CBBaron

Yea thats the market. No run up that auction. If the hay was decent its a pretty good price right now. I dont think many people will run up the price on a load of hay. If they are bidding on hay its because they need it or believe they can sell it else where for more. My dad usually makes a few thousand bales each year to sell locally. He didnt want to increase his prices much because he has regular customers. However I think he could have doubled the price and the customers still would have been glad to pay it. My mom's mad because he made much less than normal due to the low production. This year the market is going to be very expensive, though I cant imagine $12-$15. Most farmers will cull herds before paying that much as it would put them out of business. Especially as corn will be going up too. Craig

Unless you have a shot gun pistol with a 2" barrel No in most cases if you are going to miss with a slug you will miss with shaveot. However the longer "sight radius" and the 3 points of contact with your body/hands allows much easier aiming. And the light weight shot wont easily go through walls while still providing great stopping power .22lr revolvers are expensive because they often have the same design as larger caliper revolvers. However Heritage revolvers offer some cheap options. In semi-auto .22 seems to cause problems because of the wide array of ammo and low recoil. This means the pistol is as complicated or more so than the bigger calipers. Not sure about sales but Mark III and P22 seem to be pretty popular. .22 rifles are cheap and some are good quality also. All seem like an inexpensive way to spend a day shooting. Craig

Newbie shooter here. However I have big hands so no comment on a weapon for small hands. I decided on a revolver for myself. They are simple and reliable. Not really much that can cause a failure and even if the ammo doesn't go off, just pull the trigger again and the next round is available. Down sides are double action revolvers have a long trigger pull, limited ammo capacity and slow reloads. Like mentioned above the tiny guns designed for pocket carry are very light, so even with small rounds they have significant recoil. That can cause new users to flinch and discourage practice. I can say after trying both it is much easier to hit a target with a shotgun than a pistol. For home defense a much better option. More power and easier to use. However it does require more thought into how you will store it. Especially if you may have children in the home. For me starting out hitting a target at 25ft with a pistol required careful aiming and trigger pull with the pistol. With the shot gun is was point and shoot. Another point, a longer gun is easier to shoot accurately. For pistols this mean full sized pistols are easier to shoot than snub nose or sub compacts. Craig

Pros Great large screen Very thin Fast Cons Large Battery life Its always a tradeoff. The S3 has a fast processor and big bright screen. So its dimensions are large and battery life is not great. Ofcourse it depends on what you are doing. Id definitely recommend the phone but you have to decide on your own trade-offs. Craig

The Ninja 400 is a 650r with a sleeved down motor designed for a insurance point in some markets. It is very unlikely to show up in the states. The new 500 is the 650R. It probably doesnt make sense to have a different platform at 500 and 650. Remember these bikes sell with lower margins and numbers than the supersports so the numbers are not there for regular updates like the more high profile bikes get. The Ninja 300 is noticeably lighter and less expensive. For a new bike its a pretty good price. I think this is response to the CBR250R which offered a number of features that the Ninja 250R lacked at the same price point (FI, ABS). Nice thing is they bumped the displacement to give it a little more power. I started on a 250r and it was a fun little bike. However I am much more comfortable on the Vstrom, otherwise I would have kept it. It was cheap, fuel efficient, fun and easy to ride. A great way to start out or to use a a commuter and around town bike. Remember that the 250R was Kawasaki's best selling bike in the US. I think the 300 can only improve the numbers. Craig

I think you are getting confused by different users. Some people prefer Android over IOS. Others prefer a larger screen. I personally prefer Android but also think one of the main advantages of a droid phone is the choice of larger screens. Apparently Samsung believes that some people would like the latest android hardware with a smaller package. Nearly every time you get contradictory fan comments on new features it comes from different sets of users. Craig

I've not posted on Craigslist with at least a couple obvious scam replies. You have to learn to filter them out and ignore. Or you could just play along with them making promises and requirements until they get annoyed. Some people find that funny too Craig

Not many English or French Bulldogs end up available at an adoption center but you may find a few Bostons or Boston mix. All 3 have a number of common health issues, the bulldogs worse than the terriers. I would definitely avoid $500 dogs. These will be puppy mill dogs or poor backyard breeders. The chance of a serious health or mental issue greatly increases. You are likely to pay for it in vet bills. The bulldogs are expensive because they are hard to raise. They have small litters and nearly always require c-section for birth. And good breeders will be careful to avoid known health problems. $3-5k is what it will cost from a good breeder for either Bulldog. We went with a purebreed puppy (Westie) most at my wife insistence but my preference would be from a rescue. Most rescue organizations will foster dogs in homes and have some idea of temperament. They should work to match the dog with the family. Some ofcourse go overboard and require extensive interviews and checks on prospective adopters. Good luck, a dog will change your life, kind of a lite version of how a child does. Craig

The differences noted on Mercury are based on the matter makeup. The gas giants are more a difference of size. The smaller planets bleed of most or all of the gasses while the gas giants are able to contain them due to their much larger/stronger gravity field. Different bands around the sun create conditions that form different types of planets. Im guessing that Mercury's make up will be readily explained by the much different conditions it was formed under. Craig

Depends on the model and the incoming water temp. We have no problem with nice hot showers despite the losses of over 75' of copper pipes running to our master on the opposite corner of the house. On the other hand late winter water temps do mean that running 2 showers at the same time will reduce the output temp some. During the summer no problem. Now a small unit or an electric with our winter time water temps is likely to have problems. Craig

