What did you do today? - 2021 version

[CardsFan]

Took back the hearing aids today. I just couldn't see any significant difference. Hearing tech said she wasn't surprised, based on the test results. Now, if I can just get DW to quit talking to me from another room with the refrigerator running.

I know I have some hearing loss (hello rock and roll with head phones on), but I have the same issue with DW. I will literally be 2 rooms and a hallway away, and she speaks in a normal voice.

NO, I cannot hear you know, and I couldn't 20 years ago!

 

[MichaelB]

Learned a new word: Paltering.

""Paltering," or the active use of a truthful statement to mislead someone -- is the subject of a new research study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. It finds that the tactic is not only common -- more than half of business executives enrolled in a Harvard Business School executive education course admitted they had used it in some or most of their negotiations, for instance -- but viewed with equal distrust as intentional lies. Participants in the study rated the behavior of someone who paltered in a negotiation as being just as unethical or untrustworthy as the person who outright lied with a known falsehood."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...when-telling-the-truth-is-actually-dishonest/

Seems it is employed nowadays in all manner of public discourse as well.

In today’s paper

 

[ls99]

How about an example of somebody 'paltering'?

from Lifehacker:
"For example, that slimy used car salesman might say that the old beater you’re looking at “starts up great” and that “these are reliable models” when you ask how it runs, but neglects to mention that the engine of that particular vehicle dies regularly. He didn’t lie to you, but he didn’t tell you the truth either."


Politicians use the technique frequently, I'll pass on examples for them as that would invite PORKY!

 

[Gumby]

Yesterday, the young wife and I harvested our shallots in the morning. Then she made sweet pickle relish with her bounty of slicing cukes. I canned 8 half-pints for her. She also started fermenting four quarts of dill pickles. This afternoon we harvested all of our onions and garlic (~120 of each). It was about 92 deg. out at the garden (which made for some hot and sweaty work). They're all now on drying racks with the shallots out in the garage. We'll go back tomorrow morning to put some new zucchini in the now empty onion bed and some Italian Romano pole beans in the empty garlic bed. We'll also take in the rest of the cabbage and the young wife will start fermenting some sauerkraut.

 

[Ronstar]

Just for the record, she doesn't run these races -- she's a walker. Lots more walkers in races these days, since it's much easier on the knees. Still not too shabby for anyone in their 70s. She is aiming for 100 halfs by the end of next year, and starting to think about what the next goal will be.

Still - a hike of 13 miles even on flat ground is a chore.

 

[Jerry1]

Still - a hike of 13 miles even on flat ground is a chore.

Curious if she had ever worn a fit bit type device and knows how many steps that is. No real reason, just wondering.

 

[braumeister]

Curious if she had ever worn a fit bit type device and knows how many steps that is. No real reason, just wondering.

Oh, she's utterly addicted to her Apple Watch, and tracks all the metrics all the time.

Steps in a race will vary a lot, depending on the individual.
One common estimate is that for the average person it will be between 2,000 and 2,500 steps per mile, if walking. Since your stride lengthens when you run, it would be between 1,400 and 1,700 steps per mile for an average runner.

Lots of variation between fast and slow, men and women, length of stride, etc.

 

[jollystomper]

Played my 5th round of golf for the week, walking the course every time with at least one friend.

Received a new phone for DW and spent more time than I preferred in the Verizon store just trying to get a SIM card. I will switch here over to the new phone sometime this weekend.

About to eat dinner with DW, then, despite the heat, go on an evening stroll with her and a few friends at a nearby park. Later this evening will tackle what I hope is a "simple" repair of a leaky faucet.

 

[street]

Got all the treads and risers on. So the gazebo is assembled, but the Home Depot delivered 8 horribly scratched up composite boards, so I've still got an unfinished strip to do. Next is the indoor/outdoor ceiling fans.


The steps took a few days because once the sun comes over the trees (11:30 or so), I quit... just too hot. And it's very important to me to enjoy the doing.

Looks Great!!

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Curious if she had ever worn a fit bit type device and knows how many steps that is. No real reason, just wondering.

Reminds me that the very definition of a mile is 1000 steps of a Roman army unit. (Mile <--> mille.) For them, a step was what we could call two steps, i.e., for them, a step was from left forward to left forward again. So I usually figure 2000 steps per mile, +/-.

 

[ls99]

One step for Roman soldiers, two steps for mankind.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

One step for Roman soldiers, two steps for mankind.

Now that is funny!

 

[street]

I been volunteering to rework a large oak door with side windows and oak trim. It is an outside door for the Foundation building. A lot of work was needed and finally got it all sandy down and installed an outside urethane oil application to it today. Turned out really good with a fresh new look.

I also irrigated yard again, still in a drought and heat has been getting worse.

 

[Ronstar]

Oh, she's utterly addicted to her Apple Watch, and tracks all the metrics all the time.

Steps in a race will vary a lot, depending on the individual.
One common estimate is that for the average person it will be between 2,000 and 2,500 steps per mile, if walking. Since your stride lengthens when you run, it would be between 1,400 and 1,700 steps per mile for an average runner.

Lots of variation between fast and slow, men and women, length of stride, etc.

Your step numbers make sense. I had a little more than 45k steps the day of my last marathon. Included about a mile walking to/from car. If I walked that mile at 2000 steps, I ran each mile at 1644 steps.

 

[Ronstar]

More dock demo with a sledgehammer. Did something to the forearm muscle at the elbow. Swollen and sore.

Came in the house and saw several emails from my water heater leak detector. Sure enough it's leaking. 2 years old. Under warranty - but I'll still have to go get one and install it.

