Thanks for the cue! Since that picture, I've been back to northern Québec without knowing that trick and stopping in campings once in a while. It would have been A LOT less expensive, especially around Lake Powell.

Next target : Blanc-Sablon trough Fermont then to Newfoundland and back. Should look a bit different!

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. -Albert Schweizer

We're #1!

Chicago Beats Out New York to Earn Top Spot on List of ‘Rattiest' Cities

By Francie Swidler • Published October 17, 2022 •

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7e5f45f8d8.png
Chicago has landed on many great lists recently. This isn't one of them.


Chicago just came in the top spot on a new ranking of major metro cities -- but this is one list the city doesn't want to infest.

Orkin Pest Control on Monday released its annual report ranking the "Top 50 Rattiest Cities," from most rodent-filled to least.

And for the 8th consecutive year, Chicago, unfortunately has been crowned at No. 1

"Each fall, mice and other rodents invade an estimated 21 million homes in the United States," Orkin says, in a press release. "They typically enter homes between October and February looking for food, water and shelter from the cold."

Earlier this month, Doug Taron, curator of biology and vice president of research and conservation at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum warned of more mice entering homes in the Chicago-area for that same reason.

"Mice really try to go inside at this time of year," Taron said. "This is when a lot of people will notice that they have a mouse problem as the weather is getting cooler. And they are they're seeking, you know, shelter. And and in some cases, people provide them inadvertently food, too. So there's a lot to it for a mouse to like indoors at this time of year."

But just because rodents want to be inside your house doesn't mean you should invite them in. According to Orkin, rodents like rats and mice pose a variety of health issues and can cause structural damage.

“Not only are mice and rats a nuisance, but they are known to spread a variety of dangerous diseases, including Salmonella and Hantavirus," said said Ben Hottel, an Orkin entomologist. "Beyond health issues, rodents can cause severe structural damage with their strong jaws and burrowing skills. They have oversized front teeth for gnawing, and teeth which are adapted for chewing a variety of items including electrical wires, water pipes and gas lines."

The ranking, according to Orkin, is based on the "number of new rodent treatments performed from Sept. 1, 2021, to Aug. 31, 2022," in metro regions for both residential and commercial treatments.

Chicago came in No. 1 on the list for the eighth time in a row, Orkin says. New York earned the No. 2 spot, and Los Angeles came in third.

Here's which cities round out the top 10 "rattiest":

1. Chicago
2. New York
3. Los Angeles
4. Washington D.C.
5. San Francisco
6. Philadelphia
7. Baltimore
8. Cleveland
9. Detroit
10. Denver

Signs to look out for, Orkin says, of rats or mice inside your home might be: rodent droppings in kitchen cabinets or under sinks, gnaw marks on wood, wires and baseboards, nests made up of shredded paper or packing material, "rub marks" of dark grease or dirt along floorboards or walls, and strange, scurrying noises along the wall or in the attic.

Sound familiar? If you live in Chicago, it might.

Ah, rats.

Why the hell are lathe chuck spiders (spacers) so damned expensive? They are a fairly simple piece of metal, sometimes with magnets to hold them in place. Single pieces go for stupid money, and the sets can cost many hundreds of dollars.

I just 3D printed one I found on Thingiverse, and it cost me about 10 cents worth of plastic, and a few minutes to set up the printer and hit start.

For those who don't know, this is a $400 chuck spider:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1f594b1926.jpg

Mine looks about the same, but it is black plastic. If I decide to get really ---- about it, I'll flycut it front and back to ensure parallelism. But probably not.

Today I ate in a Cuban restaurant established circa 1990 by a Cuban immigrant / refugee: Papi's Cuban & Caribbean Grill in Stockbridge, Ga. Was good. Likely not as good as what Mrs. Perez would make, but I try to get Cuban when I can.

Masitas de Puerco followed by Tres Leches with Cuban coffee (black because having it with desert).

DNM

You've set a very high bar here.

And, really, that's not a fair thing to do.

Mrs. Perez will always make the best pastel de la medianoche. But, that's just, like, my opinion, man.

