Found out a few years ago that ‘Cold Days’ are actually a thing over here in the US. They close the schools in certain states when it gets down to about 5 degF (about -15 degC).

Most kids get the school bus and they don’t want the kids to show up at school with frostbite. There are obviously some states that are colder than this for prolonged periods and they do things differently.

Where I’ve lived (Detroit and Washington State), my kids have had plenty of proper snow days with the odd few cold days. I still had to go to work on all of them. 🙄

44 years old. 4 kids. 2 in college. Youngest 5. Oldest 22. Super demanding job that keeps getting busier.

Just signed as a personal guarantor for a new business (so I’m on the hook if it goes tits up). Am basically funding a new personal training and MMA gym that will be run daily by someone else with my wife and I managing the back office, finances etc. I will also train people there at the weekends (as an MMA striking coach).

In my mind, this will be fun and successful gig on the side, pay for a new motorbike and lease me a nice new car next year.

In reality I will be a stressed-out, debt-ridden nervous wreck with no time for an actual life and will be beaten senseless in sparring by stronger, fitter, faster animals 20 years my junior.

WTF am I thinking?!? 🙂

I am trying to talk my wife financial controller into letting me get one of these:

Road rage will increase your BP and any altercation could have you arrested and headed forecourt. That experience could turn you into a Total Shell of the person you were.

I have to echo the sentiments – well done geetee for showing true courage.

A couple of years ago, my dad’s neighbour banged on his door, ranting something incoherent about his wife. They lived in a block of flats and their doors were across from each other. The neighbour’s door was ajar so my dad went in for a look while the neighbour wandered around the hallway, still babbling.

My dad found the wife in the bathroom, half sat, leaning against the wall with some sheets around her neck tied up to the vertical towel rail. He immediately supported her, untied the sheet, got her into a recovery position (hard in a small bathroom) shouted for my mum to call 999 and administered CPR until the ambulance cam 10 minutes later. He couldn’t get a pulse.

The paramedics took over but soon realized she was beyond saving. She’d broken her neck when initially jumped off the bath. It’s incredible to believe how she managed it, as the towel rail was only 5ft tall. Must’ve just taken a dive.

They told him there was nothing he could’ve done, but did the right things trying. Took him a while to get over it.

This was just before his decline into the debilitating phases of stage 4 renal cancer. I watched him die a few weeks ago, which was incredibly tough knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do apart from be there for him and my mum. A great bloke who let his actions speak louder than his words. Rest in peace, dad.

So, looks like it’s all off. Basically a bait and switch on the whole thing by the board. We agreed to disagree and shook hands and they are working on an alternative plan. Oh well, such is life.

Cheers again for the input, STWers.

Thanks for all the input so far.

The tax situation is currently pending input from a specialist tax firm. Our in-house accountants are chocolate teapots when it comes to anything International.

The Fench tax law is very clear for most circumstances, yet not for my particular one. There are clear dual taxation agreements with the US and they actually have reciprocity for the social security payments too. The main quirk is that we don’t have a company as a legal entity in France. If we did, I could just be on a ‘placement’ and everything would be simple.

In general, most countries use the percentage of time spent there rule for being ‘normally resident for tax purposes’. I could possibly play the travel game and be slightly less in France, but I don’t want to risk it.

Anyhow, I’ll get that worked out. Just wondered if anyone had any experiences good or bad doing something similar.

Thanks again

Plenty of holiday. Will be effectively president of ‘rest of the world’s outside US. Have flexibility.

I got my dad a ‘birth year’ razor. If he’s remotely interested in shaving, something like a 1967 Gillette Aristocrat would be great. 1967 was the last year of production. Gillette history

Here’s an example for sale: Gillette Aristocrat

But, being super busy, he may not have time for proper wet shaving.

Do you know how they react when you’re away for a while? If not, can you setup a web cam to see?

The Secret Life of Pets[/url]

Weeksy’s post got me googling. Came across this website that kept me sane through some conference calls today.

http://www.raresportbikesforsale.com

2x Kef iQ9s
2x Kef iQ5s
1x Kef Q9C
Run by an Arcam AVR350

Bought the lot about 10 years ago and I’m still happy with it all apart from the Arcam’s lack of HDMI capability.

People’s Front of Judea.
Judean People’s Front.*

*Splitters.

