moving, don’t get down on yourself, keep improving.
    Enjoy the journey.

      • Ozymandias

        Thanks, Nephi!
        I don’t listen to it much, but there’s something about ska that I like. Upbeat, light, and everyone seems to be having fun. It would be impossible to kill yourself to ska (I think- please don’t prove me wrong). Speed metal and the like is just… not my bag, baby! Although I will say that I listened to a lot of Iron Maiden on the bus in high school.

      • Nephilium

        Not a problem at all. I really like the Toasters and have seen them half a dozen times. One of the more entertaining times was when a softball team sponsored by a local bar (Panini’s) walked in during the show. The lead singer kept talking about the fact that he wanted his “Poonani soft balls” throughout the show.

        The second was KMFDM, which would fall in the Industrial bucket of music.

      • Chafed

        Right there with you Neph.

    • IRBE

      Burning fat results in water release and that water ends up being expelled. If you are on a diet that you think is resulting in water loss it is the right diet cause you are losing fat. As for smoking..it seems as if nicotine use for improved athletic performance is en vogue as a pretty good stimulant with a short half-life. I guess decrease lung capacity is a trade off so go for the gum FTW.

      • Ozymandias

        My “smoking” had no nicotine, IYKWIM – AITYD, so the weight loss and smoking are unrelated issues… well, maybe decreased incidents of the munchies helped. I’m about 15 lb from where I would like to be, but this isn’t a “life critical” thing with me, it’s mostly vanity of trying to get down to the weight I was when I was competing in BJJ tourneys…. And to keep the missus happy, too: ‘cuz she’s fit, hot, and 8 years younger, so… I’m still young enough for all of that to matter. 😉

      • l0b0t

        Ohhh… Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? At first I didn’t notice the second J and my mind immediately went here.

      • Ozymandias

        LOL. Yeah, that’s a J that matters.

  18. DEG

    UCS, I’ve asked the Reopen NH folks about grocery stores near Keene without a mask requirement.

    One person from the Keene area said he just walks into grocery stores without a mask and no one bothers him. OK….

    Market Basket’s policy exempts people with medical conditions. There is one near Keene.

    If you are willing to drive to Manchester, at this time A Market does not require masks.

    One of the Reopen folks contacted the Hannaford’s in Franklin, NH. Store management said they have to post the signs about Hannaford’s mask policy, but they have no plans to enforce the policy.

  19. westernsloper

    I’ve ordered a kettlebell. I have to figure out what to do with my pull up bar. It damaged my doorway after 4 months of use.

    Get a chunk of 2×6 about six inches (+) wider than your door. Screw said 2×6 into the king studs at the edge, and cripples above of said door with some 3″ sheet rock screws. Buy some black pipe fittings and walla (I aint french) you have a pull up bar. (that is a 2×12 in picture but it was what I had on hand)

    Little holes in sheet rock are easy to fix if you want it gone.

    • mrfamous

      Not sure what kind you have, but for my pullup bar I cut off a piece of a pool noodle and slid it over the ends. Cushions against the door frame

      • westernsloper

        Not sure what kind you have Dood, I literally posted a picture of it.

    • Chafed

      Thanks for the idea Westernsloper. I’ll have to check if I have the room on the inside of my closet. No way wifey will let me do it on the outside of it.

      • Gustave Lytton

        If you can put it in your backyard, these aren’t hard to make:

        https://youtu.be/S1lEjdXfoVE

        We had a set like that at my armory, except it wasn’t as wide. There were three posts so two people could use it at once. Attach cutdown posts on the inside if a step is needed to reach the bars.

  20. one true athena

    We put up a temporary gazebo/canopy yesterday (a little more structural than a canopy at the farmer’s market but less than a permanent one, if that makes sense). It took three of us a couple hours to assemble and my shoulders got very sunburned – just shows how little I’ve been out in the sun this summer. I should’ve been in a Hawaii for a week (first in March moved to June, now put off til next spring)!

    School closures. Sigh. Yeah, we got our kid’s private school announcement Friday – of course that was the day Newsom fucked it all over so they had to write a followup immediately. More remote learning. Great. Thanks Newsome. Thanks PCR tests that I still think are flawed bullshit. Thanks frightened parents who are terrified Timmy is gonna die.

    • DEG

      Strangely, the Clown Prince’s school related orders here in NH apply only to public schools. They don’t apply to private schools. Having said that, I think all private schools in NH closed at the same time the Clown Prince closed public schools.