If Papi is making good food, then three cheers to Papi.

The more chefs, the merrier.

To my dismay the Cuban Cafe in Tulsa, Oklahoma closed down a few weeks ago.
My wife was a huge fan of their Flan

-

May I present a handle (for a pizza cutter) that I made for a forum member who no longer posts

Mahogany, finished with one coat poly for durability:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0abd2e616b.jpg

Interesting.

I still use that pen, by the way, exclusively for signing contracts / purchase orders. That pen you gave me has spent at least $5 million in the time I've owned it. It lives in the center drawer of my left desk, next to the bottle of aspirin.




This past June, Steven Dierkes fell into an 11 foot deep vat of molten iron at the Caterpillar factory in Mapleton, Illinois.

And I can't help but wonder... Does a person in that situation even have time to process the sensation of pain?

Do the component elements of your body remain biology long enough before turning into physics that the signal which says "I am surrounded by molten iron at 2,000°F" has a chance to make it to the brain and be processed, before the brain itself becomes an alloying material?

And, like, what did they do with the iron afterwards?

Do you go ahead and make engine blocks with it? Do you pour it out into a crucible, let it solidify, and then bury it in lieu of a body? All 110,000 lbs of it?

It's not like they're going to do an autopsy or a pathology report on it.

"Cause of death: stopped existing in discernable physical form."


The obituary begins:Don't you think that "passed away... workplace accident" is kind of under-selling it just a tad?

Joe,

Years ago, a man committed suicide at an Armco Steel factory by diving into the furnace. They let it solidify, cut the top 1' off, and buried that. Pretty much ceremonial, as, as you have postulated, most or all of the biological parts of his being were instantaneously evaporated.

DNM

Seriously?

When it comes time to go, do it peacefully, sitting in a camp chair overlooking whatever thing you deem most beautiful, breathing pure nitrogen through a mask with an exit-valve.

Don't screw up everyone else's workday and cause them to resent you for all extra safety courses you caused them to have to sit through.

Humans are pretty close to the density of water -- molten iron is seven times as dense. It'd probably be more like falling ONTO rather than into.

And yeah, I suspect you'd survive long enough for it to hurt a whole lot. :(

--Ian

Sounds a little bit like the death room from Soylent Green

That darn cat!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...e-luggage.html

I just finished watching a documentary that effected me. It was ostensibly about a nightclub fire in Romania but unfolded into a story about political corruption and a government run hospital system that amazed me. 90% of ICU patients die there. Do recommend. It is called "Collective" after the name of the nightclub that burned. I saw it on Hulu. Give it ten minutes and see if you aren't pulled in.

The press is so corrupt in Romania that the only periodical that is looking for answers is a sports daily newspaper. The investigative repoter being followed has a good quote -

"When the press bows down to the authorities, the authorities will mistreat the citizens."
-Catalin Tolontan

Enjoy.

A small vertical "steam" engine I made on my time off:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...75ed2f77e9.jpg

Roger,

Like everything you craft, that is an absolute masterwork. I am immensely impressed.

Six People, Including 3 Children, Die in India after Their Throats Are Slit Open by Kite Strings During International Kite-Flying Festival

The incidents were reported over the weekend as festival-goers flocked outside in big numbers to fly kites on rooftops and terraces.

https://www.ibtimes.sg/six-people-including-3-children-die-india-after-their-throats-are-slit-open-by-kite-strings-68663

They apparently coat the kite strings with powdered glass to rip apart other kites in competition. I had no idea this* is somewhat common there.:bang:

*The maiming or killing of people (not the coating the strings).

Ok, this is a hell of an interesting coincidence.

On March 4th, 2001 the pilot episode of The Lone Gunmen, a spin-off of The X-Files, was broadcast. The second half of the plot involved government operatives flying a passenger airliner into the World Trade Center towers and framing international terrorists for the deed. This would cause the US government to spend money and expend military resources fighting some tin-pot dictator in response to the terrorists, benefitting the military industrial complex.

This was aired six months prior to the actual terrorist event.

https://i.imgflip.com/3v9ntg.jpg

I don't think that word means what you think it means.