Just remembered about the Greg Mandel series from Peter F Hamilton. Not post apocalyptic, more dystopian future. Really stood out for me after cycling around Rutland water and staying at a hotel there and reading his book with Greg living in the holiday homes there and having orange groves around there due to global warming.

Can’t really help the OP more than the current suggestions, but wanted to add a big +1 for the Arisen series by Michael Stephen Fuchs. Incredible value for lengthy series of books with a great story arc and good character development. D-Boys is also excellent.

While looking for more zombie/apocalyptic fiction, I stumbled across the ‘Joe Ledger’ series by Jonathan Maberry. Absolutely brilliant and worth a shot if you like the Arisen and D-Boys series.

Recently read the ‘Remaining’ series by DJ Molles. Not up the the standard of the two I just mentioned, but a decent distraction.

My father is 67 and has stage 4 renal cancer (basically spread from kidney through to lungs and also his bones).

He’s gone from a strong, fit 13.5 stone down to 9 stone of skin and bones in a year.

Chemotherapy is affecting him badly. The side effects are harsh and he can barely speak a full sentence without being out of breath. Walking 20ft does the same thing. He’s really struggling.

I live in the US and left him to fly home last week not knowing if I’ll see him again before he dies.

As I was pulling away, I wound down the car window to tell him I loved him again. At that moment, a huge flock of birds flew by and circled around. It was an amazing sight. I called to him and pointed. My last image of him was him looking up in wonder at this and marveling at nature. I think about it all the time and it’s really dusty here a lot.

#fuckcancer +1

Bottom line, if your criteria is something that won’t cost a fortune to run, I’d say look at something else.

I’ve had two of them. Leased one to see if I liked them and then bought one new in 2009 with the intention of running it as long as I can. It’s still going strong.

If you’re handy with a spanner (and can type disco3.co.uk into a web browser) you can save a lot of money in dealership labour costs. Much of the work on the suspension and running gear can be done by anyone with a trolley jack, some stands and the right tools. You will probably need to overhaul the suspension and at least one wheel bearing anywhere between 60 and 100k miles. It really varies on the car. Some people get lucky. Lots of reports of torque converters needing reconditioning at that age too. Starting to worry about mine.

Even if you can do a lot of the work yourself, owning one will still more expensive than a normal car.

For me it’s worth it (at least I kid myself it is), as it’s probably the best car I’ve ever had with respect to versatility and practicality. Cars that I’ve also liked a lot were a ’97 Mondeo Estate and a ’01 Audi AllRoad.

Lol @ Dickyboy – caught me bang to rights 🙂

I was trying to point out that not ‘all’ Americans are idiots, as is often posited, but I’ll give you that one.

It’s all a bit weird over here right now.

I’m a Republocratertarian but usually align with more Republican views. Per another thread, I am also a gun owner.

I voted for Hillary.

Everyone I know did, even many registered Republicans, apart from some really hard core Republicans who think Hillary is a criminal.

Nobody in their right mind wants Trump to represent our country on the world stage. Hillary seems to actually have the popular vote, but Trump seems to have played the game enough to get the electoral votes.

I will try and ignore the ‘Americans are idiots’ comments while myself and the many millions here that voted against him here commiserate.

Sorry, we tried.

Anything else you think people with mild depression should be prevented from doing? Operating heavy machinery? Driving a motor vehicle? Buying alcohol? Buying paracetemol? Entering tall buildings? Being allowed out in the community without a chaperone?

Since the thread is about a Gun Shop, and more broadly gun ownership I don’t really see what your point is, other than to somehow insinuate that I’m being irrational or discriminatory. Remember, a gun is tool designed to kill humans and it’s the most popular method of suicide in the states.[/quote]

Jimjam, I think Edlong was making a point about the deep-seated reasons behind why some gun owners fight against restrictions (note that I said ‘some’ – there are many that are just stupid and just want them for the sake of them). The thing that really worries them is that their fundamental freedoms are being eroded in many quarters. America is very different to the UK culturally, and I think a few posts have touched on this. It is important to understand this.

