cross training the brain for fun and crafts

Bladite

Bladite

ǝɹnsıǝן ɟo uɐɯǝןʇuǝb
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so, how do you all keep your hands busy when not playing with kukris and sharking the YBB DOD? :>

major hobbies and crafts? making things? fixing things? learning new things to streeeetch those brains cells and keep the mind flexible?

me? lately i've been finding and refurbishing slide rules. some of them just need cleaning and adjusting, and some well, they become parts. it's kinda fun to just be handed some, and sometimes the flea markets or other venues. it's amazing really, these old style computation aids. some of them are amazing antiques, and some of them are just purty. the history too, is fascinating. a history that ended in the late 70s, but hardly anyone these days seems to know a lick about them, well, anyone under 45 anyway ;) it's been a good opportunity to relearn some math skills too :)

in my copious free time too i try to wood work some, do photography, read books on as many subjects as i can - references rather than fiction mostly - learn skills! some of the books are just light, and some are over the top almost (SAD survival manual), practical and useful fiber-crafting as well - everything from sheep to shawl as they say from spinning the fibers, to knitting, crocheting, felting, weaving, and so on. who knows, one of these years i may have a farm :)

and gosh, there's more... but i'll let someone else compare and contrast

bring it on! tell all

bladite
 
My primary mission, when not waiting like a giddy kid for my on order khukuris,
is parenting my 6 yr old son. I have him full time, with full custody, mom is not in his life, by her choice.

He has recently become a Tiger Scout, entry level Cub Scouting for first graders.
This is bringing back alot of old skills, or at least I had rudimentary training in, like woodworking with him on his Pinewood Derby Car this week.

Nurturing a growing relationship with a wonderful woman I met in September.

Firearms are a big hobby, as was/is the observed trials motorcycle languishing in the garage. Photography was once a passion, deflated by working as a news photographer for a yr.

I have also been enjoying learning more of the way of the smoker, BBQ smoker, that is. Cooking in general, fueled by boredom with my meager repetiore.

It is not season here in the US, but I have a great passion for following D.C. United, a major league soccer team.


Too many interests, too busy and scattered a mind.

DaddyDett
 
ooh, the scouts. when i was a lad, i had a subversive "uncle" that learned me all kinds of outdoor lore and knots and things. he noticed i was a natural for it. my brother? not so much. i've continued this bent a lot and improve when i can, as a bit of honor to "uncle", and perhaps maybe to be subversive myself someday. Borders book store usually publishes a book of knots about every 3 months under their own label for $6 - it's the best damn knot book a guy could want for the price - dad or scout. thanks to "uncle" i basically breezed through 900 badges in the space of one testing camp week. hah. that book is called "the ultimate encyclopedia of knots and ropework" byt geoffrey budworth. $6. snag it :>

and pinewood derby. aiiiee :) the secret is the precision lathed turned wheels made by nasa scientists. sssh. don't tell.

bladite
 
Well I too am a parent, 3 year old girl. Handfull. She says my khukuris are pretty though. She's so cool. She likes Joan Jett, and Dianna Ross, and the Four Seasons. She has enjoyed both of her camping trips so far too!!! So camping is a hobby.

I do lots of woodworking, usually, and my shop is certainly one of my favorite places to spend time.

I have doodled with some knife making, (not forging, just grinding and handling) and made a couple of sheaths too.

I like firearms, and hunting when I visit the family farm in Mississippi.

Lucky for me my work is slow and dull, and they have a shop I can play in during the down times!! Otherwise I wouldn't get much hobbying done.
 
If I ever get my work room straightened up I'll be reloading ammo and making knife handles.



munk
 
I grow bonsai. and orchids. and tropical plants. Lately I've been planning a "real" greenhouse to replace the shadehouse sacrificed to Wilma.

Sometimes I play video games, FPS almost exclusively.

And lately I've been diversifying my collection of bamboo species. My current favorite is Bambusa Tuldiodes 'Buddhas Belly' bamboo. It's very cool. The internodal space swells up like a big round belly once the plant matures.

I also do some artisan metal work for a sculptor nearby. Grinding, polishing, learning to weld. I've also obtained a forge that, one day, I will learn to put to proper use. But first I need an anvil that isn't laughable.

