Little gusts of hot air that don't deserve their own thread.

[HighlyIrregular II]

This is already mentioned in one of the random quotes on top of the homepage, but I'd just like to reiterate that in 2021 Ferrus said ❝Chad.❞ Have you ever said "Chad"? You probably aren't certain. At least we can be certain that Ferrus said it. At least we have that. You're welcome.

[HighlyIrregular II]

I just got a joke after 35 years. A random Youtube video enlightened me. Reminds me of when I recently figured out that my water gun might have caused the death of an elderly neighbor in the early 70s.

[HighlyIrregular II]

Fwayback Friday

It was called low effort back in the day but it's history, dammit!

underarm-future.jpg (36.65 KiB) Viewed 16311 times

[HighlyIrregular II]

I had a legit reason to sprint a few days ago for the first time in like...15-20 years? I honestly can't remember when I had to catch a bus badly enough to sprint. I was at the end of a parking lot and saw a ball rolling down a slight decline towards the street. I began with a jog, then at about 6 feet from the ball I sprinted to get slightly ahead of it before picking it up, all while wearing Crocs slides. The ball got away from a little kid in a young woman's car. A guy in his car was driving slowly behind me the whole time and I saw him looking at me with a big grin when I turned around with the ball.

So, now I get to go through all my theories about why he smiled so hard. Because of all the effort it took to get the ball? Because he thought I was doing it to impress the girl? Because I was able to run so fast in slides? Because I did the Sha’Carri Richardson staredown with the ball (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uV4bxGB2GvE)? Some combination of those things and my age or how I look? I'll never know unless I see that he posted a dash cam video of me with a comment or he says something when he sees me around. I wouldn't recognize him.

[HighlyIrregular II]

I found someone's driver's license, debit card, and insurance cards walking home today. I found the non-emergency police number online and they recommended that I call the person, but there was no phone number. They asked for their name and address, and mine, and the police came to me. Almost. The officer didn't make the right turn to get to my building. I saw him make a U-turn, so I went into the street and waved. Not sure if he saw me but he eventually came back. I handed the stuff to him and he asked my name and where I found it just like on the phone. It went smoothly enough but I took a drink and my wallet and stuff before I went down just in case I was going to be arrested or taken in for questioning. I hope I'm not contacted to be thanked. I'm not into social stuff like that.

Now, if her money fell out too and someone took it, that would be a problem for me. Or if her wallet was stolen and they dumped the cards. But there was no wallet. I'm thinking the cards fell out when she went for her bus pass.

[HighlyIrregular]

Got out of bed dizzy and tired at 2 PM (not late considering when I went to bed and fell asleep. Wasn't especially hot but I turned on my living room AC. I figured it was just my sleeping position, but then I remembered the wax in my ears so I used an ear wax pick. Got back to bed and didn't get up until 7 PM. back to normal now.

I also decided, based on what I read about Post Raisin Bran having the better raisins and Kellogg's Raisin Bran having the better flakes, that I'd like to audition for Master Chef by combining Post's raisins with Kellogg's flakes. I'm going to research the audition process. I may be able to send in a video.

[HighlyIrregular]

There are trails near me that I want to walk, but they're near old uranium mines, so I bought a Geiger counter. It got me thinking of what forum members, past and present, are most likely to own a Geiger counter. The Catoptric made the list and that made me feel this is a worthy thread. In no particular order:

Sista/brothermatic (I may botch some names), because Sista was a teacher and knew nerdy stuff and she and her brother were outdoorsy types. If either owns one, I'm right.

The veteran from the northeast. Latch? Because he was a veteran and had fighting sticks and he strikes me as more likely that average to have a Geiger Counter.

Sinny. UFO believer and tough girl. She wants to be ready for SHTF scenarios.

Catoptric. Deeply into niche, conspiracy-like topics. No way he hasn't thought about prepping and a worst case nuclear/terrorism aftermath.

Am I missing someone? I'm trying to think of who was into gadgets. The guy that Ptah made mod for a while was into cameras (Hepatitus?) but that's not enough.

Anyway, ChatGPT says "uranium ore emits alpha strongly...to detect alpha, you’d need a “pancake” GM tube with a thin mica window (like on some Ludlum handhelds)." I didn't get an expensive Geiger counter that has that but what I got should work well enough for my purposes. ChatGPT said:

Practical answer

For hobby exploration of old uranium mine areas, the GQ GMC-800 is good enough — it will clearly show higher counts when you’re in a contaminated zone.

If you want to distinguish alpha, beta, and gamma separately, or do serious health-physics work, you’d need a pancake GM probe (like Ludlum 44-9) on a professional meter.