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Saw someone zipping along on the freeway, weaving in and out of lanes, towing a camper and even for a relative camper newb like myself, it was NOT a good setup.

 

Tow vehicle was an older Ram 1500, no idea on the brand / model of camper, only that it looked to be about 25-30ft long, dual axle, and was not a fifth-wheel. The rear of the camper, it looked like the tail lights were staring right at me when I had the misfortune to be behind the guy. You could SEE the down-angle towards the tongue, the rear axle visibly had more clearance than the front axle on the camper. I could see the squat on the truck as well. The back end of the camper was frequently wiggling back-and-forth (and no, not after the guy was passed by anything, keep reading,) enough I was waiting to see him lose control.

To top it all off, I was doing the speed limit (70MPH,) and he PASSED me. I was not kidding about him weaving through traffic, he was hopping back and forth between lanes to pass other traffic.

 

I was so glad to get off the freeway while this guy went on his merry way...

Sorry, no photos as I was alone in the car and was not going to mess around trying to get a photo with my phone...

Really, the title is the question. Wife and I are closing in on retirement and she's fine being nude, I prefer being nude. So for me, someplace we could retire to and be nude would be, I feel, truly wonderful.

Now, no, I've not yet brought this up with the wife, the idea, and we've got still quite a few years before retirement (barely more than 10yrs, ideally less than 10) so there's time for her and I to discuss this.

 

So as the title asked, are there any "year-round" nudist communities, ones where someone could buy / lease a house / condo and live and be nude? We'd look local, but our current state of residence (Michigan) gets rather cold from about Sept to April / May, we actually had snow this year in April (didn't stick,) so it's not really an option to retire to a nudist community.

Going to head to our local resort in an hour or two for the first time this year. It's hot, it's humid, there's heat warnings up for the entire lower half of the state (including the resort,) and I've not even TRIED to get sun exposure yet this year.

Going to slather on the sunscreen, set up a lounger in the shade, keep a cooler with a couple Cokes and a LOT of water and some snacks, open the book I'm reading, and take it easy.

Going to hop in the pool every so often, as well, if it's not open when I get there, then when I get in the pool I'm opening the big umbrella they've got at one corner so I can relax in the water, in the shade.

 

Here's hoping with all this prep work, I don't end up looking like a lobster dinner!

It's been quite a while since the wife and I went to CTI and we're trying to get the funds together to go again in the near future. We've been out to the Isle and really enjoyed it, but one of the things I'd like to do is go swimming.

I know there's several things to be conscious of and careful of, such as:

• Sea urchins

• If one goes to the ocean side of the Isle, the surf would LOVE to use the Isle like a cheese-grater on ones soft, fleshy person

• You're your own lifeguard out there

 

So has anyone actually done this? Has anyone hauled out a set of fins, mask, and snorkel to do some nude snorkeling on the ocean side of the Isle? And, if so, is there any better way into the water than the rather rocky and rough bit of shallows on the bar-end of the Isle?

Considering all the memes about how long-lived the B-52 Stratofortress has been (like the Star Trek Enterprise coming across a B-52 starship) I tried to create a B-52 in Battletech using Megamek Lab.

The first problem is one of scale. The B-52Hs max take off weight is, according to the Air Force, 488000 pounds which works out to 244 tons. Which means it ends up being in the drop ship weight range. Now, armament for the vessel would be different, first, Battletech seems to have done away with bombs for aerospace and cruise missiles (at least in Megamek Lab) couldn't be added to the dropship.

 

So, if you were building a B-52 in Battletech, how would you go about it?

I've got a rifle for which the manufacturer recommends when firing, that one have ear plugs under ear muffs. Now, normally I've been putting in foam ear plugs and then tossing electronic muffs over that and it's fine.

But, I'm lazy, plus I've got a set of electronic ear protection (genuine firearms ear protection with foam tips, not a set of audio earbuds pretending to be ear protection) that I use for firing other firearms. What sort of issues could I run into putting the electronic buds under electronic muffs?

Feedback, seeing as both have microphones? Although feedback is usually a microphone picking up from the speakers it's going to, so I'd think this wouldn't happen, plus, if I'm smart, turning OFF the microphone on the muffs.

