That was more than I got. It’s part of the reason that the state I practiced in required 2 years as an EMT B before you could go to school to become a medic. At least you knew what you were in for before they spent the time on you.

Got news for you, medics and cops ain’t trained for dealing with dead people. The cops I worked around as a medic were some of the most squeamish people at messy scenes.

Nor are you trained to climb up out of a drainage ditch and explain to a Mother that her 13 year old son is dead down there, pinned under a 4-wheeler, and not me or god can fix it. (A tee shirt I got) Or a family about why their son and brother is hanging 30 feet up in the air by a rope. (Another tee shirt I got)

I got a closet with maybe a tiny bit more of my share of tee shirts. But I sure as hell wasn’t trained for any of them.

Does FreeDoom count? It’s as close to the original as I can get anymore.

At the most basic level, it’s still purity testing.

Lemmy is majority socialist and not communist. So as most liberals are, they are destined to hate on each other because neither side can pass the ‘purity tests’ each side cooks up.

Y’all deserve each other most of the time.

You probably don’t want to eat horse meat these days due to the drugs that are often given to horses, (mostly wormers). They tend to not flush out of the horses system no matter how long you wait.

Why is it that the Dutch press operators that Caxton hired to run his printing presses, seldom catch any blame for the spelling changes they made to English? The one I always remember is Ghost. Those Dutch press operators decided that Gost should look more like the the Dutch word Gheest. So Ghost got it’s “h”. As did ghoul because you wouldn’t that to be too different…And other words got the same treatments. Thankfully many of the changes didn’t stick but enough have.

If only the printing press hadn’t been introduced to English until after the Great Vowel Shift was over, spelling and spoken would be much closer aligned.

Yep. I was 6’4" by the time I was a junior in school and I had a large physical advantage is sports. But size isn’t the only advantage either. Skills and co-ordination with team members matter more.

I used to be. And it’s been a longass time since I was. But I have raised 4 kids AND I have taught math in a school. Kids, and all humans for that matter are competitive. From skipping rope, to running, to racing lawnmowers, to bake offs, and gardening. Humans have an incredibly wide streak of competition.

The kids WILL turn everything into a competition no matter what you think you are doing to prevent that. Humans are naturally competitive. Like it or not.

Yeah, that will work out well. I cannot think of a sport that is played in school that would fair to the girls if all sports were mixed teams. By the time kids are 13-14 years old, the boys are starting to get to be bigger, taller, faster, and stronger. And the disparity only gets worse as they age.

And one of the driving tenants of sports IS to teach competitiveness.

Do you really want someone like the magahats having control over something like that?

Those are fine machines for the home shop! They should provide plenty of rigidity and accuracy for many years. And the prices aren’t bad either. My machines are now smaller, I have a basic change gear lathe, 8x12 (203x305) lathe and a 7x21 (178x530) mill. I made a conscious decision to not work on anything I couldn’t pickup and hold in one hand. ;)

I’ve been known to make a model steam engine or two at times. I’ve even designed a couple of simple steam engines from scratch. But I haven’t made one in a while. (I really should make one this winter) I’ve gotten more interested in doing more 3D printing, (I used to do a lot of design and prototyping as a toolmaker). I also occasionally make the odd part for antique farm machinery for old farmers that collect old tractors. I have repaired a lot of old bearing housings for them and even made some oddball bolts and nuts that you can’t buy anymore. And on rare occasions, people bring me a shaft that needs a keyway repaired.

That’s great! You are going to learn a lot about problem solving and how to think! What machine(s) do you have? I swapped out all the big industrial sized machines for a pair of benchtop sized lathe and mill. I decided when I retired that I wasn’t going to ever machine anything that needed a piece of metal that I couldn’t pickup and hold in my hand.

I have a few niche sites. Many of them are dying slowly because, well us denizens are dying one by one. And there is very few that will replace us. The times have changed. Few care about old steam engines anymore. And 3D printing has supplanted machining metal in home work shops. And 3D CAD has replaced the drafting board.

[https://www.modelenginemaker.com/] is an example were us old machinists design and build model steam engines just because.

Listen to the silence and breather far cleaner air with the subtle hint of the scent of pine trees. Actually see the night sky and all the stars. See wolf and deer tracks in my yard. Watch the pair of eagles nest in my trees. See a family of otters swim by in the lake and hear the call of the loons across the lake in the mornings and evenings. I can, and do, forage the forest right outside my door. I can pick berries and mushrooms in their time and seasons. Or maybe just sit and whittle a stick and drink a cup or two of nice tea.

These are all things I can do for free. How many of those things do you have?

I lived in the big city for a number of years. I figured it would cost me $10 one way or another every time I stepped out of the house at some point.

There is anonymity in a crowd. But the noise and odors are a constant intrusion. The sounds of the crowd, the traffic, and sirens is a 24/7/365 thing and it never stops. Nor is there any escape from it as long as you remain there.

My nearest neighbor lives several miles away and people don’t really bother each other here. There is nothing but trees between us. Visits are always preceded by a phone call or text.

The silence here would be painful for city dwellers.

Depends on the season. I hunt, fish, garden, and forage in the forest. Sometimes, like this morning, I sit outside and watch the leaves turn pretty colors and fall on the ground. Or I stay up late and watch the Northern Lights if it’s clear enough. Or I can watch a thunderstorm or blizzard roll across the lake. Right now I’m smoking bacon for the winter. I have the last pork belly curing to smoke Sunday and then it’s on to the pork loins for Canadian style bacon.

I don’t need to go to movies, plays, fancy restaurants, or crowds of people. Give me a good pocket knife and a stick to whittle and I can be content with life. But this isn’t for everyone. Not everyone can be comfortable enough with themselves to choose the solitude of a remote rural life. And youth almost always craves excitement over peacefulness.

Oh god, we’d be stuck with all those silent letters