65 thoughts on “October 8, 2014: The End”

  2. What winter sport team are you looking forward to more: the Wild or the Wolves?

    For me, I think its the Wolves. Even though the Wild added a few players I am more interested in seeing how a Kevin Loveless Wolves team fares.

    1. Definitely Wolves for me. I just can't find myself excited for hockey in any way and I can't help but get sucked in to the Wolves and their new faces even though I want to stop paying attention to them until Glen is gone.

      1. Heh, I just noticed today that the NHL regular season is already starting. So yeah, definitely more prepared for the Wolves.

    2. I'll be watching both with equal enthusiasm to start the season.

      I'm interested in watching the Wolves in action; seeing what their half-court offense looks like, watching how they play together under Flip and how he works to get minutes for all the youth while still trying to be competitive. Also, watching Rubio with super-athletic guys to dish to and his (hopefully) improving jumper.

      For the Wild, I'm interested in seeing how Yeo constructs his top lines and whether or not the youngsters can continue to perform like they did in the playoffs. I want to know if Kuemper really is a NHL-caliber starting goalie and I'm excited to see how Vanek meshes with his new line-mates. I'm also nervously optimistic that their special teams can make a big leap forward this season.

      Not to get ahead of myself, but come February, I don't expect the Wolves to be in position to sniff the playoffs, but I do expect the Wild to be working on securing a 4-6th seed. If I've seen real growth over the course of the season (smart coaching, better shot selection, improved play by the rookies) from the former and a push into the Conference Finals for the latter, I'll be a happy camper. If not ... well, then I'll be excited for pitchers and catchers to report and to see what _____________ can do with his roster!

      1. I'll be excited for pitchers and catchers to report and to see what _____________ can do with his or her roster!

        That would be worth watching.

    3. Wild Playoff Watch

      Wild magic number is 165.

      I'd say Conference Finals is a lofty goal for a team that hasn't won their division in quite a while (and probably won't this year). If the Wild don't make the playoffs I'll be disappointed. Last year they showed they could hang with the elite teams, but it is still going to take some bounces to get through the second round (maybe even the first round depending on opponent).

      1. I will be disappointed if the Wild don't make the playoffs with the caveat that the Western Conference and the Central Division are both brutal. The forwards are deeper than ever and the D could be a strength if the kids can play. Goaltending is always an issue with the Wild, but it tends to work out. I think this is the most excited I have been for the Wild's season to start.

        Loveless Wolves? Where did he go?

    4. The Texas Stars won the Calder Cup last year, but I'm still not gonna go to any of their matches. They play all the way the hell up in Cedar Park. It's about as bad as trying to get to a Round Rock Express game. UT has all the prime stadium/arena space taken up downtown, so most all non-Longhorn sports get shoved out to the boonies.

    5. Can I vote for Gophers? Men's hockey returns every player that could have turned pro early, including probably the best goalie in the country, and is the consensus No. 1 team in the country, and I'm excited to see what young Pitino can do in his second season and his first full offseason of recruiting.

  3. Knife build along update. I'm almost done, but now comes the hard part of heat treating the blade. I'm taking orders, the friend price will be 5 million dollars.

    [sean: fixed image url and resized]

      1. just add a width parameter to the end of the img tag, like so:

        <img src="filename and path" width="xx%" />

        that way the image auto-scales to a percentage of the available screen for the user.

        1. Note that using the width parameter will cause it to be centered. I resized it less for the size and more for space. For that, I need to make sure people can do that when uploading images.

      1. The blade is high carbon tool steel (1058 I think), and the scales are micarta. I need to do some clean up work on the bevel, and then finish sand the blade befor heat treating. I'll take a bunch of photos when I fire up the forge. I'm going to soften some files as I have enough micarta and pivots for three more blades.

        1. Very cool - you're a pretty handy dude, carne. I look forward to vicariously enjoying the rest of the build.

    5. Good Lord, that is a beaut. I should have totally gotten one of those DIY kits. Maybe next go-round. What tools did you need to do this?

      1. Hack saw, file, a drill press is pretty necessary, and a small belt sander. The flat grind is really easy to accomplish with a home made file guide, but the belt sander saved a lot of time with the rough shaping.

    6. I'm taking orders, the friend price will be 5 million dollars.

      Hey, that just happens to be exactly the same as my friend price for handknit socks. Wanna swap? Or is the Big Easy too hot for wool socks . . . ?

