Random Thought Thread

I will openly admit, I find it a little disappointing that the "coolest" looking stuff isn't the "most effective" and/or "best". I've always thought that flanged maces and double bit battle axes were awesome. When you see a real "battle axe", it's quite the let down 😆

Other things that look cool or seem cool, but aren't great:
multi-tools (leatherman, etc.)
Matiba auto-revolver
most bullpups
Hummers
tomahawks (not great for killing and chopping wood)
new ford broncos
Thompson machine gun (semi-auto)
Drum magazines
Wood ar-15 furniture
Phillips & Rodgers Medusa Model 47
Taurus Judge
Lots of Taurus revolvers
real lawns

Things that don't look cool, but are good:
striker-fired polymer pistols
fanny packs and/or sling bags, etc.
silky saws
Toyota corolla
spyderco knives
crocs
sun hats
zip up-hoodies (better than pullover)
xeriscaping or artificial turf
 
carnifex knifeworks said:
I will openly admit, I find it a little disappointing that the "coolest" looking stuff isn't the "most effective" and/or "best". I've always thought that flanged maces and double bit battle axes were awesome. When you see a real "battle axe", it's quite the let down 😆

Other things that look cool or seem cool, but aren't great:
multi-tools (leatherman, etc.)
Matiba auto-revolver
most bullpups
Hummers
tomahawks (not great for killing and chopping wood)
new ford broncos
Thompson machine gun (semi-auto)
Drum magazines
Wood ar-15 furniture
Phillips & Rodgers Medusa Model 47
Taurus Judge
Lots of Taurus revolvers
real lawns

Things that don't look cool, but are good:
striker-fired polymer pistols
fanny packs and/or sling bags, etc.
silky saws
Toyota corolla
spyderco knives
crocs
sun hats
zip up-hoodies (better than pullover)
xeriscaping or artificial turf
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Ya had me until Crocs. Neither cool nor good.
 
bluemax_1 said:
https://albion-swords.com/product-category/special-edition-swords/conan-the-barbarian/
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There was a guy named Ethan Lee on forged in fire season 6 that made a barbarian sword. The judges said the balance and weight were "unbelievable", etc. I really wanted one until I saw the price. I think he's moved on to making suppressors now.

Edit: those albion swords seem way too heavy. I could be totally wrong, but I thought the functional weight range was under 4 pounds, unless it was a two handed sword.
 
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tinfoil hat timmy said:
As I continue my running program to develop endurance for my karate belt test in may I find that I wish I had started sooner.
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It's brutal and will make you feel like a failure if you're not used to it, but jump roping is great for cardio.

When I was running ~5 miles three times a week and weight lifting 6 times a week, I remember thinking I wanted to step up my cardio. I picked up a jump rope for the first time and said, "I'll just do like 3 to 5 minutes." Yeah, right. I didn't even come close. It blew my mind how intense it was for cardio. I stuck with it for a month and saw some significant gains.
 
carnifex knifeworks said:
It's brutal and will make you feel like a failure if you're not used to it, but jump roping is great for cardio.

When I was running ~5 miles three times a week and weight lifting 6 times a week, I remember thinking I wanted to step up my cardio. I picked up a jump rope for the first time and said, "I'll just do like 3 to 5 minutes." Yeah, right. I didn't even come close. It blew my mind how intense it was for cardio. I stuck with it for a month and saw some significant gains.
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Jump rope is one of those very skill biased exercises (i.e. the better you are at it, the more efficient you become, and the less the exertion).
 
“Living off the land” is a lot more expensive than people romanticize it to be. Especially if you have a premium knife habit. I mean sure you could do it for very little cost but chances are you won’t last very long. If your health care is limited to what you gather your expected lifespan is going to be considerably lower. Essentially, in a way, we live off the land now. Every advancement we have is from something created with resources from earth. It just took billions of people 300,000 years to do it.
 
carnifex knifeworks said:
It's brutal and will make you feel like a failure if you're not used to it, but jump roping is great for cardio.

When I was running ~5 miles three times a week and weight lifting 6 times a week, I remember thinking I wanted to step up my cardio. I picked up a jump rope for the first time and said, "I'll just do like 3 to 5 minutes." Yeah, right. I didn't even come close. It blew my mind how intense it was for cardio. I stuck with it for a month and saw some significant gains.
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Theres lots of stuff that makes me feel like a failure.

