What are you thinking about today?

[abcaines]

I'm thinking about Seasonal Affective "Disorder". During winter, people get depressed and it's called a disorder. Myself, I think that it is natural to have the blahs and totally lack any kind of motivation especially when it's overcast and damp with Temps hovering at or below freezing. Right now, the sun rises around 0730 and sets at 1600 (4 pm). That's 8.5 hours of daylight. The cold damp dark clouds add to the gloom. That's why I think celebrating Christ's birth at this time of year is so apropos. It was a cold dark world that Christ came into. Some may claim that Christmas lights on and in the house are of pagan origin. So what if they are? I love seeing the houses lit up with lights. It helps alleviate the gloom of long cold nights and is an apt picture of the light of the Word coming into the world.

 

[AverageJoe]

I'm thinking about Seasonal Affective "Disorder". During winter, people get depressed and it's called a disorder. Myself, I think that it is natural to have the blahs and totally lack any kind of motivation especially when it's overcast and damp with Temps hovering at or below freezing. Right now, the sun rises around 0730 and sets at 1600 (4 pm). That's 8.5 hours of daylight. The cold damp dark clouds add to the gloom. That's why I think celebrating Christ's birth at this time of year is so apropos. It was a cold dark world that Christ came into. Some may claim that Christmas lights on and in the house are of pagan origin. So what if they are? I love seeing the houses lit up with lights. It helps alleviate the gloom of long cold nights and is an apt picture of the light of the Word coming into the world.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. It IS an actual disorder. Chemical levels in the brain are affected by the lengthening of the darkness during the season, and yes, there are some people that are just experiencing the "blahs." But, there are many who have far more than these. I, for one, have experienced severe "SAD" episodes. I have a younger brother who also is affected by these same chemical imbalances. There are ways to fight SAD without medication, and most do...but, there are also many who need the medication and other therapies to fight it. My brother had to go to FL every winter for a month or so. Now he lives there and hasn't experienced many of the symptoms since.

 

[abcaines]

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. It IS an actual disorder. Chemical levels in the brain are affected by the lengthening of the darkness during the season, and yes, there are some people that are just experiencing the "blahs." But, there are many who have far more than these. I, for one, have experienced severe "SAD" episodes. I have a younger brother who also is affected by these same chemical imbalances. There are ways to fight SAD without medication, and most do...but, there are also many who need the medication and other therapies to fight it. My brother had to go to FL every winter for a month or so. Now he lives there and hasn't experienced many of the symptoms since.

Thanks. I was just venting.

 

[aleshanee]

i am thinking i;m kinda glad i didn;t buy myself a new 3rd generation aqua-lung impulse dry snorkel a few weeks ago.... ...i have needed to replace the old 2nd generation one i have for a long time now.... but something told me to wait.. ... .. ...yesterday i found out someone who didn;t even know i was thinking about replacing my old snorkel may have bought me a new one for christmas... .... she did hear me complain about too much water leaking into mine the last time we went out diving though... and i know she saw me looking into it with a flashllight trying to see if the rubber disk at either purge was worn out...

and as a thought secondary to the first thought, i am now hoping she didn;t think i was doing that in front of her on purpose to give her a hint... it would be embarassing if i thought she was thinking that..... .but i think it would be even more embarassing to open a christmas gift from someone... and it being something i already bought for myself a couple of weeks ago... .. ....christmas is a bad time to embarass our friends and loved ones..... even by accident... i think i;ll be happy in a few days i avoided that... .

 

[The Real Holy Mole]

i have been hit by them a few times... mostly man-o-war on the waimanalo side.... . we always keep a bottle of vinegar stashed any time we are in the water... but out in the sun so it will be warm.... just in case we get stung... ..pouring warm vinegar onto a jellyfish sting is the best treatment i know of so far... ...so far i have never been stung by the infamous box jellyfish here.... but some of my friends have.... and i poured the vinegar as they grimmaced and cried.... .. it;s not a fun experience..... . ..

Ok, you know what I think of these evil little alien marine imps. This doesnt help. :-0

 

[aleshanee]

Ok, you know what I think of these evil little alien marine imps. This doesnt help. :-0

..... but they are so eager to make your aquaintance....

 

[aleshanee]

Ok, you know what I think of these evil little alien marine imps. This doesnt help. :-0

by the way.... my dad had a smaller hawaii version of the portugese man-o-war get into his wet suit on a deep extended technical dive once.... (extra tanks and mixed gasses with helmet... but scuba rather than surface supplied air)... . it had to have happened on the surface before he went down. ....... but it didn;t make skin contact and start stinging him until he was almost at work depth.... a rapid return to the surface would have been fatal.... and even an immediate but slow return with safety stops would have meant terminating the job for that day and losing big money... ..so he just proceded on down to the site and began working - doing his best to ignore the pain and put it out of his mind.... the little stinging alien imp ended up travelling all over the inside of his wet suit..

later back at the surface when he got out of it we could see the path of stings that led all way around him and up and down his back ..stomach and chest.... we ended up using all the vinegar we brought with us on the barge that day.... he said it was actually a good thing it was not a surface supplied air dive with a communication line that day coz what he was saying the whole time he was down there would have had even the jobmasters ears bleeding..... . but yeah... he hates those little demons too.... .says they are nice to look at in an aquarium... but not what you want in a wet suit..... ...