I read a lot. 6 or 8 magazines a month, some fiction, a good bit of history. when my mind slips back to the bad places I used to go I work out to exhaustion.


and thats about it, roughedge's knife in a nut shell, there ya go!

edit: I said 'knife', meant 'life' but I left it so you all could see where my mind is REALLY at! :D
 
You guys with young kids should consider establishing a second identity for them now for when they grow up and want to run away from it all.

At that age, getting a social security # needs minimum ID and virtually NO corroborating support to it for years, and then only simple contributions from, say, summer employment.

You could give it to them when they are 21 and tell them to get credit cards and driver's licenses, and then to consider what path they might take if they choose a life of crime.

A good parent tries to prepare his children for all opportunities.


justathought.
 
Kismet said:
You guys with young kids should consider establishing a second identity for them now for when they grow up and want to run away from it all.

A good parent tries to prepare his children for all opportunities.


justathought.
Click to expand...

Kismet,

Wonderful.

I thought my mother had done a wonderful job of raising us, sharing bits of wisdom like:

"If you can't remember it, don't do it, paper trail got Uncle Al arrested!"

"Sleeping with the fishes is passe, use the mulch making machine".

"Walkie Talkies are Radios. CB's are radios, wireless and cellular phones are radios. The cops can listen to radios."

"Do a job once and only once, or else you will get caught"

I do so need to call mom. I wonder when visitation is...























(joke)...
 
The Social Security numbers were assigned all my boys at birth. IT's not like when I was young and you had to apply for one.


munk
 
Reading;learning to make knives;gun's;trying to write a book (and I will dammit! :D );fooling with the idea of becoming a webmaster to make some cash....kids I pass on,I need to find a mate but my gun's been unloaded! :D
 
munk said:
The Social Security numbers were assigned all my boys at birth. IT's not like when I was young and you had to apply for one.
munk
Click to expand...

indeed. it would be far far better to teach them to protect their information, when to fight stupid admins that demand personal identifying tracking info (like colleges claim they need SS# for "id"... esp if you aren't getting aid), how to get off mailing lists, NOT to fill out any random form or quiz or thing that comes their way.

there's a guy that wrote a very simple tool that goes through amazon's wish lists, looks for information, and generates maps using google-maps based on that information. simple enough. data clustering and other mining tricks might show "interesting" statistical groupings. one just has to assume that any easy to grab information has been grabbed, and that there's a ton of consumer level databases that can be bought readily. it's a matter of just figuring out what you want to look for.

you heard of the "lexus nexus" database initiative? basically provide in one easy set of cds/dvds, information about consumers - you've seen those product warranty/information cards? name, address, products bought, income level, all that. so someone can spend a few hundred $$$, get that. then they can search for everyone (that registered) in town NNN to see who bought a new car stereo, narrow the range to stuff only over $800, and ... voila. to be sure there's far more evil stuff being accumulated. by the govt especially.

http://www.applefritter.com/bannedbooks

fun huh? so teach'em to keep a low profile on the net. don't hand out information people don't need. opt-out of mailings. http://www.donotcall.gov is your friend. http://www.junkbusters.com/ is a boon. use good passwords. hell, encrypt encrypt okay! before it's illegal.

smile at the satellites :) http://local.live.com :)

bladite
 
Gotta be some provision for home births.

They start trying to correlate deaths and births yet?

Probably not, that would take a national system.

I think Day of the Jackal had specifics about how to use that gap in the system, might have been one of the Bourne books, dunno.


I always wanted an alternative identity. Not sure why, maybe like a secret compartment--except, this for your identity, not just economic valuables.

Of course, then...one could have TWO identity crises...and some geometric progression of disassociative identities.

Wonder if you could sue yourself for harrassment?
 
