Conserative Alternative to Wikipedia

I've always known that Wikipedia is pretty left-leaning. The technical articles are pretty good, without much bias that I can see, but an awful lot of the other categories are pretty biased.

Mr. Rawles over at the Survival Blog has just published an excellent article on his experiences, and has posted numerous links to other sources that have investigated this.

I highly suggest you go RTWT, and follow the links to read more.

One of the links is to Conservapedia, which I've now added to the "Link-O-Rama" sidebar here.

Thank you, Mr. Rawles, for your post, and the links!

"Bulb Auger" Planting Tool

Got an email from I place I occasionally buy tools from for a "Bulb Auger":

Goes into the chuck on your cordless drill, and augers out a hole for you to plant your bulbs or other plants into.

Kind of a neat idea, especially if you have really hard soil, like a lot of places do.

I don't know how well it works, as I've never used one, but I thought I'd pass it along as I know some of my readers are into gardening.

Learn more about it here, at JTS Machinery and Supply.

Since the above link takes you to the Bulb Auger page, and the "Home" button doesn't take you to their main website, here's the link for the main JTS Homepage.

Happy Easter!

No chocolate bunnies or egg hunts here, just remembering what Easter really means to us, and being grateful for what was given to us.

And on another note....I'm finally feeling much better, and have resumed Massive Cleanup 2016 in the Radio Room, and then on to the garage.

I have three big tubs of stuff to donate to the IT department on the Iowa, and probably a couple of more waiting to be "stacked and racked" out in the garage when I get back to that area.

I've also got half-a-dozen 500GB drives that have very little time on them I'm donating, but I have to check them for any data/files on them that I haven't got backed-up elsewhere, and then do a good scrub on them to nuke any data.

And a huge pile of stuff that's going on eBay in the next week or so, after I photograph it, write the descriptions, and get it scheduled.

I've found I get better results by having the auctions end on Sunday afternoons or early evenings, with the last few bids coming in the last 10 minutes or so of when the auctions end.

In some cases I've had the bidding on the item double or triple in the last few minutes, but that's generally only for items that are somewhat rare, and with a proven history of people paying insane prices for the item.. I had a little DAVCO DR-30 receiver that I bought for $15 at my radio club's White Elephant sale some years ago that went from $600 to almost $1400 in the last two minutes!

I had a $5 "Brown Bullet" crystal microphone that went from $20 to over $80 in the last 30 seconds, and a PK-900 packet radio TNC with the DSP option that went from $75 to $300 in the last 10 seconds, so if my items that start on Sunday haven't done anything by Wednesday or Thursday, I don't generally sweat too much over it.

This time around I don't have any items quite that interesting, so I'm not expecting anything like that to happen.

"Off Limts" Area Tour of Battleship Iowa

People keep asking me "Can I go see...." on various places on the ship, and I have to tell them no.

SO....here's a "Behind The Scenes" tour of up to the O-10 level, the engine and fire (boiler) rooms, the Main Battery Control Room, and the Combat Engagement Center.

The CEC is about 75% restored now, and will be open soon, along with getting the Com Center on the tour route, possibly this year.

Enjoy!

R.I.P. Col Avery Kay, "Father of the A-10 Warthog"

God bless you, sir, for your service, and the wonderful work you did in designing and developing this fine aircraft.

Full story here at CNN.

Finally Getting Better.....

Well, I'm pretty sure I'm on the backside of whatever it was I had. My fever is gone, I'm not coughing all night long, and the aches and pains have pretty much subsided,

I haven't been this sick since 2009 when I moved in here, so whatever it was really clobbered me.

I'm talking "stay in bed for 7 days" sick. Since last Saturday, I wasn't out of bed for more than a couple of hours at a time, and that was mostly to go to the bathroom, get something to drink, or do a quick email check.

And I was finally able to eat some soup last night, and not have it exit me within 45 minutes.

On the "plus" side of the ledger, I haven't had a cigarette since last Sunday, and haven't had any cravings for one, either.

I guess when you're sick enough to need 18 hours of sleep a day, your body isn't thinking of getting a nicotine fix!

Helluva way to finally stop smoking, but I guess I'll take it.......

On-Line Index of Shortwave Radio Broadcasters

Stumbled across this, and thought some of you might find it interesting.

I doubt if you'll hear "The Chair Is Against The Wall", but you might hear some interesting news and/or music!

B-29 "DOC" First Engine Start and Test

I'm one of "Doc's Friend's", and I donate to Doc, along with donating to help keep "Fifi" flying for the CAF.

Just got this in an email, and somehow I missed the live event.

I'm still feeling pretty wiped out, but this brought a smile to me.

Believe me, if I wasn't helping on the Iowa, I'd be volunteering right alongside these guys!



Watch it in full screen 1080 for maximum effect.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Feeling *slightly* better. Not coughing as much, but still feel like a truck hit me....

From a friend:

Blech.....Still Sick

Go read the other people.

Especially go read the "Hope and Change" cartoon for the day

There's Somethin' Going Around....

And I've got it.

Kinda felt "off" the last couple of days, and last night was miserable.

Had this cough that would start right about the time I was falling asleep, so I didn't get much uninterrupted sleep last night.

Didn't climb out of the rack until about 1500 today.

On a brighter side, the Radio Room is about 75% cleaned up, and the garage is getting close to 20% finished.

I have two huge Tupperware tubs of stuff to donate to the Iowa, one of which came from the Radio Room.

Mostly more computer stuff, as the Radio Room also does double-duty here as the Server Room for my media server, and it's also the networking center where all the cables to/from the Verizon FiOS Optical Network Terminal pass through. So, I had several spare 10/100/1000 network switches that I'm not using, FOUR KVM switches to donate, half a dozen brand new 160/250/320 GB hard disks, half a dozen EIDE and SATA CD/DVD burners, and other assorted bits and pieces, all new-in-box.

And I have at least one more (probably two) Tubs 'O Stuff still out in the garage.

I was able to get one set of the plastic shelves emptied, and now one of my big rolling toolboxes is back against the wall, freeing up about three feet of "horizontal" space by the workbench that runs along the entire back wall of the garage.

And I'll have a big box of stuff like coax jumper cables, slightly used VHF/UHF antennas, and misc radio stuff/junque/goodies to take to the White Elephant Sale my radio club has every May to raise money for Field Day.

Off to have some soup and crackers, watch the Reunion, and Final Episode of "Mythbusters", and then hit the hay early.....