 

[The Real Holy Mole]

by the way.... my dad had a smaller hawaii version of the portugese man-o-war get into his wet suit on a deep extended technical dive once.... (extra tanks and mixed gasses with helmet... but scuba rather than surface supplied air)... . it had to have happened on the surface before he went down. ....... but it didn;t make skin contact and start stinging him until he was almost at work depth.... a rapid return to the surface would have been fatal.... and even an immediate but slow return with safety stops would have meant terminating the job for that day and losing big money... ..so he just proceded on down to the site and began working - doing his best to ignore the pain and put it out of his mind.... the little stinging alien imp ended up travelling all over the inside of his wet suit..

later back at the surface when he got out of it we could see the path of stings that led all way around him and up and down his back ..stomach and chest.... we ended up using all the vinegar we brought with us on the barge that day.... he said it was actually a good thing it was not a surface supplied air dive with a communication line that day coz what he was saying the whole time he was down there would have had even the jobmasters ears bleeding..... . but yeah... he hates those little demons too.... .says they are nice to look at in an aquarium... but not what you want in a wet suit..... ...

That sounds like a story for "Mr Ballen". He's a former Navy Seal who tells great stories about all things mysterious but true. You should check him out on youtube.

 

[AverageJoe]

Tonight I'm thinking about a cat that my wife and I helped to nurse back to health, and whom we gave to a good home this past Sunday afternoon. Calli, a Calico cat with blue eyes, was a sweet cat, but, after having had at least ten cats in our home over the years, my wife and I didn't want another cat. We prayed we would be able to get her into a recovered status, and that the Lord would open the door for a good home. On Saturday night, a lady who was getting ready to fly home from Pennsylvania, and who had a farm here in Shelbyville, TN, said she would be willing to take the cat. She had always wanted a Calico. I'm so thankful for the providence of God, and the way things worked out for Calli! Believe it or not, I DO miss this cat!

 

[abcaines]

That sounds like a story for "Mr Ballen". He's a former Navy Seal who tells great stories about all things mysterious but true. You should check him out on youtube.

Crazy... Around here, if you're in bear country, you're smart to carry a powerful handgun such as a .357 magnum or a 10mm. The local sportmen stores sell 180 gr .357 magnum or 230 gr 10mm "bear loads". I'm not sure how effective those would be against polar bears but flare guns? What a joke.

 

[aleshanee]

That sounds like a story for "Mr Ballen". He's a former Navy Seal who tells great stories about all things mysterious but true. You should check him out on youtube.

Crazy... Around here, if you're in bear country, you're smart to carry a powerful handgun such as a .357 magnum or a 10mm. The local sportmen stores sell 180 gr .357 magnum or 230 gr 10mm "bear loads". I'm not sure how effective those would be against polar bears but flare guns? What a joke.

would a .357 magnum be enough for a bear?..... ..... i;m assuming it would be fired from a handgun...... .when we were bowhunting for elk years ago we were required to have someone with us armed with a rifle just in case we got attacked by a bear.... . and they recommended a 338 magnum rifle, or better....

i watched a few of ballens videos.... and compared to some of the things he talks about - having a jelly fish get into your wet suit is very minor...... a painful annoyance for sure, but very survivable.... ..of course there are serious dangers involved in commercial diving.. ..dangers in ship rigging and working aloft too..... but the goal in those kinds of jobs.. other than making a living...is to not end up in somebodies youtube videos.. .. like mr ballens... if your job ends up in the news or the entertainment section either one, then it means you weren;t doing it right..

 

[abcaines]

would a .357 magnum be enough for a bear?..... ..... i;m assuming it would be fired from a handgun...... .when we were bowhunting for elk years ago we were required to have someone with us armed with a rifle just in case we got attacked by a bear.... . and they recommended a 338 magnum rifle, or better....

i watched a few of ballens videos.... and compared to some of the things he talks about - having a jelly fish get into your wet suit is very minor...... a painful annoyance for sure, but very survivable.... ..of course there are serious dangers involved in commercial diving.. ..dangers in ship rigging and working aloft too..... but the goal in those kinds of jobs.. other than making a living...is to not end up in somebodies youtube videos.. .. like mr ballens... if your job ends up in the news or the entertainment section either one, then it means you weren;t doing it right..

Like I said, bear loads are sold in .357 and 10mm calibers. They're quite a bit heavier than standard rounds. A friend of mine carries his 10mm whenever he's out in the brush. But around here, you're likely to encounter black bears. Maybe a grizzly if you're deep in the wilderness.

Not that I purposely venture out into bear country very often but if I needed protection, I'd make sure to be packing bear loads for sure.

 

[aleshanee]

i saw a huge stainless steel revolver in a pelican case once at a cabelas that they said was made especially for bears.... it was a smith and wesson 500 and had an orange rubber hand grip..... the pelican case was orange too like an emergency kit.... i;m guessing it was one of those "break open in case of bears" things.... ....when i think of bears i always think of that scene in jeremiah johnson were he comes across the frozen body of hatchet jack... still clutching his hawken 50 caliber in his frozen hands..... and the note he had written before he died and pinned to himself.....