      The day before the Clown Prince announced his school guidance for reopening schools in the Fall, the Diocese of Manchester announced that Catholic schools in the Diocese would be open in the Fall, whether or not masks would be required would be up to the individual schools, and the Diocese would offer a tuition discount for students transferring from non-Catholic schools to Catholic schools.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    I remember a time when emergency orders had expiration dates.

    “emergency” = “new normal”

    Silly rabbit.

    • Nephilium

      I hate the “new normal” phrase so much. So. Much.

      They still haven’t turned the water fountains (including the “touchless” ones) along most of the trails yet. Can I just get normal back? Please?

      • Derpetologist

        What gets me is the closure of portajohns everywhere, like I’m going to get infected while taking a leak because someone coughed in there yesterday.

      • Nephilium

        That’s not what happened here. They closed the restrooms in the parks, and then hauled in portapotties that are sitting near them. The only reason I can think of is that no one wants to touch anything in a portapotty.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        Piss on a bush like god intended.

      • DEG

        I think NH rest stop buildings, except for the privately operated one off of I-93 in Hooksett, are still closed.

        The state brought in port-a-johns because the buildings are closed.

        I used on at a rest stop off of I-93 somewhere north of Concord. The port-a-john was beyond filthy.

  22. Not Adahn

    The greens are started, and I think I’ve been about as productive today as I need to be.

    In honor of Glibfit, I’ll make a Pimm’s #1 cup with diet ginger ale.

    • egould310

      I’ve got a skirt steak marinating since yesterday in evoo, lime juice, beer, chopped onions and garlic, cumin and oregano. Homemade pico de gallo, and wife is on corn tortilla duty. Avacados and roasted green onions.

      Drinking a vodka orange juice. It’s a good lazy Sunday.

      • Spudalicious

        That’s a good day,

  23. westernsloper

    When I went to imgur to post the pic above this was on the right. JFC it is hard to keep a positive outlook but then again I am a downer personality in the first place. It is my individual personality though.

    • Ozymandias

      Igor Sikorsky crashed something like 6 times in his earliest models because of phase lag, that phenomenon where an input into a rapidly spinning disc takes effect 90º from where the input occurs. (It’s why you can push the right grip on your motorcycle or bike to go right at high speeds, but have to pull-turn it at low speeds). Poor ol’ Igor kept trying to go forward and smacking into things to his right or left (I can’t remember which direction his rotor was turning, clockwise or ccw).

      My friend’s dad flew helicopters in the Navy in the 50s, IIRC. He has some absolutely hair-raising stories from flying in Alaska doing survey work. No maps, no instruments, wet compass, and a giant set of balls were the essential equipment.

      • Derpetologist

        I was surprised to learn that the arc of the main rotor on a Blackhawk gets within about 3 inches of the arc of the tail rotor. There’s some kind of synchronizer to keep them as far apart as possible. Not sure why that was easier than making the tail boom 1 ft longer.

        My brother showed it to me when I visited the hangar. You can push the main rotor by hand and they both will spin.

      • Ozymandias

        It’s pretty close on most helos. There’s a LOT of considerations on tailboom length, but you really don’t want that thing any longer than it needs to be, as crazy as that sounds. If you lose tailrotor effectiveness, the longer tailboom is a life-ending liability. You only want as much tail-rotor as you need to counteract the torque of the rotor – which wants to make the whole thing twist in the opposite direction.

        I like the three theories of helicopter flight:
        1 – Helos are so ugly, the ground repels them;
        2 – Helos fly because they beat the air into submission;
        3 – Magic

        A helicopter is just 1 million different, spinning parts flying in close formation.

        /I can do these all day long

      • Derpetologist

        I always wondered why the US military never had a helicopter with stacked counter-rotating rotors. The Soviets figured that out.

        There was a US military fire-fighting helicopter with 2 synchronized meshed rotors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaman_HH-43_Huskie

      • UnCivilServant

        I strongly suspect the complexity was more than the value added.

      • Ozymandias

        Yeah, we used to mock those Russki coaxial (stacked) rotor helos, like the Alligator.
        https://www.wearethemighty.com/military-culture/russian-attack-helicopter-photos-military?rebelltitem=6#rebelltitem6

        In that link, you’ll see one with a coax tail-rotor (No thank you!).

