OT: And now we return to our regularly scheduled program

[Jim Bob]

If anyone has a PS4 and has not bought Ghost of Tsushima yet- you're not living your best life.

I haven't played a console game in forever.

I have a feeling that I might want one after I am done with grad school. At that point, we may be empty nesters and my free time might have quite an up tick.

FIFA '25 baby!

 

[TehDoak]

If anyone has a PS4 and has not bought Ghost of Tsushima yet- you're not living your best life.

I've been an Xbox guy for a while, but the string of exclusives on the PS4 makes me want to pick one up at some point. Maybe once the PS5 comes out I'll grab a PS4 pro for cheap.

 

[Dubi Doo]

I haven't played a console game in forever.

I have a feeling that I might want one after I am done with grad school. At that point, we may be empty nesters and my free time might have quite an up tick.

FIFA '25 baby!

I was a pretty heavy gamer in high school. I'd rock Socom 2 an hour or two every day. As I got older, I became way more casual. I'd indulge in a game for a few weeks, then go weeks without playing one. Now that I have a 10 month old; it's much harder to find time to play games. Still, I try to play a couple hours a week at least, especially now that there are no sports on.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

To anyone in Rochester: what's the local news reporting about the Kodak Defense Production Act grant? Is it expected to benefit Rochester greatly?

 

[Buffaloed]

 

[brian_griffin]

Took a ~50' / ~15-meter long sycamore tree portion on my house & porch roofs from Isaias. [Sycamore leaves are larger than silver / sugar maples, but nearly identical in their lobes / appearance. Sycamore is a little denser (green) than maple. The bark peels as it grows, but in card-stock thick sheets, not in thin strips like a paper birch. It's seed is a golf-ball-sized hard prickly ball which isn't as painful as a sweet gum if you step on it barefoot, but it's still no fun.] The portion which split at a weak crotch is ~12" diameter and is still attached / supported on the remaining trunk still standing, else I think there would have been more damage. Crown is so leafy on the house I can't tell if the roof decking is punctured. I estimate the weight as ~1100 pounds / ~500kg. I filed an insurance claim because the safest way to remove it is with a bucket truck. Though I may end up trying to get it off the house myself if the adjuster estimate is less than my deductible. Will likely take weeks to get a bucket crew post-storm. The guy two doors down had a similar sycamore trunk split in a May storm and just had it removed a couple weeks ago. Can't exit our exterior doors off the laundry and kitchen to our back porch. ~5 hours on front yard cleanup today. Backyard cleanup tomorrow will hopefully take less time, excluding the sycamore trunk.

On the good side, our power was only out about 14 hours. Miraculous, as there are downed lines and trees across the road a couple blocks over.

edit: hope storm was uneventful for @oldgoalie and any others in NOVA.

 

[Mike McDermott]

Took a ~50' / ~15-meter long sycamore tree portion on my house & porch roofs from Isaias. [Sycamore leaves are larger than silver / sugar maples, but nearly identical in their lobes / appearance. Sycamore is a little denser (green) than maple. The bark peels as it grows, but in card-stock thick sheets, not in thin strips like a paper birch. It's seed is a golf-ball-sized hard prickly ball which isn't as painful as a sweet gum if you step on it barefoot, but it's still no fun.] The portion which split at a weak crotch is ~12" diameter and is still attached / supported on the remaining trunk still standing, else I think there would have been more damage. Crown is so leafy on the house I can't tell if the roof decking is punctured. I estimate the weight as ~1100 pounds / ~500kg. I filed an insurance claim because the safest way to remove it is with a bucket truck. Though I may end up trying to get it off the house myself if the adjuster estimate is less than my deductible. Will likely take weeks to get a bucket crew post-storm. The guy two doors down had a similar sycamore trunk split in a May storm and just had it removed a couple weeks ago. Can't exit our exterior doors off the laundry and kitchen to our back porch. ~5 hours on front yard cleanup today. Backyard cleanup tomorrow will hopefully take less time, excluding the sycamore trunk.

On the good side, our power was only out about 14 hours. Miraculous, as there are downed lines and trees across the road a couple blocks over.

edit: hope storm was uneventful for @oldgoalie and any others in NOVA.

Your posts are always so detailed.

Doesn’t sound like fun but could have been worse. Hopefully you don’t have to wait a super long time to get it removed. Talked to a guy during work today in New Jersey who said the storm was in and out of his area in just a few hours but he got doused in rain and some heavy winds in those few hours. I’m sure it was worse further south before the storm weakened after landfall. Though I’m not licensed in most of the Southeast states so I don’t talk to people in those areas too much.