The mental health check requirement is a good example exposing the fear Americans have of ‘where will it stop?’ Like I said, many gun owners aren’t afraid of their gun rights being restricted, they are afraid of their rights in general being eroded. Who makes the decision that you are unfit, in whatever way, to do x or y? It’s one thing I hated about the UK and something I feel is unique about the US. Of course, it won’t last and is being eroded by both major political parties over here no matter what either of them pretend.

See eat_the_pudding’s post for a good summation at the end – there is a price to pay and many Americans don’t want to end up like the UK or many European countries.

As a disclaimer, I am British but also gained US Citizenship this year. I own guns and enjoy shooting them, even some competition (IDPA). I also have a concealed carry permit. I do not in any way, shape or form think my guns are going to magically save me from being attacked. I am not scared if I don’t have a gun on me. I have seen the classic Jim Jeffries gun rant and think it is both hilarious and accurate – there isn’t really an excuse for guns – ‘we just like ’em’. ‘Hang on, Mr criminal, I’m unlocking my gun safe…’ So true.

As an aside, let’s look at the armed forces a second. They have guns for the purpose of both offense and defense. Yet they lock them up when they are off duty and many active duty personnel are not allowed to carry even when working. Most gun owners don’t even realize this, especially the wannabe Rambo type.

Another aside, one of the biggest issues we have is gun theft. If people weren’t so bloody stupid and careless, hundreds of thousands of guns would not be in the hands of criminals (you know, those who do most of the shooting).

I don’t normally post unless I have something to offer and I don’t really like painting a target on myself (pun intended), but I just wanted to offer some perspective from the other side. This is a huge area of debate and there are sides to the arguments that I don’t have time to even scratch the surface of. I stayed out of the ‘American Flag/National Anthem’ thread because it made me sad/angry at a lot of the name calling and disrespect and didn’t want to be in the middle of it.

My mother-in-law is in her 70s and a proud American. She is a former special needs teacher, anti-gun, pro-Obama and worked hard her whole life to better her community. She stands to the national anthem, sometimes with a tear in her eye. I love her to bits, don’t agree with all her politics, but can’t argue that her American pride is anything but genuine, heartfelt and truly because she loves the nation. Not all Americans are idiots.

Got one a few weeks ago mainly for use at work.

– Inverted method for simplicity/flexibility at work. No taste difference.
– I use the ‘splosh’ technique:

– Get the cup I’m drinking out of.
– Use Keurig machine to fill it to the brim with water (usually set to 90 degrees).
– Splosh a bit onto the coffee from the cup just to wet it for 20 seconds.
– Wet the filter while I’m waiting (don’t have a metal one yet).
– Sploshily pour rest of water up to top of Aeropress with some going all over the place, ‘most’ of it going into the Aeropress.
– Still some water in cup. Leave it there. Put the Aropress on top of the cup.
– Let it brew for about 1.5 minutes before plunging. Seen a few videos that say 3, but I get too bored or I forget about it and it sits for 5.
– Plunge till it hisses.
– Pop the coffee out and give the Aeropress a quick rinse and wipe.

In a back-to-back test I much preferred it to the Bodum cafetiere I was using and it’s way less of a faff to clean up.

Last week I did a round trip from Seattle, Washington to Little Rock, Arkansas in under 24 hours for a 3 hour meeting. About 4000-odd miles.

Doesn’t beat Durban though, by a long shot.

On a flight from LA to Detroit, had the pleasure of sitting next to Scott Wilson (Hershel from the Walking Dead).

Wonderful guy and we talked for a few hours. He is extremely active in supporting the Screen Actor’s Guild and has been involved in many legal disputes with studios fighting cases. Warner Brothers and Netflix being interesting ones. Had plenty of other tidbits and we had a great conversation around acting in general.

He also said that Andrew Lincoln was extremely dedicated to his role and plays a huge part in being the leader behind the scenes and keeping up the family atmosphere and camaraderie on the set of the Walking Dead. Top bloke apparently.

He also gave me his ‘tip of the day’. Never put anything you care about in a plane’s seat-back pocket. Scientifically proven to be one of the most disgusting places on earth apparently.

No members of Led Zep were on the plane.

I’ve been using a Spyderco Double Stuff pocket stone for the last few years and found it very useful for maintaining a decent edge on my various blades while out and about. I keep it in my daily rucksack/laptop bag.

Spyderco Double Stuff

The pouch can be used for stropping, although doing this has worn the stitches out of it, so it’s falling apart now.