        In basic infantry school, there’s a line they beat into you: amateurs talk tactics; professionals talk logistics. One of the things that really matters in helicopter aviation (and military aviation more generally) is # of man hours of maintenance per flight hour. The AH-1 Cobra and its forefather, the UH-1 “Huey” are very simple helicopters (relatively speaking). They also have two of the lowest numbers for maintenance hours/flight hour. My recollection from being a maintenance pilot is that both were around 8 hours of maintenance per flight hour, with the Huey being a little less and the Whiskey Cobra being a little above (like 7.8 v. 8.3, or something like that).

        The Apache is an amazing helicopter, but in Desert Storm their numbers were something like 12 hours or more because the sand wreaked havoc on them. Hueys and Cobras have to fly off of ships and deal with constant salt spray from the ocean for 6 months at a crack. When you’re trying to support ground operations, having birds in the air is a matter of life and death and simple really is better.

        Which brings me back to the Russian coax rotors. I can’t imagine that does anything except make life harder (and add maintenance hours). Also, our old CH-46 Sea Knights and the Army’s Chinooks use the same principle. Those aren’t truly coaxial rotors, but there’s no tail rotor necessary because there’s the two rotors offset the torque effects.

  24. hayeksplosives

    Some big companies pay for employee sick time from their discretionary budget. Some pay not at all for sick leave.

    And some pay an insurance premium every month for their employees on the off chance a few get really sick and miss over a week, in which case their salary is paid by the insurance company.

    After CoVID19 and its effed up policies and politics, how can an actuary even begin to set premiums for next year? Knowing that a plague can be conjured from overactive imaginations must throw all statistics out the window.

    • Chafed

      You know me. You really, really know me.

    • Evan from Evansville

      1, 11, 39.

      Lots of Wood in there. Yes.

    • westernsloper

      (from the links in the link)

      LOL

      And 27, damn, nice work!

  25. The Late P Brooks

    When I went to imgur to post the pic above this was on the right.

    Toxic individualism can only be remedied by the communal equality of a mass grave.

  26. Derpetologist

    oh what the hell – have some more fun links – I got nothing else going on today

    magnificent mallard, fastest steam locomotive at 126 mph https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp2bDQwFewo

      • blackjack

        We have this about a mile from my house. Used to take my kid there every couple of months before we started live acting out Steven King’s ” The Stand.” It’s a great place.

    • Plinker762

      Is it wrong to want to see the drone hit by one of the flack bursts?

      I had a flight into Boston at night on the 4th of July once. Glad I had a window seat because it was quite a show.

      • Derpetologist

        fun fact – flak is short for Fliegerabwehrkannonen – literally “Flyer Ward Off Cannon”

        Abwehr means turn away or repel and was also the name of the German counterintelligence org in WW2. The English words wary, warning, and beware have the same root. Wehrmacht is from the compound word of German: wehren, “to defend” and Macht, “power, force”. Gewehr means a rifle.

        German sure likes compound words. Turkish has them beat though:

        ***
        As an agglutinative language, Turkish allows the construction of words by adding many suffixes to a word stem. The longest word in the Turkish language used in a text is “muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine” which has 70 letters. It is derived from the noun “muvaffakiyet” (success) and means As though you are from those whom we may not be able to easily make into a maker of unsuccessful ones. It was used in a contrived story designed to use this word.
        ***

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_word_in_Turkish

      • Homple

        “Flack” is an entirely different thing.

      • Derpetologist

        ***
        flack (n.)

        “publicity or press agent,” 1945, also by that year as a verb, said to have been coined at show biz magazine “Variety” (but the first attested use is not in “Variety”) and supposedly from name of Gene Flack, a movie agent, but influenced by flak. There was a Gene Flack who was an advertising executive in the U.S. during the 1940s, but he seems to have sold principally biscuits, not movies.
        ***

        If you’re taking flak, you’re over the target.

      • Ozymandias

        I’ll share some pics from my flights back from northern China to southern China during the Chinese New Year in a later installment of Ozy’s Adventures in China (making its return soon). It makes 4th of July look like child’s play. Seeing it from the sky was incredible.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      hoes mad sad

  27. egould310

    Yay. I’m finally getting my haircut. It’s been since March 8th. I’m practically a hippie. I hate it.

    • Threedoor

      I think it’s been five years for me.

    • Dry_Gin_Wet_Farts

      January for me. I only come home about every 3 months. The salons opened the day after I went back on the road in May.