We got a natural gas whole house tankless a few years ago to replace the undersized water heater that had been installed in the house. The good: 1) You always have hot water. No problem being the second or third person to take a shower 2) They are small and take up much less room in the utility room. Ours is also a laundry room and the tank water heater made it difficult to move in the room. 3) Efficiency - no keeping water hot when not in use. The bad: 1) expensive 2) may require and upgraded gas line due to the higher power burner 3) When using water intermittently or at low volumes (e.g. washing dishes) there tends to be cold periods as the heater does not react instantly to changes in flow. My understanding is that electric units are not really suitable for a whole house application. More point of use. They cant provide enough flow to run more than a single high efficiency shower head. The big gas units can run a couple showers or fill a tub. We did find that the faucet on our oversize whirlpool tub would fill faster than the heater could handle. Throttling the flow down some allows us to easily fill the tub. We have had this for about 7 years now so it looks like there are alot more choices now than there were then. If you are just looking for efficiency also look at condensing water heaters. These are considerably more efficient than traditional water heaters. And based on google there are even tankless condensing water heaters that should be extremely efficient. Still payback will be years based on the current gas prices. Craig

Also noticed in the article that there is a new small Ninja. The Ninja 300 looks like quite a step up in the small displacement sport bikes. Claimed power is over 10hp better than the 250R And finally the baby Ninja gets FI and ABS. Kawi seems to be making a big statement with their latest releases. Craig

Many dogs can be good training partners but they have to train like the humans. On one message board someone said they had done several 10k runs with their chihuahua I've watched a couple athletic dogs in the neighborhood with runners and cyclists. Some of these dogs appear to be loafing along while the human is doing a pretty good pace. It all depends on the build and fitness of the dog. Craig

Ive used the Endomondo app also. Pretty nice to give route as well as basic pace, time, speed. I guess more features are available if you pay for the Pro. Only problem was when there was a GPS hiccup in my phone and suddenly my 2.5 mile run went through Ontario My pace was incredible. Craig

+1 This was the barefoot style I was mentioning earlier. However there are ultra light running shoes with a more traditional drop from heel to toe that can encourage heel strikes without as much cushion as the more supportive shoes. I would avoid these. Craig

Mine are Altra http://www.altrazerodrop.com/ New Balance minimus, Vibram Five Finger, and Merrell Barefoot are others. Basically the idea is you run naturally and the shoes only are there to provide some protection against sharp objects and traction. Barefoot basically. You have to run on your toes/mid-foot instead of landing on the cushioned heel of your shoe. The gait is different, shorter strides with a slight forward lean. The advantage is you have less jarring impact as your foot and calves cushion the impact, which should be easier on the knees. Some people however have trouble with shin splints when doing this method. If you are a runner you will have to work up to this style of running as you can easily over work your calves. Craig

Started running some last winter to try to keep in shape as I cut down my winter bicycle riding. I had never run before and Im considerably over weight at 220. I picked up some flat-foot (barefoot, zero drop) running shoes as I knew my knees would not like traditional heel-toe running. I feel like that style of running worked well for me. I never had any issues with my knees. It did take some time to strengthen my calves to the task but I needed to ramp up my running anyways as I have never really run before. I cant stand working out in one place. I really prefer getting outside and going somewhere. I dont really mind the weather much so running has worked well to help maintain cardio fitness. I was doing 3 miles 2-3 times a week. Nothing real serious just enough to maintain. I got sidetracked for my workouts this summer with a back injury a busy schedule. I'm going to try to use this thread as motivation to get back into it. Craig

Been up the last 2 years with my daughter. She likes the big coasters but is still afraid of them so we havn't been on a few yet (Top Thrill, Millennium, Maverick). Ofcourse it doesnt help we went on a weekend last time and the lines were 2+hrs for the big ones. I guess next time I will just have to pay up for the Fast Lane That more than doubles the price of a visit. Craig

I see they dropped it where Disaster Transport used to be. The only time I even noticed that that ride existed was driving up to the park, and noticing that the needle was shorter than several other rides at the park these days. Craig

A rider could have done the same stunt with a 250 but likely would not have. Coming out of a corner the rider probably hit the gas seeing a straight away and a big gap. The liter bike rapidly picks up speed and in seconds is going much quicker than the rider realizes. The 250 accelerates much slower and requires several shifts. Unless there was a very long straight the 250 would not get much above 60 while the liter is already over 100. Then the rider realizes the group is slowing. Both bike slow about the same with an inexperienced rider but 100-0 takes over twice as much space as 60-0. Hence the accident is much more likely on a liter bike with an inexperienced rider. However you are correct there is not much difference between a 600cc and a Busa as far as this kind of thing goes. But there is a big difference on a 250 or even a 650. Craig

Same here. I think he means Hyundai Veloster. And it is turbo(200hp) OR 40mpg. Not both I like the looks, though I have always liked unusual looking small cars. No help on the pick-up sorry. Craig

The phrase may have originally been about swords but I imagine that muskets in Jeffersons time still had plenty of metal in them. The guns may have been "mostly wood" but the barrel was still the principal component of the weapon and fairly heavy. Even that Glock is still mostly metal by weight. Craig

There was alot of iron or steel in guns. Especially cannons. I imagine a musket had about as much steel as a long sword. Now modern firearms, not as much, but still sufficient to recycle Craig

Flat track - fairly dominate too (though I think the rules favor the HD machines). Its pretty interesting if you havn't seen it before. Craig

RIP Agreed but riders need to pay attention also. A truck pulling back onto the road should be a very avoidable hazard if you are paying attention. Im not agreeing that the trucker is likely to blame for the accident but I have to imagine that the biker could have avoided it. Very sad for the families involved. Craig