I’ve used it on various types of blade steel with good results, including a Doug Ritter RSK1 (S30V version), Chris Reeve Small Sebenza (S35VN), Leatherman Wave (420HC), Leatherman Charge (154CM) and a pry-bar Ka-Bar 🙂 (1095).

Oh, and don’t get me started on work ethic and time off. The attitude towards time off, especially by the C-suite, is absolutely terrible. I’m senior enough in my company to do my bit to change things, but it’s an uphill cultural struggle.

Makes me angry, it does… 😛

(…cont)

That’s the point that seems to be tripping up LHS. Yes, if you have healthcare, the standard is generally excellent, and there are excellent doctors who do not waste money. But…I can’t think of a single argument that can defend the current position with so many people being unable to afford decent coverage. Whether the NHS compares or not is a moot point – there is a problem here and neither of the two major political parties have a satisfactory answer.

The healthcare industry is exactly that – an industry. Looking too deeply into the inner workings of it is scary. It is ripe for abuse by opportunistic people within it and they seem to take full advantage of it. One post in this thread states a minor visit to the emergency room resulted in a barrage of tests. It was in LA, which does not surprise me in the slightest. The system practically encourages doctors to do more than necessary due to financial incentives. It’s all a bit wrong.

How do we fix it? No idea. I’m a Liberpublicrat or Republidemotarian or something. I don’t subscribe wholly to the political ideals of any single party. If, as a nation, we hold the constitution so close to our hearts, and ‘we, the people’ are close to each other, then it couldn’t be a great leap to make an amendment to promise that we will protect the lives and health of the men, women and children of this nation.

The Republicans will recoil though, as this would represent not just a step in the ‘wrong’ direction for them, but a complete devolution into irrevocable communism. I support many of the Republican ideals regarding our liberties and capitalism, and can understand the fear that our freedom will be eroded and that even baby steps in that direction could lead directly to a nanny state controlling every move you make. I also support what our Democrat party is trying to achieve with helping the disadvantaged and can understand their bewilderment at why people would be against it at all.

Let me give an example of how a Republican might see things. The NRA is fighting proposed legislation regarding restrictions on gun purchases. Some of these surround mental health. Keep guns out of the hands of nutters. Pretty sensible, right? But…what constitutes a mental health condition that would preclude someone from owning a gun? Here’s where the fear starts. Schizophrenia? Sure. Manic Depression? Sounds fair. Mild depression? Well, not sure about that. Attention deficit disorder? Erm… Saw a shrink once for work induced stress? Hang on a minute… See where it goes? Now, imagine we’re not talking about guns here, but other things such as, well, pick anything… That’s what many right wing Americans are afraid of deep down.

Like I said, I think the system is broken but I don’t have an answer so I’ll just post this on STW instead. Sorry for the length, but I don’t post much and I thought you may be interested in an ex-pat’s viewpoint.

Despite the running disagreement on facts derailing things slightly, I’d like to at least say thanks to everyone for not going down the ‘Americans are stupid’ route.

Some context: I moved from the UK to the USA eight years ago, have an American wife, kids and extended family, plus many many friends and colleagues. I have applied for US citizenship and should have my final interview in a few weeks. I love this country and the people in it. My experience of the US healthcare system consists of two operations, my wife giving birth, multiple family members with surgeries ranging from knee/shoulder/hip stuff through to cancer treatment.

The US healthcare system in general is rubbish and broken.

I am one of the lucky ones. I have excellent healthcare that that is mostly subsidized and costs me $500 per month pre-tax. My employer pays about $1,500. This covers health, dental and vision. $25 per visit copay to any type of medical office. Dental has a $1000 deductible (excess) per year. Medical is $500. Vision insurance is almost useless and gives us about $100 in value per family member per year.

My in-laws are both in their late 70s and use medicare (medicare is for old, disabled or dying people). The MIL has had multiple surgeries and even acupuncture through it. The FIL is about to have a cancerous tumor removed. Hasn’t cost them much out of pocket.

A friend of a friend ended up in an unlucky situation due to redundancy and depressed local job market. Living technically on the poverty line, with neither partner working and the wife pregnant, Medicaid (medicaid is essentially for people at or below the poverty threshold) handled it due to their dire financial situation.