  28. J. Frank Parnell

    On Topic:

    Haven’t been working out because I’m actually not sure if my gym is open yet. I think it opened last month and required reservations, but Nazicocksucker Newsome may have shut it down again. I was working out with dumbbells in the garage, but my excuse there is that it’s been hot lately so it’s like 110 in the garage during the day.

    Still, it looks like I’ve lost about 10 pounds in the last couple of months, probably by (1) avoiding bad oils (vegetable/canola/soybean/etc.) and (2) avoiding carby shit that isn’t beer and (3) for the most part only eating when I’m hungry, which means I’m skipping breakfast and usually skipping lunch.

    I’d probably be down 20 pounds if I quit drinking but, well, screw that.

    • Derpetologist

      ***
      I’d probably be down 20 pounds if I quit drinking but, well, screw that.
      ***

      ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    • Nephilium

      I’d probably be down 20 pounds if I quit drinking but, well, screw that.

      /raises glass

      • hayeksplosives

        Cheers, guys, but do be kind to your liver. It’s the only one you’ve got.

      • Nephilium

        But it’s one of the few internal organs that can regenerate.

    • Chafed

      Good work on the weight loss. Sorry to tell you your gym is closed again per Newsom’s order.

  29. Derpetologist

    This 15th Century Weapon of War Fired 100 Arrows at Once
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UImDMIKEFgQ

    ***
    a 15th century Korean rocket launcher, known as a ‘Hwacha.’ Essentially, it’s a device that is lit from the back to fire off a hundred arrows at the same time.
    ***

    medieval MRLS

    • Not Adahn

      known as a ‘Hwacha.’

      Like the Bruce Lee movie sound effect?

      • Derpetologist

        What’s Bruce Lee’s favorite drink?

        Wah-TAAAAAA!

    • one true athena

      Mythbusters did a memorable episode on the Hwacha. RIP Grant Imahara, who was clearly enjoying the hell out of building and firing that thing.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Even the bears are pissed off

    A woman was seriously injured when she was attacked by a bear which approached her and her husband on the deck of a New Mexico ski lodge, authorities said on Saturday.

    The bear came within a foot of the couple as they sat outside on Friday night, then chased the woman before attacking her in the parking lot of the ski area on the outskirts of Los Alamos, the state game and fish department said.
    Victory for Yellowstone’s grizzly bears as court rules they cannot be hunted
    Read more

    The woman was hospitalized for injuries including several broken bones, a collapsed lung, bite marks and scratches.

    Los Alamos police officers who responded to a 911 call from the woman’s husband shot and killed a bear eating trash in the vicinity, the department said.

    A forensic laboratory will analyze DNA samples to determine whether the bear killed by police was the one involved in the attack.

    Tristanna Bickford, a department spokesman, said bear encounters are not uncommon in Los Alamos and that the animals sometimes use drainage systems to enter the city from Valles Caldera national preserve and other areas, in search of food.

    I blame global warming.

    • hayeksplosives

      Yikes. Sounds like they got off relatively light.

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      It was a Black Bear. They are not Grizzlies. Unless it is a mother and cubs you can chase off a Black Bear by waving your arms and yelling. They are terrified of people and will quickly leave.

      However, like cats, if you want to get a bear to chase you then you run away from the balcony of the ski area down towards the parking area.

      I rate this as a Darwin wanna-be.

      PS: Pajarito Ski Area is fantastic if you are a Blue Square skier (like I was.)

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Horrific scene

    Clusters of people, many of them not wearing face masks, were caught on video refusing to practice social distancing during the overnight hours in Queens Friday.

    On Twitter, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called it ‘unacceptable’ and pledged stricter enforcement throughout the city starting Saturday night.

    The incident happened on 28th Avenue and Steinway Street in Astoria.

    Police were called to the scene to maintain crowd control.

    No arrests were made, and no summonses were handed out.

    City Councilman Costa Constantinides, who is a member of District 22 representing Astoria, was furious about the incident.

    “There’s businesses who frankly I think need to be shut down,” Constantinides said. “I already spoke to the governor and the mayor’s office today, and said that they’ve already used up their strikes.”

    Let the chokeholding commence!

  32. Threedoor

    Last year got skinny, started to put on a little muscle just going about my buisness. The last two months I’ve been pounding carbs like crazy. If I were the type to crawl into a bottle I probably would.

    • Derpetologist

      I saw a great fridge magnet with a picture of a sad old cowboy sitting at a bar. His speech bubble said “I spent all my money on beer and women. The rest I just wasted.”