I do sprints up a hill next to where I'm staying for my cardio. I won't touch jump rope. My coordination is not smelling good
 
Mendoman said:
“Living off the land” is a lot more expensive than people romanticize it to be.
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This is the part I think most people miss. Most of us don't even have a full acre of land where I live and one of my buddies got some planters for his yard and started growing some vegetables. I did the math and it's drastically cheaper to just buy the volume he was producing. He said, "Yeah, but you're not growing it yourself" implying it's self sufficient.

I said, "How did you fertilize the soil? Did you buy the soil? If so, where did it come from? How did you water your plants? where did you get the planters? How long could you and your family live on what you produced?"

He didn't like my questions much. lol

I told him, "It's fine if you want to grow some of your own food, but be realistic about what you're doing. Don't glorify it, especially if you're talking about it like it's part of your emergency preparedness plan."

I decided to buy a freeze drier and build up stores of food by preserving leftovers or food that may be close to spoiling. It's easy to do and it stays preserved for 25 years. Not a bad shelf life. To supplement this, we buy one can of veggies and one can of fruit every time we go to the grocery store. Turns out, it doesn't take long to build up a pretty significant food supply. Water you have to be much more deliberate about.
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
Theres lots of stuff that makes me feel like a failure.

I do sprints up a hill next to where I'm staying for my cardio. I won't touch jump rope. My coordination is not smelling good
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I think the hills you are doing are good (I did mine yesterday). Especially at your bodyweight I think there is less value in the long run where your steady state output will be low. You'll probably get more bang out of intervals in the 30 seconds to 3 minutes range.
 
SpyderPhreak said:
WOW! :oops: That's impressive for a single transducer! :thumbsup: Most are 60-80 tops. I might have to look into one of these for other uses. My 120W (2 xducs) 1 gallon tank isn't always big enough.
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Yeah. I have a 10L 240w tank cleaner. Wanted one of these dunkable units, as mentioned, for cleaning veggies and fruits that aren’t feasible to scrub.

I actually got lucky finding this thing. They had a Kickstarter (Kickboost) for it, that ended last year. Haven’t seen them on the market since, but I found a seller on eBay who had one NIB.
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
Theres lots of stuff that makes me feel like a failure.

I do sprints up a hill next to where I'm staying for my cardio. I won't touch jump rope. My coordination is not smelling good
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Timmy: wearing a weight vest and ankle weights can be a big help for conditioning for martial arts. Doing deep lunges followed by kicks, squats with vertical jumps, walking stairs, jogging, etc. Full power kicks and punches with a bag or a buddy holding pads help a lot (especially with practice breathing). From my experience (and helping some mma fighters), doing explosive sprints is better than simply jogging for MA endurance.

Before testing, lots of folks tend to practice most what they like the most. Try to be honest about your weaknesses and work on those.

Best wishes for your next test. Stay hydrated!
 
carnifex knifeworks said:
This is the part I think most people miss. Most of us don't even have a full acre of land where I live and one of my buddies got some planters for his yard and started growing some vegetables. I did the math and it's drastically cheaper to just buy the volume he was producing. He said, "Yeah, but you're not growing it yourself" implying it's self sufficient.

I said, "How did you fertilize the soil? Did you buy the soil? If so, where did it come from? How did you water your plants? where did you get the planters? How long could you and your family live on what you produced?"

He didn't like my questions much. lol

I told him, "It's fine if you want to grow some of your own food, but be realistic about what you're doing. Don't glorify it, especially if you're talking about it like it's part of your emergency preparedness plan."

I decided to buy a freeze drier and build up stores of food by preserving leftovers or food that may be close to spoiling. It's easy to do and it stays preserved for 25 years. Not a bad shelf life. To supplement this, we buy one can of veggies and one can of fruit every time we go to the grocery store. Turns out, it doesn't take long to build up a pretty significant food supply. Water you have to be much more deliberate about.
Click to expand...

A lot of folks who decide to take up "homesteading" get a pretty stark reality check in the first couple of years. It's a LOT of work, even with just a single acre. You have to make a lot of sacrifices, and unless they are monetizing content (many of them do, fewer do it successfully), they can't or shouldn't quit their day jobs.

Some of those I know personally who took up that fantasy quit after a few years. It's a lot of work that modern society has made somewhat meaningless these days.

I still advocate for learning practical skills, mostly because it's fun and personally rewarding. Just be realistic about what the benefits, or lack thereof, are.
 
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