    1. Huh. Why I never really noticed Faribault County, which does not include the town of Faribault, before, is beyond me.

      2. Nor is Blue Earth in Blue Earth County.
        Furthermore...
        Blue Earth is the county seat of Faribault County
        Faribault is the county seat of Rice County
        Rice is in Benton County
        Lake Benton is in Lincoln County and
        Lincoln Township is in Blue Earth County

        There is another Lincoln Township in Marshall County
        Marshall is the county seat of Lyon County
        Lyons Township is in Wadena County
        but Wadena is the county seat of Wadena

        Ramsey is in Hennepin County
        There is no municipality named Hennepin

    2. Huh. Red Lake County is named after the Red Lake River which flows through it, not Upper or Lower Red Lake, which are not situated within the county.
      Red Lake (the lake(s)) are within Beltrami and Clearwater Counties.
      Clearwater is in Wright County
      Wright is in Carlton County
      Carlton is the county seat of Carlton, but Carleton College is in the Rice County part of Northfield
      A small piece of Northfield is in Dakota County
      Dakota is in Winona County
      but Winona is the county seat of Winona.

      Beltrami is in Polk County.
      There are no municipalities in MN named Polk.

        2. But they're in Kansas City, a city that splits two states, one of which is Kansas. (Actually, two cities with the same name. It's not Texarkana.)

          1. Well, turns out there are two Texarkanas, one in TX and one in AR. Are there any cities or towns that are in two states?

            1. by definition, no, because cities are, administratively, creatures (creations) of state governments.

              1. there are some examples nationally and internationally of cities that have merged over time despite being divided by natural boundaries -- NYC is the most obvious in the U.S., but Buda+Pest = Budapest comes to mind.

                1. Sioux City is essentially in three states: Sioux City, Iowa; South Sioux City, Nebraska; and North Sioux City, South Dakota.

              2. Thanks for the obvious reason that clearly settles it in my mind. Scanning the wikipedia on Texarkana, Arkansas, I wonder if there's shared services that makes it effectively one city in two states.

                1. Good question.

                  I'm sure there are examples of twin cities that cross state lines but don't have natural boundaries, such as a river, that separates them and their key municipal systems. But I can't think of any off the top of my head.

                  within a single state, my former home of Chambana springs to mind. (incidentally, Champaign originally was known as "West Urbana," and founded because the Illinois Central laid down track a couple of miles west of central Urbana; why the city fathers of Urbana did not manage to annex the new developments, I do not know, but suspect RR conniving!). The two communities are separated geographically by...nothing. When I was at the University, I generally parked in Champaign and walked a couple of blocks to my office, which was on the Urbana side of the street marking the transition between communities. There's no creek, no mountain, no geographic feature, no fence.

                  I would presume that these sister cities cooperate closely on border issues (street maintenance, public safety, etc.), but they have separate school systems, police and fire departments, yadda yadda.

    1. vaguely apropos, my wife just got back from a girl's reunion weekend. One of her college roommates is a physician in Denver. Said MD went on a rant about legalized pot over the weekend.

      The reasons for the rant are complex and partly personal (involving an ex-spouse), but she also mentioned other issues, such as an (alleged) rise in ER visits and hospitalizations of youth ODing on consumables. With no regulation on the supply side and, shocking, I know, not a whole lot of sense on the part of many underage consumers, there are real risks associated with pot consumables. Too easy to eat a few too many pot brownies, I guess. (not something I've ever done)

  6. I'm halfway through the last mow at the old house, and on my walk home I found a Hen-of-the-woods (Grifolia frondosus) about 20 feet off the bike trail.
    Add that to the Chicken-of-the-woods/Sulfur Shelf, Shaggy Manes, and Puffballs, and this fall is making up for the spring.
    It was hard to find morels when the places I know to look for them are under a foot or more of water.

    1. And I just learned that I've seen a lot of Elm Oysters (Hypsizygus ulmarius) growing around on Box Elders.
      Sounds like they're edible, just not that great.

    2. ah, morels.

      One of my fonder memories of childhood spent "up north" was morel picking each spring. We would go out with a gallon (or five-quart?) ice cream bucket each, and more often than not come back with four mostly full buckets. I had no idea at the time how much those morels were worth. Probably not much. But now, the foodies would be all over 'em.

      1. My father sold a bunch of dried morels in the 80s. I remember some bumper years when the Dutch Elm Disease peak caused the paper grocery bags we'd carry to break. He and I and my sister would go out into the woods and come back with two or four bags full each. He eventually sewed us cloth grocery bag-holders (the paper bags served as liners, and we could walk back to the pickup and drop one set of paper bags and reload). My dad is crafty with the fabric. He worked as a haberdasher before he went to tech school for electric things.

        He told me not to talk about the sales to anyone. I think it was partly because he didn't want to pay taxes on the income and partly because he was uncomfortable with the amount of cash he had in the house that day and didn't want to be robbed. So, maybe not your childhood, but a decade or two later, they were worth something.

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