  33. Tulip

    It’s really hot here, so I had ice cream for supper. My neighbor gave me chard and radishes, so tomorrow I’ll make chicken with buttered greens and radishes.

  34. hayeksplosives

    I just belatedly spotted Chafed’s telling me that Gov Gavin Newsom closed all schools for the coming year.

    Crap. I’ve been as patient as possible with the COVID panicdemic decreasing productivity and juggling school kids.

    I’ve been counting the days until school resumed. It matters especially because in building a department and have hired several folks in their 20s to work with and learn from those in their 40s and 50s and build a culture. The more senior folks are the ones with kids, and now they will continue to work odd shifts and work from home.

    We will need to re-bid projects with more hours than originally now that we know we will go on being less efficient.

    • hayeksplosives

      Newsom could have been the hero by simply doing nothing. Cali health networks were handling things just fine, but Newsom was jelly of the other tyrants in other states and just had to start arbitrarily shutting things down.

      We were doing FINE. Now billions of dollars vanished and spirits are crushed. Tension is high.

      • blackjack

        no school=no working=trashed economy=Harder for Trump to get re-elected. California, doing it’s part. Oh, and stimulus. Higher taxes AND more spending, pretty much the left’s wish list for all time.

      • Viking1865

        My thing is, yes this hurts Trump, a bad economy hurts every incumbent. But this is a bad economy that was caused by THE VIRUS OF DOOM and the ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY LOCKDOWNS. You can’t point to a Trumpian tax cut or a piece of regulatory legislation that caused this. It’s the virus, and the lockdowns.

        Because this is something where the scientists panicked, and then the governments panicked (leaving aside the notion of a deliberate conspiracy for arguments sake.) The lockdowns were because people sold out their thinking to TRUST THE SCIENCE. So is the argument gonna now be, from Biden, that we should not have trusted the science back in March?

        Standard economic argument by the Left is that there’s a finite amount of wealth, and that if the government cuts taxes than the wealthy just hoard all the money and the poor get no money. That’s an argument that has worked very well for them, because it feeds into envy and greed, and people are envious and greedy. But this bad economy doesn’t fit into that paradigm, at all.

        Like, the same people are saying “We have to sacrifice the economy to stop the virus.” are gonna spin back around and say “The terrible economy is why we need a Green New Deal and a fracking ban and new gun control.”

      • IRBE

        I have to disagree with you about Gavi. He did not follow any gov or mayor..he led them; especially the West coat. He has aspirations for more enlightened governance at far more reaching levels. There is no down-side to greater control here for him. No recall, Arnold blew that…what a disaster. State taxes are high but there is plenty more that can be creatively increased and taken and then there will be the exit tax and the eventual fed bailout. With any luck he will be the one bailing out the state he bankrupted. Poetic justice!

        Don’t worry about the money lost or the spirits crushed cause the weather is pretty damn good today. Weather can not be appreciated if you are dead and spirits are always higher when the sun is shining. You have your governor to thank. Thank him, I said it damn it..thank a governor I’m not afraid to admit it..oh oh say can you see… -Fletch exits stage right

    • Threedoor

      I like how he is forcing it on private schools as well. I would love to see government schools shut down.

  35. Derpetologist

    Today I learned – WW2 war bond drives were a sham meant to boost morale. They never gathered nearly enough money and the govt printed most of what it needed.

    A govt sham meant to boost morale in a crisis? Well knock me over with a feather.

  36. Ozymandias

    I was talking with some friends in the fitness industry about gym closures. Someone made the observation/claim that it’s punishment; his claim was that gyms tend to have way more “conservatives” and the governors and others have figured this out. I’m not sure about that, and I really think what he meant by “conservative” was “non-progs” or just “non-Team Blue” people. The more I thought about the character traits and culture of dedicated gym-goers, the more it started to make sense. I’m not saying that there aren’t Dems going to gyms – or even that there aren’t large numbers of them, but….it’s one thing to have a gym membership, and it’s another thing entirely to be a “regular.” Indeed, most of the traditional commercial gym business relies upon an over-subscription model (people who pay but never show up again by the end of January). Economists have even studied this as part of the rebuttal of the “rational” actor in economics because it makes no fiscal sense to pay for a gym membership and not go, but a TON of people do.

