Sin Boldly Saloon

[PretzelMonger]

I came home and had to take my long pants and long-sleeve shirt off. i was way too warm ... Lake Charles, LA. Probably because it is 52 outside.

 

[Melethiel]

Going through the DATA course so I can get my learner's permit...basically, I'm getting the impression that alcohol is BAD and equivalent to drinking RAT POISON, and that people who are depressed drink a lot. Necessary and boring evil...

 

[KEPLER]

Going through the DATA course so I can get my learner's permit...basically, I'm getting the impression that alcohol is BAD and equivalent to drinking RAT POISON, and that people who are depressed drink a lot. Necessary and boring evil...

I often wonder why in Europe, where most countrries have drinking age of 16, the teen drunk driving problem is so much phenomenally lower than it is here in the US?

 

[Melethiel]

At least state of Florida lets me do it online, so I can conveniently browse the internet for 4 hours.

 

[PretzelMonger]

lucky.

 

[KagomeShuko]

Yeah, but the driver's ed (I assume that's what you mean) courses PROVIDE an actual education - well, at least mine did! I had to LEARN things. . .IMPORTANT things that I'd even use OTHER places besides Louisiana.

Stein Auf!
Bridget

 

[Melethiel]

Yeah, but the driver's ed (I assume that's what you mean) courses PROVIDE an actual education - well, at least mine did! I had to LEARN things. . .IMPORTANT things that I'd even use OTHER places besides Louisiana.

Stein Auf!
Bridget

I didn't learn anything...it was all stuff I've known since I was 10.

 

[BigNorsk]

Heh... interestingly, here in Edmonton we haven't really had ANY snow yet so it's funny that you mention Alberta storms

What sort of soil testing? (I work in the Pesticide Residues department of an analytical lab so it's kinda a professional interest...)

The Alberta Clippers are famous for their strong winds, usually the snow comes mostly at the beginning and then the wind keeps moving it around. The joke is that Montana blows and Minnesot s__ks and that is what produces the North Dakota winds.

I do a little pesticide residue testing but it's really hard to find labs that want to do much of it. Get a couple of requests each year. Usually in a drift injury situation often long after the damage.

We had a time when we pulled a lot of Glean residue tests. That was a bioassay using lentils. Glean really lasted on our high pH soils. People thought they were just going to grow small grains and so a lot of people loaded up their soils, then markets changed and guys wanted to grow susceptible crops. Got real "interesting" for a few years.

Most of the soil testing is nutrient testing. Typical is to pull 20 cores of about 5/8 inch diameter in a field to a depth to 2 feet using hydralic cylinders mounted inside pickup cab to push and pull the sampling tubes into the ground. Topsoil is separated from subsoil. Nitrate and some sulfate tests are run on the whole sample, other tests such as phosphorus and potassium and salts are just run on topsoil.

Close to half my samples come from field where we have used conductivity tests to separate the fields into production zones. Here in the prarie pothole region you can kind of think of the zones as hilltops, sidehills, and lowlands and you wouldn't be far off. There are also saline affected zones where the conductivity allows us to map where it just isn't going to pay to add fertilizer.

Then we use controllers to vary the rates of the fertilizers across the field. Most variable rate is nitrogen, sulfer is easier but not as common. Phosphorus rates pretty well follow yield so they either vary by yield goal or as I think is going to be standard in a few years, to use yield maps to figure crop removal and put back what is removed. Potassium is quite high in our soils and is seldom added.

When you say chemical residues, I assume you are refering to residues in the crop and not the soil, or do you get into the soil residues?

Fun to talk shop a bit.

Marv

 

[BigNorsk]

I didn't learn anything...it was all stuff I've known since I was 10.

Growing up in a slightly different era on a diversified farm, I can remember driving the grain truck around the field to unload the combine Dad was driving. My older brother was in school so it was my job for most of the day.

You could put the truck in first gear, climb down under the dash to kick the foot starter and it would start in gear. Couldn't work the clutch and brake. Then I would stand on the seat and pull out the hand throttle and grind around to the other side of the field. Only had to beat the combine there and he probably averaged 3 mph. I got real good at being able to stop in the right place so Dad could drive up to the truck without quitting picking up the swath and swinging around.

If I was lucky our neighbor Paul would drive up, he'd always say "You're doing a mans work you can drink like a man." and he'd dig into his ever present cooler and give me a cold beer. Usually a Schlitz. Never a dull moment around Paul.

Of course by the time I got old enough for drivers ed, I had been hauling grain for many years. An automatic transmission car isn't much of a challenge after driving truck.

A couple of years later I was big enough to run the tractor so I was usually the guy running the combine.

Anyway, that was how I learned to drive.

Marv

 

[Melethiel]

...I got a 69 on my chemistry test. Which means if I want a B in the class, I have to get an 88 on the next test...

 

[Phoebe]

The weather is beginning to act normal for mid- November now. (Or should that be seasonal- Iowa is not normal)
I was wrong. Iowa has had a tornado occur each month of the year. 2,267 tornadoes recorded from 1900 to 2002. 45 of those occurring from November through February.

 

[Flipper]

One of the coolest Christmas light display I've ever seen:

http://www.vidiLife.com/reloc.cfm?cryp=010-AD5C1633-C217-41C3-9198-7

 

[ByzantineDixie]

One of the coolest Christmas light display I've ever seen:

http://www.vidiLife.com/reloc.cfm?cryp=010-AD5C1633-C217-41C3-9198-7

BRAVO!!!

Excellent...what fun!

 

[AngelusSax]

One of the coolest Christmas light display I've ever seen:

http://www.vidiLife.com/reloc.cfm?c...217-41C3-9198-7

That was sweet! The music is "Wizards in Winter" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which I got to see in concert... Trust me, after the light show they put on, this was cute, but not nearly as amazing as it otherwise might have been for me to watch. (You just gotta see it with swirling laser-lights and flashing lights that go with each frenzied note... and smoke!)

 

[Flipper]

I go see TSO every year. They will be here on the 23rd. Awesome show!!! I highly recommend it to everyone.

 

[ByzantineDixie]

Thought of you guys when I saw this. Sorry I don't have a larger image. (I know, if my kids knew I had posted this they would be embarrassed for me! )

 

[KagomeShuko]

Rose, *giggle* I love it!

 

[Jim47]

One of the coolest Christmas light display I've ever seen:

http://www.vidiLife.com/reloc.cfm?cryp=010-AD5C1633-C217-41C3-9198-7

That was cool Flipper. I had no idea something like that was even possible.

 

[LutherNut]

That was cool Flipper. I had no idea something like that was even possible.

I wonder if that was indeed choreographed lighting or if it was a very clever (and VERY time consuming) video editing job.


Jay

 

[Phoebe]

You hook the lights up to different channels on your stereo to choreograph the lights. Who knows... maybe this was done by a former roadie. (ever seen light displays at rock concerts? same principle) They could also be in electronic engineering.
I dated a guy that had Christmas lights hooked up to his stereo that would flash at different points of the music. I rememeber the blue strand being the bass.