I second your hope that no one here got too bad.

 

[Jim Bob]

This is so scary.

 

[Der Jaeger]

This is so scary.

Lots of explosives to get that effect. I've seen results of large vehicle-borne IEDs, and you don't get type of blast effects. You don't even get those types of blast effects from a carpet-bombing style aerial bombardment or large artillery strike. Whatever it was which went of in the secondary explosion, it was a massive amount of explosives.

 

[Jim Bob]

Lots of explosives to get that effect. I've seen results of large vehicle-borne IEDs, and you don't get type of blast effects. You don't even get those types of blast effects from a carpet-bombing style aerial bombardment or large artillery strike. Whatever it was which went of in the secondary explosion, it was a massive amount of explosives.

I saw one report that it set off a stockpile of fertilizer that is also used to make bombs.

But, who really knows...

 

[Der Jaeger]

I saw one report that it set off a stockpile of fertilizer that is also used to make bombs.

But, who really knows...

That would make sense. Most of the IEDs in Afghanistan are fertilizer based, and they can cause a lot of damage.

A warehouse of fertilizer could've caused that type of explosion. The visible blast concussion was pretty insane. That's actually the effect that kills most people in all types of blasts. I've never seen a blast concussion that pronounced or that big.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Just read that it might have been 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate.

 

[Jim Bob]

Well, the little guy has his written test to get his learner's permit tomorrow.

He better pass it after I took a half-day to get him to his appointment.

 

[Buffaloed]

Took a ~50' / ~15-meter long sycamore tree portion on my house & porch roofs from Isaias. [Sycamore leaves are larger than silver / sugar maples, but nearly identical in their lobes / appearance. Sycamore is a little denser (green) than maple. The bark peels as it grows, but in card-stock thick sheets, not in thin strips like a paper birch. It's seed is a golf-ball-sized hard prickly ball which isn't as painful as a sweet gum if you step on it barefoot, but it's still no fun.] The portion which split at a weak crotch is ~12" diameter and is still attached / supported on the remaining trunk still standing, else I think there would have been more damage. Crown is so leafy on the house I can't tell if the roof decking is punctured. I estimate the weight as ~1100 pounds / ~500kg. I filed an insurance claim because the safest way to remove it is with a bucket truck. Though I may end up trying to get it off the house myself if the adjuster estimate is less than my deductible. Will likely take weeks to get a bucket crew post-storm. The guy two doors down had a similar sycamore trunk split in a May storm and just had it removed a couple weeks ago. Can't exit our exterior doors off the laundry and kitchen to our back porch. ~5 hours on front yard cleanup today. Backyard cleanup tomorrow will hopefully take less time, excluding the sycamore trunk.

On the good side, our power was only out about 14 hours. Miraculous, as there are downed lines and trees across the road a couple blocks over.

edit: hope storm was uneventful for @oldgoalie and any others in NOVA.

You can rent goat herds to clear weeds. Maybe you can rent a herd of beavers to chew up that tree.
You can probably remove that top part with a pole saw or pruning stick if you can get within 10-15 ft of it. I like the electric pole saws because they're lightweight.

 

[hizzoner]

Well, the little guy has his written test to get his learner's permit tomorrow.

He better pass it after I took a half-day to get him to his appointment.

Good luck! Exciting and scary when they head out on their own for the first time in mom or dad's car!

 

[Jim Bob]

Good luck! Exciting and scary when they head out on their own for the first time in mom or dad's car!

I think he's scared to go driving with his mom. Especially with how things have gone for his older brother.

 

[Buffaloed]

What is ammonium nitrate? Lebanon blames volatile chemical for Beirut blast - CNN
"In this instance, it appears that there was a fire and that fire has caused the ammonium nitrate that had been stockpiled to combust, and when it's in a confined space, it releases a lot of hot gas," he said.
"Because the gas takes up a higher volume than the solid, there's a build-up of pressure and because of the heat released, the hot gas is higher in volume, so you get to the point that when it's confined it will suddenly explode and will release that pressure in a shockwave," Walker added.

"Poorly stored ammonium nitrate is notorious for explosions -- for example in Oppau, Germany; in Galveston Bay, Texas; and more recently at West in Waco, Texas; and Tianjin in China," Andrea Sella, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at University College London, told the Science Media Centre.

"This is a catastrophic regulatory failure because regulations on the storage of ammonium nitrate are typically very clear. The idea that such a quantity would have been left unattended for six years beggars belief and was an accident waiting to happen."

