“It’s dead, Jim.” Dr. McCoy

That would have been a de-possession.

While in college, part of my job was to maintain and provide support for a couple of computer labs that were open 24/7, but only monitored 8/24. One morning, a girl told me someone spilled something into one of the keyboards. I expected a spilled coke, or maybe some coffee. What I found was much, much worse.

It’s all fun and games until it starts raining and the straps start to wick water into the interior.

This is the problem with self-segregation. As each side surrounds itself with like-minded individuals, they aren’t exposed to other points of view. So, AP’s assertion that “someone who is in close community with you, voted for Trump” is absolutely incorrect.

My father-in-law was thinking about getting one, so I took him down to the Polaris dealer for a test drive. Turns out, you are required to have a motorcycle license to drive one. He doesn’t, but I do, so I took both him and my son for a spin.

I read about them back when they were first introduced, but I didn’t dig into the technical details. My first thought when I saw the crank was it being a variation of that engine. Such naivete.

After reading the other well considered and informative responses, all you’ve got is “nope”? Or is it the case that you felt the uncontrollable urge to put in your two cents, so you did the best you could? Perhaps it is the case that you didn’t bother to read any of the other responses?

Smarter every day.

Well, dang. It didn’t occur to me that the two pistons traveling together would be firing on opposite strokes. I got all excited about the different power delivery if they were firing together.

That crank means it’s a four cylinder, but runs like a two cylinder. In other words, it fires the cylinders in pairs, the middle two, then the outside two.

A telephone? That’s fantastic! I have fiddled around with tongue movements to create an alternating sound that jumps octaves. My kids call it the UFO. I like emulating the beep the cashier’s scanner makes. One time I nearly got a loaf of free bread when the scanner didn’t read the barcode, but the cashier mistook my…

I think you are more likely to find an acorn cap if you are lost in the woods. These make a very effective (and EXTREMELY LOUD) whistle if you know how.

What’s really fun is the different ways people can whistle. I have a pretty good pucker whistle which works both exhaling and inhaling. The pucker generates a tone like a woodwind. I can whistle between my top and bottom teeth, but the range and tonal quality is different. The range is higher and it sounds more like a…

It is. Both of my kids could whistle until they got braces. Teeth straightened, braces came off, the whistle came back, but it wasn’t the same.

You, sir, deserve a star.

Perhaps you have never been through a disaster like we have. Many (most?) households here in Louisiana have a portable gas-powered generator sitting in the shed or garage. A simple machine like this which isn’t connected to the grid will be perfectly functional. These things are simple mechanical systems that have no…

So quiet?!? HAH! I’ve been through several outages that lasted over a week and there is no silence to be found. Everyone who is prepared has a small generator for powering the basics and even when yours is off, someone else has one running.

Ours was out for about two weeks too. We were fortunate to have escaped north and were able to purchase supplies before coming back. That’s when I bought my first generator and five (!) gas cans so we would could have some refrigeration, a little time with the TV, a chance to charge up the phones, and a couple of…

Beat me to it! This is exactly what I thought of when I saw the original post.