    Think about this: what are the character traits and beliefs that underlie going to the gym?
    1 – a belief in hard work and willingness to engage in it;
    2 – a belief that effort produces favorable results;
    3 – a belief that an individual can make change for the better through consistent daily effort;

    You could come up with a whole slew of others, but the more I thought about it, the more I started to think maybe he wasn’t as whacky as I thought at first blush. I worked in that industry for a decade and have been in gyms my whole life, and I never thought about it, but I have to say… it makes more sense than one might otherwise think. Why else would one shut down small businesses that are designed to make people healthier? Hmmmm….

    • Derpetologist

      Churches are an even more clear example. The Blue Meanies closed them, but allowed riots and mass protests.

      Same deal for bans on Wal-Mart and Chik-Fil-A.

      • Ted S.

        Ditto the statewide bans in states that have rural red counties while most of the cases were in the densely-populated areas that are generally blue.

      • juris imprudent

        Now you’re talking about our beloved Gov. Shit-fer-brains.

      • Viking1865

        Yeah and on a national level, the media hysteria over this is enormously driven by the fact that it actually was really really bad in NYC. And if the Best Place in The World, full of the Smartest and Savviest People Ever can’t beat this thing, then the Idiot Rednecks must really be struggling with it.

    • Urthona

      Gyms and sports are open here in Texas. I tend to be non confrontational on Facederp, but I’ve made sure to post pictures of my kids playing soccer and me going to the gym (which I never posted before).

      My 16 year old niece from California is flying down to live here with us for the next few months. She’s a competitive volleyball player being scouted by colleges and the governor threw a wrench in her plans to play. So she’s just coming here to join one of the top teams instead.

      • IRBE

        Hate to be the bearer of bad news but college sports are kaput. Without foosball this year there is no funding for other sports if they were going to play them. I think college sports may be a harbinger for college in general and other unwindings of the `Ronanomics.

    • Viking1865

      There’s an especially big correlation when it comes to strength training. The iron doesn’t lie, and I think that lies and leftism are basically the same thing.

    • DEG

      I think your friends are on to something.

      Also note, some of the extended shutdowns were punishment for defiance. Gauleiterin Whitmer and barbers/salons in Michigan. Lebanon County, PA defying Gauleiter Wolf. There has been a good bit of defiance from gyms. Gyms in NJ, MA, VT, and NC come to mind.

  37. UnCivilServant

    News no one but me cares about – I got past the part of my short story starring the younger Kord where I’d been stuck.

    Also, I’ve got my new traps and peanut butter to step up the anti-mouse efforts. I decided to deploy a different model of trap from the ones I had because I suspect the mice are more familiar with the ones that are around. The ‘new’ models are actually the older snap traps (wood and copper with a steel spring)

    If I start catching mice, I’ll have to ramp up the efforts.

    • Ozymandias

      UCS, I don’t know why this made me laugh, except that it brought back memories from college when I lived with 3 other dudes in ROTC and we had a serious mouse infestation in our apartment walls. We had a very nice Vietnamese family as landlords who lived upstairs, but – being the assholes that we were, we turned the whole thing into a themed war, with a kill board for our “VC infiltrators.” We would draw little mice with conical hats on them on a chalkboard and X them out each time we got a “kill.” It’s fucked up, but it still cracks me up when I think about it. Happy hunting!

      • Tres Cool

        My previous office (well, office+warehouse) was this corrugated metal thing that adjoined some woods. In the fall, we’d have a mouse problem. Luckily up the road was a WalMart, and I bought a lovely crossman pellet gun. When I’d see one of the fuckers, Id don a pith helmet and stage a ‘safari’. Id have employees put on hard hats & safety glasses, and act like the bird dogs. ‘ITS UNDER THE LAB SINK! FLUSH HIM OUT!’

        Good times. Same idea.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m not good enough to hit them while they’re moving.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have snap traps, I don’t have the boardgame.

      • Gender Traitor

        I believe the snap traps will stand you in good stead.

    • Derpetologist

      427 Year Old Style Spring Mouse Trap In Action. 4 Mice in 1 Night.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvWD-E-gbkk

      from the book: A booke of engines and traps to take polcats, buzzardes, rattes, mice and all other kindes of vermine and beasts whatsoever, most profitable for all warriners, and such as delight in this kinde of sport and pastime, by Mascall 1590

    • egould310

      You should write a short story about it, from the mouse’s perspective.

      • UnCivilServant

        Is that food?
        Snap!
        Nope.

      • egould310

        That was indeed, a short story. A tragedy.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      The wooden snap traps didn’t work very well for me. I’ve had much better luck with these and the gel bait.

      • UnCivilServant

        Those completely failed to catch any mice when I tried them.