I have seen two doctors this week. One is basically my GP and we talked about preventative/proactive care for someone my age. The other was a specialist discussing options for repairing one of my joints. He wrote out a matrix of problems and options and we discussed a sensible approach with surgery as the last option. Neither doctor ordered any unnecessary tests, MRIs, extra doctors or seemed to waste any resources that I saw.

All sounds great so far, right? Well, like I said, we are lucky. Right illnesses, right coverage, right ages, right amount of poverty etc.

See the graph above posted by Molgrips? Eligibility for medicaid is done on a poverty threshold based upon a purely statistical value (x% above the poverty line threshold). Stick a range in there from $15k to $25k and you have a decent range of people at or below the poverty line. Once you get above that, you then have millions (that’s millions) of people who don’t qualify for medicaid, yet can’t afford medical insurance.

That’s what much of the talk in this thread has alluded to – the cracks (sorry, gaping hole the size of the Grand Canyon) that a great many people fall into…and literally die in. If they can afford it at all after putting food on the table, the coverage they can afford is totally inadequate for anything more serious than a sprained ankle. God forbid they require long term treatment of any kind.

(cont…)

kcal – I think I would be hyper twitchy if the tractor was approaching any field gates though. Even turning left into a field they turn quite wide, and turning right – are you sure their indicators are 100% functional..?

*flashes back to lying on the road staring at the sky, barely able to breathe thinking I was paralyzed*

6 months after getting my first 125 I made the rookie mistake of overtaking a tractor on a clear day, no other traffic, wide road. The tractor turned right into a concealed field entrance with no hesitation or attempt to indicate or signal in any way. I tried to brake and avoid him, but I hit his trailer – bruised kidney and fractured vertebrae and mangled bike ensued. The impact to my kidney saved my spine from being totally smashed. Lesson learned – tread cautiously when overtaking tractors! 🙂

Northwind, I think many Americans see the two seemingly contradicting gun control questions like this:

“I want to have access to any type of firearm I like with no restriction (i.e. do not tighten gun control on the firearm type or capacity), but I am fine with having you check the FBI database and criminal records for all firearm purchases (i.e. to prevent convicted felons having legal access to firearms)”.

It’s when you get deeper into the politics, constitutional aspects and the ‘riders’ that are put on most bills that lobbyist such as the NRA throw a spanner into the works. Much of the sensible legislation that the NRA opposes is opposed for broader reasons than they actually articulate. They (NRA, conservatives etc.) are very scared of ending up like the boiling frog – slowly enveloped in a cosy warm bath of federal ‘help and assistance’ and ending up with all their civil liberties boiled away.

’90 Honda NSR125
’91 Honda CBR600
’97 Yamaha Thunderace (wanted a Fireblade, but Yamaha were doing free fully comp insurance)
’95 Honda CBR900RR Fireblade

Blade was stolen and I made the mistake of not immediately replacing it with the insurance money. Never got another bike after that and I really regret it.

Anyone with a Fireblade go to Blade Day at Silverstone in 2000? Fantastic day out. Rode round the track with Rocket Ron Haslam and shook Tadao Baba’s hand. I think my bike was on the second row for the official pictures when we lined them all up on the start/finish straight. We all got off our bikes and Baba-san stood at the front and had his picture taken. Great memories.

So Chew, your weapon of choice is a DE? (See what I did there…fatboy slim…weapon of…ok, I’ll get my coat)

Some notes from my first SE shave with a Gem Micromatic.

Sshhhh, keep quiet and listen to the shave – you need to hear it to make sense of it…

The Gem Micromatic – a double-edged sword masquerading as a single-edge razor. On the one hand, it’s impeccably simple, on the other it requires a subtlety of touch that begs, nay requires, the use of a sense not oft associated with an activity embued with anecdotes of touch and feel.

Listen to the shave. Hear the blade at work to reveal the key to SE heaven. When you feel the blade you’re pushing past the sweet spot and dallying with the threat of razor burn. Don’t feel it, hear it.

A Gem Micromatic is a compact but weighty item, reminiscent of a tugboat: unassuming power and ability to carve a steady path whatever the drag. Its large head, liquid smooth, intimidating yet elegant. Proportions and angles of its spade head echoing an inorganic HR Geiger creation.