 

[Chuckanut]

from Lifehacker:
"For example, that slimy used car salesman might say that the old beater you’re looking at “starts up great” and that “these are reliable models” when you ask how it runs, but neglects to mention that the engine of that particular vehicle dies regularly. He didn’t lie to you, but he didn’t tell you the truth either."

Politicians use the technique frequently, I'll pass on examples for them as that would invite PORKY!

This is what I call a lie of omission. Alas, a very common way to deceive others. But, now I have a fancier name for it.

 

[street]

Got up early again (4am) and headed for the ranch to pick wild berries. It has been so dry and with no snow to speak of last winter, this has been a bumper year for wild fruit.

I also spent some time hauling junk from new place I'm buying and picked up another half a pickup load of iron. I imagine I have another 500lbs and haven't even touch the surface yet. 200$ a ton is what they are giving here.

 

[Walt34]

Went to the alternate club flying site and met my student R/C pilot there. Did the maiden flight on the 2.4 meter glider with no surprises (that's always a good thing). It still needs some work on getting it trimmed and the radio setup finalized, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to like this model. Even with flaps it needs a long flat approach for landing so I'm eventually going to set up a "crow" landing configuration - the flaps go down and the ailerons go up to increase aerodynamic drag to help with reducing speed.

My student is progressing well and he just bought a new trainer airplane that should be a better fit for training. The one he bought is an acrobatic airplane and was, I think, a poor choice for a new pilot. It can work because it does have a gyroscopic stabilization system but his choices of airplanes at the time were limited because of the shortages of pretty much everything.

 

[MRG]

Had lunch with a former co-w*rker who was passing through town. Had a great time catching up, he's been retired 2 years now and just hearing about his last days at Megacorp made me appreciate being able to walk away 8 years ago.

 

[38Chevy454]

A single lady mid 60s friend of DW and I that lives close had a couple of old lawnmowers that didn't run and she wanted to get rid of. She was happy I picked them up. Within about 3 hours had both running, cleaned up, fresh oil and blades sharpened. All either one needed was drain any old gas, and cleaning the carburetor. The small engines are easy to fix, at least for me. Remove carb, clean passages, only cost is partial can of carb cleaner; and some cheap oil for the engine oil change.

I plan to give one to my neighbor, even though we each have large yards and use big zero turn mowers, there are areas where a small mower is helpful, such as drainage ditch or close under trees. Neighbor uses string trimmer which takes longer.

The other one I'll sell on FB marketplace, pay for a dinner out for DW and me.

 

[oldphd]

Yeah I was 22 at the time. I drove cross country from Massachusetts with a high school buddy after he graduated college and we went to the Smokies, Rockies etc. camping the whole way in a $19 tent with one vertical pole at each end. Probably only spent $300 for a month back then. Beer, gas, food and campground split 2 ways. We didn't even know it was supposed to be a challenging hike. I went up with corduroys, an anorak ,a beer in one hand and a massive external frame pack. Not the best way to scramble over the keyhole route.

He still lives out there and has completed all the 14ers. I am jealous of that!

You've got about a year on me, I finished HS in June '77 at age 17. Went to Estes Park for the summer to work in a restaurant. Used to hitchhike into RMNP to camp on my days off and run a few miles at altitude in preparation. But I didn't know what to expect past the Keyhole, when I got to the Narrows I debated turning around. And I was hugging the ground as I went up and down the Homestretch, while rock climbers were casually walking up and down.

Took the train up Pikes Peak, and the road up Mt. Evans. Those are my only other 14er experiences. Quite an accomplishment for your friend to have completed all of them. Is his name Andrew Hamilton by any chance?

https://www.climbing.com/news/andrew-hamilton-shatters-colorado-14ers-speed-record/

We were fortunate to have a family cabin in Estes so I grew up visiting regularly. Relocated to the Front Range a couple of years, and am looking at Longs from my back deck as I write this.

 

[Walt34]

Went out flying with R/C airplanes but if I'd known it was going to be that windy at the site I wouldn't have bothered. It was a good thing my student couldn't make it today, he wouldn't have learned anything. I did get the new sailplane pretty much "dialed in" with the trim and radio settings that I like, except I still have the crow landing configuration setup to do.

The photo is from today's video:

 

[1242Vintage]

Went backpacking with daughters this weekend. They live in Reno and we are in NorCal so we met half way between up high in the Sierra Nevada range at a place called Donner Pass.

Packed into a little glacier lake above 7,000 ft and woke up to cattle and cow bells echoing off the granite peaks.

A little sore this evening from packing gear 10 miles each way. But it was a perfect weekend with two of our kids.

 

[NW-Bound]

It was a bit cloudy today, so I decided to do a bit of yard work early in the morning. At 9AM, I gave up and went inside to the comfort of the AC. The temperature was only 92F, but the dew point was 70F. My body could not handle that. I was sweating profusely, and my T-shirt was all wet. I was freakin' miserable. Did I say it was partially cloudy?

I think this is one of the reasons SS is in trouble. In the old days before AC, weak guys like me just dropped dead and did not claim SS for very long at all. Now, they stay inside in the comfort of cool dry air from the AC, eat, drink, and merrily buy stuff on Amazon, and claim SS for a looong time.

 

[street]

Didn't do much but to take my scrap iron to get sold. We have had heat that is rare here for such a long period of time. 103 degrees here today, went to buy some lawn fertilizer just to get outside for a while.

I'm planning to get up early tomorrow morning and head to the ranch. Berry picking and look to see if I can find a survey marker in one of the canyons. I have been told there is one there so I will see if I can find it.