      • Ted S.

        I still think you should get a cat.

      • Ted S.

        I’m sorry you hate cats.

    • Dry_Gin_Wet_Farts

      They used to have see-saw type traps where you put the bait in the back, mouse runs in and the door shuts behind them, then toss the trap with the mouse inside. Can’t find them now, and I’ve had to go back to the old spring snap traps, which don’t seem to be made with the same quality as they used to be. It’s hard to get the latch situated where it will spring easily. The mice steal the bait and get away a lot of times.

  38. robc

    Drove down to Beaufort,SC today. Its the town next to Parris Island. On the way, saw a place named Cuckold Landing.

    • Drake

      Has to be a story there. That was never, ever a compliment.

  39. Tres Cool

    I’ve been drinking all day, so I’m little bit surly.

    They take away our freedom
    In the name of liberty
    Why can’t they all just clear off
    Why can’t they let us be
    They make us feel indebted
    For saving us from hell
    And then they put us through it
    It’s time the bastards fell

    Don’t believe them
    Don’t believe them
    Question everything you’re told
    Just take a look around you
    At the bitterness and spite
    Why can’t we take over and try to put it right

  40. egould310

    SLF! Jake Burns eats gravel for breakfast and coughs it up when “singing”. One of the best.

  41. Nephilium

    On the plus side, the first attempt at ice cream maker frozen drinks worked.

    On the negative side, I’ve learned an acquaintance of mine committed suicide last night.

    • Gender Traitor

      Oh, no! I’m so sorry! Was this the person you were concerned about a while back? I believe she (?) was in the hospital?

      • Nephilium

        No, different person. This is someone I would see once or twice a year at board gaming events and play some games with and talk beer.

        The one I was worried about before has been with her family, and is out of state for a while now.

        Fuck the lockdowns.

      • egould310

        What’s the ice cream maker cocktail recipe?

      • Nephilium

        Here’s the first I tried. Some research shows that any cocktail with a Brix of 13-15 will turn slushie quite well. I’m already thinking through other recipes to run with. I can also pre-mix them, and let them sit in the fridge. These are cocktails for you to use up well liquor with, as they’ll be at a cold enough temperature that you won’t really be able to taste them. I’m thinking Tom Collins or Mojitos next weekend.

    • DEG

      Sorry.

    • mrfamous

      Oh fuck. So sorry…

    • Threedoor

      Damn. Sorry to hear about that.

    • Derpetologist

      Horrible.

      I’ve known some guys who later committed suicide as well as people who found the bodies. I never know what to say.

      Life is a fragile and precious thing. Be thankful for it.

  42. Derpetologist

    interesting

    ***
    Almost without exception, elite marathon runners stand 5-foot-7, give or take two inches, and weigh 140 pounds, plus or minus a few pounds.
    ***

    On the other hand, Usain Bolt weighs 207.

    ***
    Sprinters have high muscular definition and good flexibility, which ensures that movements are technically efficient. Most sprinters are taller than average, but they’re not giants. A typical world-class male sprinter is 1.83m tall and 75-80kg.
    ***

  43. The Late P Brooks

    I always wondered why the US military never had a helicopter with stacked counter-rotating rotors. The Soviets figured that out.

    There was a US military fire-fighting helicopter with 2 synchronized meshed rotors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaman_HH-43_Huskie

    One of those Kamans (or a derivative) went over my house one morning, several years ago. It sounded so weird I had to jump up and run outside to see what the Hell was out there. Those rotors do something special to the air.

    • Threedoor

      That was intense.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    I make mouse traps with a counterweighted “trap door” set over a bucket of water. When the mouse passes the pivot point on the way to the bait, it dumps him in the water. Mice are not powerful swimmers. Sometimes you can hear them splashing around, but not for very long.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    Took the 914 to town to put some gs in it and get some beer. First time I’d been back down for a few days. All the good little POWs are wearing their masks.

    Society is saved!

    • Derpetologist

      The Army’s Code of Conduct was a reaction to the perceived poor behavior of POWs in Korea. That is, collaboration, no successful escapes, etc.

      ***

      Article I:

      I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.[5]

      Article II:

      I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.[5]

      Article III:

      If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.[5]

      Article IV:

      If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.[5]

      Article V:

      When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.[5]

      Article VI:

      I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.[5]
      ***

      Many POWs tried to follow the code in Vietnam, but few succeeded. The communists never gave a rat’s ass about the Geneva Conventions. Torture was routine and universal.

