The FORD Lounge

[ArdWrknTrk]

Edit: in reply to Matthew (Dorsai)

That's when passing through Max Q.

Yes, just like Space-X except there's no way to throttle back and make it a softer transition with solid propellant.

Surprised my little carbon fiber rocket survived the almost 90G's off the pad, let alone transonic.

Ahhh, days as a kid, and having your rocket fly out from under its fins! (that you were so proud of)

Yes, we've had the shop class discussion before and I'm glad to see STEM doing tangible studies.
It won't teach kids how to use their hands (and won't risk them in a painful lesson either)
But that is the world today.

[85lebaront2]

Jim, Gary, and others, picture this if you will, in the penthouse at Norview High School, a group of kids from the class of 63 built a cyclotron, the oscillator for the two Dees was an old WNOR AM radio tube, someone else had donated a big motor/generator to power the electromagnet. There was a bank of GE Pyranol capacitors to smooth out the pulses. Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO, now Dominion Virginia Power) ran a dedicated 460VAC 3 phase line to run the motor/generator. NASA Langley built us a high vacuum system. Myself and three of my Class of 64 friends were approached in the fall of 1962 about getting involved. That spring the district science fair was held at Norview, we took home Group Senior Physics, NASA Aerospace Science and a couple of other awards.

Can you imagine a bunch of 16-18 year olds being trusted with that today?

Yes, I was and still am a certified nerd!

[ArdWrknTrk]

The world is a different place, Bill.

[Gary Lewis]

No, there's no way you could SAFELY turn 16 - 18 year-olds loose with THAT today.

That beats my story, for sure.  But my buddy and I, at the same age, built a Tesla coil - in his parent's basement.  Unknown to them 'cause they didn't have a clue about science.

We got a carpet core, which was a really hard cardboard tube about 8" OD and almost 6' long.  And we wound the coil on that.  The transformer was one from a large neon light.  And the capacitors were large window panes with aluminum foil on them.

When we fired it up it took out TV in a 6 block radius - the best we could figure as many of our classmates complained the next day at school 'cause we took out their favorite show.

It would light fluorescent tubes 4 or 5' away, and we used it in a party at the fraternity we were in later in college.  Girls would walk up towards it holding a fluorescent tube and it would start glowing and their hair stood on end.  But, it took out TV all over the neighborhood there as well.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Just the fact that NASA found the resources and had the will to help a high school science project, because they were fostering another generation of nerds, is incomprehensible in this day and age.

[ArdWrknTrk]

We used to take florescent tubes out under the high tension transmission lines when I was in Framingham in seventh grade.
Stick one end in the ground and they would glow, but (I'm sure) nothing like that!

[salans7]

Random thought, but anybody else think it's pretty sad that this is all Google could come up with for today's "doodle"?

[ArdWrknTrk]

The flag should be hanging, stars to the left...
Or somehow shown at half staff.

I don't want to get political.
Gary's asked to avoid that.

But respect and decorum aren't political.

[salans7]

Very few flags are probably at half-staff today.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Only until noon on Memorial Day.

But people shouldn't even have to think about how to respect the war dead.
True Patriotism is not some fringe zealot.
It's about quiet honor and just doing the right thing.

[Rembrant]

Any seafood fans on here?

I just noticed this add on Facebook this morning. $3 a pound for fresh lobster (That's about $2 USD).

Cheaper than beef.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Most of us would have to GET to Prince Edward Island, and get live food back through USDA/CBP before we could enjoy it!  

In the beginning of colonization lobster were 'hog food', and even up into the 20th century were peasant food (like pizza or grits)

Those are some good looking bugs there, Cory!
I'm assuming it's time for the run in Nova Scotia??
How much for the whole tote?

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Those are some good looking bugs there, Cory!
I'm assuming it's time for the run in Nova Scotia??
How much for the whole tote?