The port officials are under house arrest. Apparently 2750 tons if ammonium nitrate were confiscated in 2014 and have been kept in storage.

 

[Gras]

It was estimated the explosion was the equivalent of 2 kilotons of tnt.

 

[HaNotsri]

Back from Italy and my girlfriends' "horse camp"
Was kind of weird not seeing a single other tourist. Had the pool for ourselves the whole stay. After the camp we drove around Marche for a couple of days as well. Italy is in general a really friendly country but the service level was just insane this time.

Flying during covid is great, the facemasks remove 95% of the disgusting smells and for the first time ever I didn't get snot-covered by some drunk asshole. I hope the temp and oxygen level checks + no food/alcohol served during flights remain even post-covid.

 

[Buffaloed]

Back from Italy and my girlfriends' "horse camp"
Was kind of weird not seeing a single other tourist. Had the pool for ourselves the whole stay. After the camp we drove around Marche for a couple of days as well. Italy is in general a really friendly country but the service level was just insane this time.

Flying during covid is great, the facemasks remove 95% of the disgusting smells and for the first time ever I didn't get snot-covered by some drunk asshole. I hope the temp and oxygen level checks + no food/alcohol served during flights remain even post-covid.

You should pick up a house next time.
Cinquefrondi: the 'Covid-free' Italian town selling $1 houses

 

[HaNotsri]

You should pick up a house next time.
Cinquefrondi: the 'Covid-free' Italian town selling $1 houses

Need to check the regulations for restyling first, sometimes they demand that you use really fragile aged bricks that just break and then we have the whole earthquake proofing that needs to be done. One day tough. One day.

 

[brian_griffin]

Lots of explosives to get that effect. I've seen results of large vehicle-borne IEDs, and you don't get type of blast effects. You don't even get those types of blast effects from a carpet-bombing style aerial bombardment or large artillery strike. Whatever it was which went of in the secondary explosion, it was a massive amount of explosives.

You can rent goat herds to clear weeds. Maybe you can rent a herd of beavers to chew up that tree.
You can probably remove that top part with a pole saw or pruning stick if you can get within 10-15 ft of it. I like the electric pole saws because they're lightweight.

I’ll keep you posted. In order to remove the tree I’ll need to remove my wife first. Something she keeps saying about “safety” and “you’re not even allowed to walk under it”.

What is ammonium nitrate? Lebanon blames volatile chemical for Beirut blast - CNN
"In this instance, it appears that there was a fire and that fire has caused the ammonium nitrate that had been stockpiled to combust, and when it's in a confined space, it releases a lot of hot gas," he said.
"Because the gas takes up a higher volume than the solid, there's a build-up of pressure and because of the heat released, the hot gas is higher in volume, so you get to the point that when it's confined it will suddenly explode and will release that pressure in a shockwave," Walker added.

"Poorly stored ammonium nitrate is notorious for explosions -- for example in Oppau, Germany; in Galveston Bay, Texas; and more recently at West in Waco, Texas; and Tianjin in China," Andrea Sella, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at University College London, told the Science Media Centre.

"This is a catastrophic regulatory failure because regulations on the storage of ammonium nitrate are typically very clear. The idea that such a quantity would have been left unattended for six years beggars belief and was an accident waiting to happen."

The port officials are under house arrest. Apparently 2750 tons if ammonium nitrate were confiscated in 2014 and have been kept in storage.

Same stuff used in the 1st WTC bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing, IIRC. Only those were likely a few hundred pounds instead of a couple thousand tons.

My wife and I were immediately suspicious due to the color of the cloud that it was chemical.

 

[Buffaloed]

Need to check the regulations for restyling first, sometimes they demand that you use really fragile aged bricks that just break and then we have the whole earthquake proofing that needs to be done. One day tough. One day.

Some of my friends in Argentina are also Italian citizens. I offered them $1, but so far no takers.

 

[Buffaloed]

My wife and I were immediately suspicious due to the color of the cloud that it was chemical.

My brother has been talking about putting a new roof on his house. I mentioned I had a 32 ft extension ladder and a dozen ladder jacks. His wife took me aside and said, don't you dare let him use that ladder! I sold it to my neighbor.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

My brother has been talking about putting a new roof on his house. I mentioned I had a 32 ft extension ladder and a dozen ladder jacks. His wife took me aside and said, don't you dare let him use that ladder! I sold it to my neighbor.

My neighbor in San Antonio fell from a ladder hanging XMas lights, ended up mangling both hands and wrists. Unfortunately for him it totally ruined his life and occupation as he was a chef