One of the best things the old man could have done for me would have been to make me a 2nd identity when I was just a baby, hell maybe he did and used it himself. I sure wouldn't have put it past him.:rolleyes:
I could've really used a 2nd ID when I moved to SoCal in the early/mid '70's.
What I had paid in to SSDI by the time I was 30 something wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Guess it really doesn't matter as things turned out in a good way at the end anyway.
Sure would've been nice though.:D
 
Bladite said:
so, how do you all keep your hands busy when not playing with kukris and sharking the YBB DOD? :>

major hobbies and crafts? making things? fixing things? learning new things to streeeetch those brains cells and keep the mind flexible?

me? lately i've been finding and refurbishing slide rules. some of them just need cleaning and adjusting, and some well, they become parts. it's kinda fun to just be handed some, and sometimes the flea markets or other venues. it's amazing really, these old style computation aids. some of them are amazing antiques, and some of them are just purty. the history too, is fascinating. a history that ended in the late 70s, but hardly anyone these days seems to know a lick about them, well, anyone under 45 anyway ;) it's been a good opportunity to relearn some math skills too :)

in my copious free time too i try to wood work some, do photography, read books on as many subjects as i can - references rather than fiction mostly - learn skills! some of the books are just light, and some are over the top almost (SAD survival manual), practical and useful fiber-crafting as well - everything from sheep to shawl as they say from spinning the fibers, to knitting, crocheting, felting, weaving, and so on. who knows, one of these years i may have a farm :)

and gosh, there's more... but i'll let someone else compare and contrast

bring it on! tell all

bladite
Click to expand...

Bladite, that is cool stuff. My dad circa 1965-70 had a prized slide rule with I don't know how many scales on it. It was very large, I'm guessing at least 12", and fit into a beautiful tan leather scabbard. You would see engineers wearing these monsters hanging off their belt like a badge of honor. Man I wish I had it!

He gave me a cheap 6" one about the same time and taught me to use it, and I still have it actually, although my skills are a bit rusty. I transitioned to an HP 16C programming calculator (using RPN), which I also still have.

I know he paid a pretty penny for the one he had, but it was another casualty after he died and his second family stripped the house bare.

I have too many hobbies, but knives have quickly taken over from the minor hobby they once were to just about everything now. I still collect books, kind of specializing in turn of the century "juveniles", shoot and do some gunsmithing stuff and reload, woodwork, and also do various car projects on my Mercury. I'm working on some underbody lights right now that light up the ground when I turn off the alarm, and adding a tranny temp gauge.

Still read up on flying and try to go up occasionally, but that's a full time hobby and requires a lot of skill-sharpening on a regular basis.

Norm
 
munk said:
The Social Security numbers were assigned all my boys at birth. IT's not like when I was young and you had to apply for one.


munk
Click to expand...

That's right. It was 5 YO for a while, and then they changed it to birth. I read that as soon as the FedGov made this change several hundred thousand children dropped off as tax deductions!

Can't blame folks for trying...;)

N.
 
The old way was to find the name of a person who died as an infant within a few years of your birthdate and obtain a copy of their birth certificate from the public records of the locality where they briefly lived. The birth certificate was then used to obtain a SSN; SSN to driver's licencs, etc. etc.

Doubt it would still work today.
 
DaddyDett said:
Firearms are a big hobby, as was/is the observed trials motorcycle languishing in the garage.
Click to expand...

and of course bringing this back to brain candy :)

i forgot to comment on the trials - something i've seen done, and attempt to work on basics on my mtn bike with. i understand there are full-sized trials bicycles (not just for kids!) but they're freak expensive and/or rare to find. a trials motorcycle - ooooh. on my list of things to get someday :)

bladite
 
Let's see...

I engrave guns for a living.

I still engrave some jewelry on the side, much less though. want to do some knife projects!

We have 5 kids, doing homeschool. I am learning guitar with my 11 year old, teaching the snare drum to my 7 year old. We have a "drawing night" almost every friday night. it has replaced "movie" night, although we did watch an hour of "Henry V" last night after drawing for a while.

For phys ED, the two older boys and I take kendo twice a week at night.

I need to start some history lessons for the kids too.

I also collect Swiss rifles and militaria. Not much money for that right now though.

Hope to start a Boy Scout like group for the boys at church later this year. It will focus a lot on marksmanship though, almost like a youth shooting program, with some outdoor skills and hand crafts thrown in. All the stuff I like!

I think that is all...

Tom
 
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