Whatever the model, flat against the face is the technique. The feeling of no feeling is the way. Lather, skin, razor head, face – smooth and noisy.

A slow sure drag, an angle just off flat and the first plinks of the single edge doing its job can be heard. All that can be felt is the silky progress of the razor head on barely touched skin. A few more practice strokes will get to the right place – the place where the blade plinks and scrapes the hair and nothing more, the save getting closer yet the skin feeling nothing other than displacement of lather.

Second pass. Lather up. This is the addiction zone, the place where the clear timbre of whiskers being cleanly is discordant with the action taking place – how can it be working? But it is. And it is liberating.

Enjoying the thread! I use straight edge, double edge and single edge razors and thoroughly enjoy using them after the early days of cutting myself to ribbons – it’s a rite of passage. I’m not a zealot (I have an electric razor too), but love the event and ritual of proper shaving and the quality of the shave is something that people who’ve never tried to perfect it will never understand.

The Badger and Blade forum (US based) is an invaluable source of info and helped me through my early days of discovery. I was posting there one day about my experience with a Gem Micromatic Single Edge razor and it sort of turned into a half poem/rambling description of a shave. I’m in the middle of a foreign country on business and a few sherbets into the evening, so I’m brave enough to post it

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR
I’ve been sat in a car once and someone has banged their door into mine. They then proceeded to go mental at me for having the audacity to be annoyed at them.

As soon as I started reading this thread I though “Ooh, I actually have a possibly unique spin on a car denting story”, but nope, TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR pipped me to proving that the world is indeed populated by incomprehensible people.

Mrs LegalAlien, daughter and I had parked well away from the rest of the cars in a car park. We were all in the car and I started the engine, about to leave, and someone proceeded to pull up on our passenger side about a foot from our car.

The woman in the car then opened her door, banging into ours while chatting on her phone. She seemed to struggle to try to get out of the car and my wife banged on our window. The woman saw us, then got really angry that we were audacious enough to alert her to the fact that she was damaging our car! She squirmed back into her car and drove off before it really sunk in what had happened. To this day, it baffles us what on earth she was thinking.

We took the ‘life is too short’ option and just laugh about the incredulity of it rather than getting wound up.

Nemesis – thanks for posting those pics! Really brought back happy memories. Had those two specific sets myself and lost them years ago due to forced ‘donation’ to younger cousins (along with all my hard earned collection of Star Wars figures, Action Men etc… *sniff*)

+1 for The Magic Faraway Tree.

Captured my imagination for years. Still even think about it from time to time. Will be introducing it to my youngest son when he’s old enough.

Forgot to say get well soon Dr P, you pillock 😉

Mora knives are incredible value. The Scandi grind bushcraft knives are really great to use. I have two (I also own a Sebenza for context and to show I’m a bit of a knife snob). Be aware though, that they are high carbon steel and will build up a patina and/or rust depending on moisture and humidity. Plenty of folks build up a great patina with various semi-caustic concoctions of fruit, onions, vinegar etc.

I have to say, as an ex-pat of quite a few years that it’s great to see the Great British piss-taking over the injury. I once snapped my Achilles’ tendon playing rugby and was told in no uncertain terms by the ‘team medic’ (I think ‘least drunk spectator’ is a better term) to gaffer tape it up and get back on the field. Not helpful at the time, but I look back on it with a sense of fond amusement.

I did use superglue on a cut once. Was at a party, opening a bottle of wine with an inappropriate implement, and made a sizeable incision on one of my fingers. Held it shut with Bounty for a while but it was too deep and would not stop bleeding. We were all drunk and some ex-military, so it was considered a field-expedient repair to just superglue it up to allow continued drinking. I have an awkward scar and no feeling in the top of one finger as a result.

Please excuse the ramblings. I am in an airport with time to kill and a lot of nice wine at my disposal.

beanum – I feel your pain. I live in Detroit and finding proper bacon and not the streaky, thin American rubbish is a challenge.

You wouldn’t think it, but I do, however, have excellent access to HP sauce, Heinz Baked Beans and PG Tips.

Hey pondo, that’s a valid viewpoint. I did go ‘commando’ bacon butty twice. The quality of bacon and the choice of bread made a massive difference. I did appreciate the purity of the butty in this form, but the sauce adds an extra dimension.