Inglourious Snarkers

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Roller skating was my thing. Well, technically I was into roller blading. I used to go all over town using them. I would spend close to 3 hours a day just out there practicing. I had ambitions to join the roller hockey team at school but never made it that far. The hockey part confounded me.
 
The Warrior said:
I had the old school skates, with the steel wheels.
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You and me both, Dubs. That is, until I turned one half of a pair of strap-on, steel-wheeled roller skates into a skateboard by nailing them into a roughly skateboard shaped (in my eyes, anyway) piece of plywood, then bending the nails over and clinching them down. State of the art. Then got the idea to get a friend to tow me on his bike, so I rigged up some clothesline and a 1" dowel I nicked from my dad's "shop" and got towed maybe a couple hundred yards before the inevitable - I mean, how fast can you go on a jerry-rigged, steel-wheeled, homemade contraption - and I hit the pavement as I speed-wobbled out of control at maybe 15 mph. Tore the knees out of a fairly new pair of jeans, and my mom was so pissed off that she made me wear them for the rest of the year, IIRC. Didn't really care that I was bleeding a little, just pissed that I ruined some new jeans. Wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last where I heard those words: "What on earth were you thinking?" I was probably thinking about the fun part without doing all the engineering and testing; who the hell knows what their thinking process is when they're 10! Though I think it's sad that my own kids (as well as millions of others) won't ever experience that sort of freedom to experiment and learn about life and what works and what doesn't.
 
Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas morning and all is right with the world! At least my little corner of it.:)
I'm going to get the coffee started. Who wants a cup?
 
Merry Christmas... coffee time. Hey, look! There's something under the tree for me!
Ah.... Just coal again. I have quite the collection now.
 
Hey Jerry, just put that coal between two BK9s and squeeze real hard. You'll have diamonds in no time! Beckers are awesome force multipliers!!!:D
 
granitestateofmind said:
You and me both, Dubs. That is, until I turned one half of a pair of strap-on, steel-wheeled roller skates into a skateboard by nailing them into a roughly skateboard shaped (in my eyes, anyway) piece of plywood, then bending the nails over and clinching them down. State of the art. Then got the idea to get a friend to tow me on his bike, so I rigged up some clothesline and a 1" dowel I nicked from my dad's "shop" and got towed maybe a couple hundred yards before the inevitable - I mean, how fast can you go on a jerry-rigged, steel-wheeled, homemade contraption - and I hit the pavement as I speed-wobbled out of control at maybe 15 mph. Tore the knees out of a fairly new pair of jeans, and my mom was so pissed off that she made me wear them for the rest of the year, IIRC. Didn't really care that I was bleeding a little, just pissed that I ruined some new jeans. Wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last where I heard those words: "What on earth were you thinking?" I was probably thinking about the fun part without doing all the engineering and testing; who the hell knows what their thinking process is when they're 10! Though I think it's sad that my own kids (as well as millions of others) won't ever experience that sort of freedom to experiment and learn about life and what works and what doesn't.
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Haha, I was gonna tell a story that happened to me too, but I got lazy. My best friend was the wheelie king. He could literally ride a wheelie for as long as he wanted to, around corners, everything. I was on my skates, and he asked me if I wanted to get pulled behind his bike. Of course I accepted. He was whizzing down the road, with me in tow, and decided to ride a wheelie while pulling me. Needless to say, it was hard for him to do, and when his front wheel came down, he about lost it, and my balls bounced of his slick tire, haha. Remember the old stingray bikes? It left a skid mark on the road. We were laughing hard about it, by I can tell you, that later it wasn't so funny. :o
 
Here's some pics from my fossil hunt on Monday. Haven't taken pics of everything, but here's a couple.

Squalicorax. Has been extinct for a looong time. Teeth are somewhat similar in morphology to those of modern day Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) but both species aren't even related. The animals probably had similar feeding patterns, leeding to similar adaptations in their teeth. This was my best find of the day. After 6+ years of visiting the quarry (maybe up to 5 times per year, sometimes more, sometimes less) this is only my third tooth of this species. It's the largest one I've found too.
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First find of the day. Pseudocorax. Related to the above species, but overall somewhat smaller and a lot more common at this site. I think I've got around twenty of these.
Took the picture right after I hammered it out of the quarry wall.
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Carcharias, some kind of early Sand Tiger shark. Also quite common at the site. Took this picture while it was still embedded in the limestone of the quarry wall. Cool to see that it rest exactly on the contact zone of two layers (in what we call a basal gravel). I pried this one out with my BK14. The chisel and hammer would've been a bit too brutal for this one.
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I found 2 or 3 other teeth at the site and took plenty of that basal gravel home to look through for some smaller teeth. Was a good day since teeth in that quarry are thin and far in between :thumbup:
 
Merry Christmas everyone!

daizee said:
GSOM: working "on the internet" and also in midtown manhattan for years has made me pathologically allergic to marketing.
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I understand. Just going about your daily business can make one pretty sick of it.

It's something I'm having to learn to embrace, though. Choosing not to over-hype can be pretty effective hype, in its own way. That's my theory anyway...

I never learned to rollerskate or skateboard or pogo stick... I'm just not that coordinated. I can ride a bike, or walk and chew gum at the same time - that's about it :D
 
Good morning all and Merry Christmas as well! Hope everyone got what they wanted, that they got to see family and friends, and good food was had, etc...
 
DJG097 said:
I got a unicycle for Christmas.



So far I can ride a car lenght before falling.
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That's awesome DJ. I always thought those where cool but there no way in the world I have the balance to master one. Id like to see video of it when you do! :thumbup:

For the rest of you guys/gals. I hope EVERYONE has a great Christmas. Be safe, Be Merry, and all of that crap.:rolleyes: it will all be over soon.;)
 
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