Lobster season varies based on location, but some parts of NS are open now. Some areas it doesn't start until the fall. On the north shore where my parents live, lobster season is typically May and June, and they will often eat lobster almost every weekend during the season. I ate a lot of it growing up, but as an adult not so much. I like lobster, but I'm not crazy about it. I'm mostly into white fish like Haddock or Cod, but my real drug is scallops....I get weak in the knees for scallops if they're done right.

We used to get a few pounds of scallops for parties and stuff, and my old man would keep a few sizzilin' in the pan for half the evenings, and you could just graze, and grab one or two every now and then;).

[ArdWrknTrk]

I'm 100% with you on taste in seafood.
I like a good shark steak as well.

Ate way too much lobster back in the '90's, before the collapse here in long island sound.
'Bullets' couldn't go back, and we didn't have a market for them.
(For those that don't know bullets are clawless lobster. They will fight in the trap, and if one loses both claws it can't feed itself, it's also not desirable at market)

These 'canners' look like what we'd call pullet or chicken lobster.
Small, but good for a single serving.

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

These 'canners' look like what we'd call pullet or chicken lobster.
Small, but good for a single serving.

We buy them here as "Markets" or "Canners". Description below:

Lobster is sold as either canners or markets, in accordance with the size. Canners weigh between 1/2 and 3/4 pounds (250-375 g) while markets weigh over 3/4 pound (375 g)

We always bought Canners, and would eat between 4-6 each, along with maybe some cold potato salad.

My wife doesn't eat ANY seafood, and while I do like lobster, I don't like it enough to go through all the trouble of actually eating it these days;). I do eat seafood chowder on occasion, if it is known to be good and not full of fillers like potatoes...lol.

Prices are rock bottom right now though. A lot of our lobster had been going directly to China, and that market all but dried up, at least temporarily.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I didn't realize THAT small.
I don't think we could keep those.
That's like crawfish.

Chicken is 1-1 1/4 lb

There is a minimum carapace length here.(varies y2y)
And of course no keeping an egg carrying female.

Anyway, I can appreciate a lobster but don't 'want' one the way I'd like some scallop.

[FuzzFace2]

I am one of them that does not like sea food cant stand the smell and don't tell me "if it is fresh it dont smell" as that is BS.
I think it goes back when I was young me parents delivered sea food as part of their delivery service and during the summer it a non-AC van the ice would melt and smell up the truck till washed out at the end of the day.

Do you think it is so cheap because the eateries are not open because of the virus and they were still fishing as if they were open?
A few weeks ago chicken was that way down here. Because there were ready for market but no way to get them there so butchers / farmers were selling then in shopping center parking lots dirt cheap.

Most of that was because the middle man was cut out but the farmers wanted to get something other wise they would have been killed and farmers would have lost $$.
Dave ----

[ArdWrknTrk]

I think it's because-like Cory said- the Chinese aren't buying.
These aren't highly desirable lobster.
No one is going to a restaurant for one.
"Canners"... like labor intensive to strip the meat out of, and then you need to package it for sale.

Packing plants around the world (all kinds of meat) are shut down.
Just like you had chickens growing, you can't have traps in the water and not pull those strings.
What about the MountainAire plant in Siler City???

So, what do you do?
Dump them to keep some supply/demand price ratio going?
Do bring them to dock and sell them for a pittance?

After the '99 crash here,we couldn't get enough lobster to pay for fuel and licensing.
These fishermen only know one life.
Their fathers, and their grandfather's did this.
There's no coal and steel anymore.
What are they going to do?

[FuzzFace2]

The Siler City plant was in the news I think it was one of the plants workers got sick and was shut down for a bit.

I don't know what other plants might have been shut down but I think the real problem was places that would take the products shut down backing up the product line then transportation for places that could use it.
Dave ----

[Nothing Special]

Two pork processing plants near here had Covid outbreaks and shut down (a month or so ago now, I think they're both back open now).  But pig farmers were having to euthanize their pigs.  Pigs grow fast, and the processing plants can't handle anything bigger than 200 or 300 lbs (I forget the number they gave).  So if you were able to come pick up a pig you could get one for free.  (Lesley wanted to adopt one, but I nixed that idea!)