      Ditto in Desert Storm. I distinctly remember seeing on TV as a wee lad a US pilot with 2 black eyes and a fat lip denouncing the war against the peaceful people of Iraq.

      see 1:20 mark on this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90JTxct_XHs

    • IRBE

      Why quit what you love ? That is really some “hold on loosely and givin’ the kids space to breathe” shit there … Maybe that is what makes them heroes. Who really know?

  46. Evan from Evansville

    Holy. Shit. This is the scariest COVID fuckery that I have seen.

    ‘Kentucky Couple Put On HOUSE ARREST For Catching COVID, Given Ankle Bracelets By Cops’

    I can’t watch right now, so perhaps this is addressed in the vid. I’ll check later. A few questions bother me:

    Were they arrested?
    If so, with what?
    What was the crime? Being sick? Assault? Endangering others?
    Did they have a trial? Legal representation?
    **If so, seems like the jury convicted.**
    Who was the judge?
    How did sentencing get decided?
    How long is the sentence?

    I’m assuming that none of these things happened in a legal setting. It strongly seems that they tested positive and the cops went batshit and just decided to lock them at home. There is absolutely no way for that to be Constitutional or legal in any sort of way.

    That is absolutely terrifying. And people will probably be fine with it. “They were sick, so for the better good we had to lock them up!” Well, get ready for it to happen to others unless this is FIERCELY fought, the ‘ruling’ changed, and I would want the cops to be arrested and be arrested for kidnapping and abuse of power. Crazy, fearful, highly illegal panic, and abuse of individuals. that is in no way justified.

    If the vid addresses these questions, I’ll reconsider my reaction. I doubt my worries will be properly explained.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm37h9J5Hs8&fbclid=IwAR37qf8sw3jxDYH83vwMpqM6PG0KHBdctWgbacpM8i5XcsobZk6P7pq5X_I

    • Derpetologist

      My half-assed theory – in the days of yore, when deaths from infectious disease were common, people took a more cavalier attitude toward it. Today, most people in the US have no experience with it and don’t know how to cope.

      “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”
      ― H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature

  47. kinnath

    Just heard my cousin and her husband have been hospitalized with COVID-19.

    • Gender Traitor

      Yikes! I’m sorry to hear that. If you don’t mind my asking, do either or both have any comorbidities that make it especially dangerous for them?

      • kinnath

        No idea.

        We had a family reunion scheduled for 10 days from now. I have seen her in a couple of decades probably.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    That is absolutely terrifying. And people will probably be fine with it. “They were sick, so for the better good we had to lock them up!”

    This is just like that time the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor, and Americans rose up in unison and begged President Roosevelt to surrender quickly and unconditionally, so not a single additional drop of American blood would be shed.

    • Derpetologist

      Another case of mass hysteria

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Gasser_of_Mattoon

      ***
      The Mad Gasser of Mattoon (also known as the “Anesthetic Prowler,” Friz, the “Phantom Anesthetist,” or simply the “Mad Gasser”)[1] was the name given to the person or people believed to be responsible for a series of apparent gas attacks that occurred in Mattoon, Illinois, during the mid-1940s. More than two dozen separate cases of gassings were reported to police over the span of two weeks, in addition to many more reported sightings of the suspected assailant. The gasser’s supposed victims reported smelling strange odors in their homes which were soon followed by symptoms such as paralysis of the legs, coughing, nausea and vomiting. No one died or had serious medical consequences.

      Police remained skeptical of the accounts throughout the entire incident.[2]:235 No physical evidence was ever found,[3]:175 and many reported gassings had simple explanations, such as spilled nail polish or odors emanating from animals or local factories.[2]:237 Victims made quick recoveries from their symptoms and suffered no long-term effects.[3]:175 Nevertheless, local newspapers ran alarmist articles about the reported attacks and treated the accounts as fact.[2]:234

      The attacks are widely considered to be simply a case of mass hysteria.[2][3] However, others maintain that the Mad Gasser actually existed, or that the perceived attacks have another explanation, such as industrial pollution.
      ***

      But something like that could *never* happen again in our more enlightened era…

  49. The Late P Brooks

    But something like that could *never* happen again in our more enlightened era…

    Remember in those old movies when some guy would wander in, look around at a room filled with wild-eyed panic-stricken people and say, “Calm down. There has to be a perfectly reasonable explanation.”?

    Of course, then there was JAWS…