Just going to be uncomfortable because the buds stick out further than foam protection?

Something I'm not thinking of?

 

Or, is this not a bad idea as I'd be able to take the muffs off and still be protected on the range?

I've got a bunch of rolling stock I've bought recently still with rapido-style couplers. My locos are all micro-trains / Kadee couplers, so I've got make some interface cars. I know the "easy" solution is buy a pack or two or three of trucks with the couplers already and for some of the stock, I'm going to have to, they've got the old "pizza cutter" wheelsets.

But it's been a long time since I last saw how to swap out a rapido for a micro-trains coupler. Am I correct in presuming I can just remove the rapido coupler from the coupler box, then assemble and slip into the same box, a micro-trains coupler? I seem to recall that's one option, at least for truck-mounted couplers (being mindful of shank length)

Had this thought while sitting on the St Clair River watching a couple freighters going by yesterday, if someone does the arm pump thing, like kids (OK, and some adults) do for trucks on the road, would a boat blow the horn?

Now, being an adult myself (mostly) I figure the answer is pretty much going to be "no," for several reasons:

• HOW many Federal regulations would they likely violate doing this?

• If there's another ship coming the other way, blowing the horn MEANS things (ie, two short blasts = passing to starboard)

• Would they even see the poor person on the shore frantically pumping their arm in hopes of a horn blast?

• Related to the above, they need to keep an eye on Jimmy-Joe-Bob in his little rowboat with a 60hp Evinrude on the back with his fishing lines in the water who doesn't seem to notice the giant freighter bearing down on him and is just casually letting himself drift along with the current

 

All that being said, one of the gentlemen at the table next to me did say the ships will a lot of times respond to such arm pumps when they're passing the Blue Water Bridge(s), a "Captains' Salute" he called it.

So I'm 99% certain my newest acquisition (2026 KATO TGV Sud-Est) is only DC, but I want to be sure before going up to my local hobby shop to order DCC decoders for it.

I've got a "break-in" loop on some foamboard with a DC controller, so I can set it on there and see if it goes which, granted, will only indicate it works as most DCC decoders default to dual-mode.

I'm still relatively new to DCC, so my next step has me slightly concerned I might damage the locomotive, namely putting it on my programming track and trying to read the decoder. Is there a chance this could damage the locomotive if it's ONLY DC? Or am I worrying over nothing, it'll be fine.

 

Just want to add, my inner teen is squee'ing with delight that I've finally gotten the classic orange paint scheme.

Just turned some lights on through the app and saw this at the top of the screen.

What's the purpose of the feature? It wants us to use the camera on the phone to get a "view of the floor," then it'll get pointed at the various lights in the room to create a "spatial map" of the room.

It does talk about lights used to create wall effects, of which we have none, our lights are all various bulbs in ceiling fixtures.

I'll likely play with this feature in the coming days, to see what it does if nothing else, but if someone's already been using it and can give me the low-down sooner, it'd be appreciated.

We've got a gazebo in our back yard, about 6-8ft from the house that we want to run power to for some globe lights on a string. Last year, we ran an outdoor extension down one leg of the gazebo and across the patio (it was out of the way for foot traffic) to an outdoor outlet.

The downside to that method was, we couldn't leave it plugged in as that was the only way to turn the lights on / off and I was concerned about catching it with either the weed whip or it getting worn through and shorting out.

So this year, we're putting up lights that can be controlled remotely (they're outdoor rated) and I'm thinking about running the extension to the outlet overhead and want to know if my idea below is reasonable and sensible.

 

The idea: Put eye screws in the gazebo and through the vinyl (or whatever it is, it's not wood and not metal) siding near the outlet, running a wire of some sort (preferably plastic-coated,) between the two eye screws, then suspending the extension cord from the wire (possibly using zip ties to minimize movement), dropping it down the wall and over to the outlet.

The connection between the extension and lights would be up under the gazebo roof out of direct weather, so that should be OK. In the winter, I'd bring in the extension cord, leave the wire up and the lights in the gazebo would stay up.

 

Is this a doable, sensible idea, short of getting an electrician out to run power to the gazebo?