Smarties Bar & Grill #76

Stay safe FB.

 

I've got until Wednesday to worry about it. I'll be safe up here in this building. My dog will be up here with me in a crate in the garage and I won't be the only one here and at least one of us will be armed.

Have to be on high alert for thievery.

 

Have a good weekend everyone

 

Good and bad news. Latest update has this hurricane hitting at Tampa or parts North of Tampa. That's a hundred miles away from me up north.

The bad news is the map is showing purple. You never want to see purple.

We are still on the Eastern side of the storm which is the dirty side.

So we could still see major flooding but this thing is still several days out so who the hell knows what will happen?

I don't trust a damn thing until about the last two day forecast

 

Situations like this bring out the best in a lot of neighbors but it can also bring out the worst in a lot of scumbags.

People who say the government will not take your guns need to remember that it wasn't very long ago in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina that they went around taking guns leaving people defenseless against looters. So don't ever tell me they won't take them.

Looters might think that homes are easy pickings in times like that but they're always people around like me that are going to stay no matter what.

Nothing inside of my home is worth dying for. But what's in my home belongs to me and you're not going to get it very easy.

I'll be damned if I'll survive a major storm just to see some s*** bag think he can come along and steal my things.

Did any of y'all know that mashed potatoes make an awesome gravy to pour over Fried Chicken?

 

My hot water line blew during supper the other day. My wife stared hollering " hot water , hot water". So I turned it off at the water heater and turned the heat down to pilot. We decided to go ahead and replace the kitchen faucet while I was down there....under the sink. .....took all day but we have a brand new kitchen faucet that doesn't leak with new metal lines and shutoff valves.

 

Didn't get any work done outside other than feeding the goats.

 

I have an engineering degree and can design lasers and associated circuitry. You can fix the plumbing, raise goats and repair appliances. You'll be in a lot better shape than I will when the coming chaos arrives.

 

Cool. What types of LASERS do you design?

 

GaAs lasers mostly for use in the MILES (Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System) combat simulation training system. I hold a patent for a "Six Degree of Freedom Laser Aiming System" which utilizes a mechanical piezoelectric platform. Its obsolete now, having been replaced with a fiber-optic based system. Since MILES is a training system, it has to remain eye-safe. Simulating the range of actual weapons like HELLFIRE was a challenge using an eye-safe laser.
Since you asked... I was also involved with designing sighting systems, night vision devices, man-worn tracking systems for use in GPS-denied areas, and bunches of other fun stuff... even some work with NASA on cameras fitted to astronaut's heads so guys on the ground could monitor their hands and tell them how to do extra-vehicular repair work. Training systems were my main thing, though, mostly military.

 

Awesome! Are you in the military or do you work for a defense contractor?

How powerful can you make a GaAs LASER?

 

I was Army for a long time. Enlisted in 1970, graduated West Point in 1975, retired in the 1990's. Then went to work for big aerospace companies as a marketing guy, program manager, and more. I took two years off to be a contractor in Iraq and somehow fit in a sabbatical to teach high school Physics for two years. Had a lot of fun roaming the earth talking to US and allied soldiers of all ranks trying to find things they wish they had then going home to see if my team could build it (if you wait for public announcement of such needs, you've already lost the competition).
The only GaAs lasers I worked with were for training, so Class IIIA or safer and of low power. Combat lasers, where eye safety isn't an issue, consisted mainly of NdYAG types (found in APACHE, Kiowa Warrior, G/VLLD (known as "GLID") for use as rangefinders and for laser guided weapons. When only a rangefinder is required, as in Avenger, a CO2 laser can also be used. To be honest, I've been retired for five years and the detailed tech data is a little fuzzy. In the last years before I retired I got somewhat removed from the hands-on side of things.

 

What a cool life you've lead sir, well done. I always tell people that Saint Peter never offers you a second go, so make the most of this one.
You've certainly done that.

 

I think you arrive at the wrong conclusion and sell yourself short. You probably never HAD to fix a faucet or repair appliances. Besides, YouTube will show you just about anything.

 

If you make enough money to pay someone fairly for a job well done, that in itself is a good job.

 

I am in awe.

 

Fattie.. storm gonna hit you hard? Our flood warnings have subsided, and the river is back in the banks, but running harder than usual, the rafters down river should be able to sell some runs!

 

The hurricane about to hit Florida shares my name.
Sorry about that...

 

Are you an I an, or an E an?

We don't normally hold people guilty by association, or at least I don't.

 

The English spelling - Ian.

 

Looks like we may get a drenching Saturday morning out of the Hurricane.

We had some wicked winds, torrential rain and hail yesterday evening. Welcome to Autumn, folks. 90+ one day, 68 the next, drought then flood, don't blink!

 

I was talking pronunciation. I've heard both. Both are actually spelled the same....

 

E an.
I've never heard it pronounced I an, maybe an American thing?
Sometimes spelt Iain but still pronounced like an E.

 

There ain't no telling. They change everything about every 12 hours as to what they're predicting.

Only time will tell.

My buddies buggy, this will handle 3 ft of water, no problem. Tractor tires, but no brakes.... Lol, easy does it!

 

The power steering is basically non existent at this point too.... It's a new and incomplete build that was hastily pressed into service a bit early