 

[abcaines]

Fire a S&W 500 revolver five times in quick succession and something will be dead. Either your target or you from the percussion.

 

[aleshanee]

Fire a S&W 500 revolver five times in quick succession and something will be dead. Either your target or you from the percussion.

i can;t even imagine it.... i have never shot a firearm of any kind... and i am pretty sure i never saw a s&w 500 at the range..... but i have seen people at the range shoot other pistols that qualified as hand cannons... it definitely rocks their world and they seem to like it..... but it always looks like they come within a hair of losing control of the gun too...... and that would be too much for me.... . ...if we ever go hunting in a place again where there is a danger of bears i think i would feel safer with a guide carrying a heavy rifle than a pistol..... i;ve seen too many shots taken with those hand cannons at the range that did not connect with the target..... and from what i have heard you don;t get many chances for follow up shots when a bear is charging at you....
.
.

and..... i looked up smith and wesson 500 bear pistol ...and this is what came up in images.....
. it;s exactly like the same pistol and case i saw at cabelas years ago..... it looked bigger when
i saw it in the store than it does in this picture but then i was standing right in front of it too....
..and i don;t remember all those other things being in the case with it.. it seems like it was just
the case and the gun - but i do remember the picture of the bear... that was what had caught
my attention first....

 

[ALAYMAN]

Thanks. I was just venting.

I know what you mean, literally. I am a fairly stable fella, in numerous ways of my life, I like to keep it all put together, but this seasonal distress disorder (I always called it cabin fever) I used to joke about makes me kind of wonder if I have a touch of it. I've said that for years that the cold dank Southern Ohio winters lasting for 4 months or more are enough to convince me that even though I thought I'd never would consider being a snowbird, as I get older it might just eventually happen.

 

[abcaines]

i can;t even imagine it.... i have never shot a firearm of any kind... and i am pretty sure i never saw a s&w 500 at the range..... but i have seen people at the range shoot other pistols that qualified as hand cannons... it definitely rocks their world and they seem to like it..... but it always looks like they come within a hair of losing control of the gun too...... and that would be too much for me.... . ...if we ever go hunting in a place again where there is a danger of bears i think i would feel safer with a guide carrying a heavy rifle than a pistol..... i;ve seen too many shots taken with those hand cannons at the range that did not connect with the target..... and from what i have heard you don;t get many chances for follow up shots when a bear is charging at you....
.
.

and..... i looked up smith and wesson 500 bear pistol ...and this is what came up in images.....
. it;s exactly like the same pistol and case i saw at cabelas years ago..... it looked bigger when
i saw it in the store than it does in this picture but then i was standing right in front of it too....
..and i don;t remember all those other things being in the case with it.. it seems like it was just
the case and the gun - but i do remember the picture of the bear... that was what had caught
my attention first....


View attachment 3704

That is a snub nose version of a .50 cal. Let that sink in... the cylinder is longer than the barrel. A .357 with a 6" barrel is nice because the added weight helps make the recoil manageable. With a .50 cal snub nose, you may as well hold a grenade in your hand. Another concern I have is, with that 500 magnum round, there's a lot of powder to be burned. The projectile would be pushed out of the muzzle while there is still powder to burn. True, if you're faced with a grizzly, you're not thinking ballistics and the recoil from this weapon is going to be the least of your concerns.

I'm with you. I'd be more comfortable with someone constantly on watch toting a 338 magnum rifle.

 

[The Real Holy Mole]

i can;t even imagine it.... i have never shot a firearm of any kind... and i am pretty sure i never saw a s&w 500 at the range..... but i have seen people at the range shoot other pistols that qualified as hand cannons... it definitely rocks their world and they seem to like it..... but it always looks like they come within a hair of losing control of the gun too...... and that would be too much for me.... . ...if we ever go hunting in a place again where there is a danger of bears i think i would feel safer with a guide carrying a heavy rifle than a pistol..... i;ve seen too many shots taken with those hand cannons at the range that did not connect with the target..... and from what i have heard you don;t get many chances for follow up shots when a bear is charging at you....
.
.

and..... i looked up smith and wesson 500 bear pistol ...and this is what came up in images.....
. it;s exactly like the same pistol and case i saw at cabelas years ago..... it looked bigger when
i saw it in the store than it does in this picture but then i was standing right in front of it too....
..and i don;t remember all those other things being in the case with it.. it seems like it was just
the case and the gun - but i do remember the picture of the bear... that was what had caught
my attention first....


View attachment 3704

The most important question is how it would do against alien jellyfish :-D

 

[aleshanee]

The most important question is how it would do against alien jellyfish :-D

i am not sure... but i think it would be kinda hard to blast something into jelly that is already jelly.... ... plus jellyfish don;t have to be alive or intact to sting you.... their tentacles can deliver a sting even when detached from the jellyfish body..... worse case scenario you would shoot a big jellyfish with one of those 500 magnums and it would just blast it into a hundred smaller pieces making it able to cover a bigger area.....