#its such an inefficient lumbering movement

[abirddogmoment]

Just posting this so I can find it again

[barbyquiin]

7 Skills You Should Have Learned in High School Wood Shop

1. Understand How Wood Works and Acts

Before you put any tool to your lumber, you will require to comprehend its correct orientation and what direction to the aeroplane the board. This grain can make planing it trickier if we neglect the perfect direction to work.

It's also essential to comprehend how wood expands and contracts as humidity varies throughout the year. All wood building takes this natural residential or commercial property into account and lack of knowledge of this can be disastrous.

2. Hone Saws, Planes, and Chisels

A lot of individuals have perpetuated the misconception that working wood by hand is actually hard work, merely since they were utilizing a dull tool. It is an axiom amongst woodworkers that in order for things to go smoothly, you need to "let the tool do the work." If your saw requires a great quantity of push to cut or if you find you require a running start to make shavings with your hand plane, you aren't doing yourself any favours. Honing your tools is a basic and foundational ability since it is something that requires to take place frequently. Not just is it inefficient to work with dull tools, it's dangerous. If you seem like you require to push your chisel with body weight to complete the cut when it does pop totally free, you will lose control and your tool will stab into whatever is in its course. Find out how to sharpen your tools and you will find woodworking to be enjoyable, safe, and efficient.

3. Use a Hand Plane

With a lot of woodworking tools, the fundamental method is quite self-explanatory. Proper use of hand aeroplanes needs a bit of guideline and practice to develop the feel of adjusting the cut from coarse to fine. These things require a little bit of research study to figure out, correctly using a hand aircraft is an undoubtedly obtainable ability.

4. Preparation Lumber With Hand Tools

When I work with wood, I use just hand tools and like every minute of it. If you find out how artisans worked their lumber before machines controlled the furniture industry, you will find woodworking by hand to be efficient and feasible. The real key is to use the ideal tool for the task: coarse tools for course work and fine tools for fine work.

5. Cut a Mortise and Tenon Joint

This is the most fundamental joint in all wood building. Whenever we need to join a horizontal member (like a chair rail) to a vertical member (like a leg), we require to interlock these pieces at the best angle. By fitting a tenon into a matching mortise (hole), we can create a strong 90 ° joint. It may look user-friendly to make, accomplishing a good, tight fit needs mindful method and practice. There are lots of methods to make a mortise, but I utilize a stout chisel developed for that task and simply determine the width of the tenon based upon that sculpt's the measurement. Cutting the tenon is usually a matter of 4 straight saw cuts. When you do discover how to lay this joint out effectively and cut it to a tight fit, the world of woodworking opens up to you. At that point, you know all the joinery needed to construct most tables and chairs.

6. Cut Dovetail Joints

What if you desire to make a box? The revered (and overly-mystified) dovetail joint is a really strong way to join corners of boards. Of all functions that non-woodworkers appreciate today, the dovetail joint is the one that develops the most awe. It is composed of one side cut into wedge-shaped "tails" that mate into corresponding "pins." When fitted together, the wedge shape prevents the boards from moving apart in one instruction. This joint has actually been very standard building given that the 1700s. Never suggested to impress, it was generally purposefully concealed behind veneer, moulding, or paint so that nobody would need to look at that "awful" joinery. It wasn't up until the arts and crafts movement that noticeable joinery was considered an aesthetic possession. Today, making dovetail joints has actually become a litmus test for major woodworkers, however, don't let this scare you away from attempting it. Take a look at a few of the four million "How to Cut Dovetails" videos online and then enter into the store. It's far more uncomplicated than people think: Cut tails. Trace the tails on the other board. Then cut out the waste you traced. That's basically it. All the fine-tuning is just practice.

7. Finish Your Furnishings

Surfaces beautify and protect the piece you have actually worked so tough to build so don't police officer out and do the "rub it with oil" thing. There are so many beautiful surfaces that end up being second nature to work with. There are other varnishes that offer excellent defence for outside use.

Also check out: https://123woodworking.com/teds-woodworking-review/

[meditativeyoga]

Facilitating Calm and Balance: Understanding the Multi-Functional Psoas Muscle

On the list of MVMs-most important muscle mass that is-the Psoas muscular tissue, or a lot more specifically the Iliopsoas chain, would certainly be at the top of any type of yogi's list. It wants all, the physical web link in between the back as well as the legs.

The primary muscle activity of the psoas is back flexion as well as expansion. It's the primary hip flexor, both femur-on-pelvis and also pelvis-on-femur. It likewise contributes in side flexion of the back area and also flexion of the low lumber spine about the sacrum. Significantly, the psoas likewise provides vertical stabilization of the lumbar back while still accommodating the natural contours, as well as is considered component of the core.

Most yogis know that a weak, limited, or overstretched psoas can add to low back pain, inefficient activity patterns, and poor stance. Much less recognized are the duty of the psoas in the world of physiology, breath and also core assistance, as well as mood. The psoas can play a role in pelvic pain, abdominal discomfort, cranky digestive tract disorder, as well as anxiety.

Marlysa Sullivan, assistant teacher at Maryland College of Integrative Health, where she teaches in the Yoga Therapy and Integrative Science divisions, maintains that a much more comprehensive understanding of the various features of the psoas would lead us to an extra holistic strategy toward functioning with it.

The Psoas Has Numerous Functions

As a physical therapist and also yoga exercise therapist, Marlysa has observed that it's easy to misinterpret the cues we obtain from the psoas. We might blunder weak point or inequality as tightness and also the requirement to stretch. Consequently, yogis usually concentrate more on stretching and also extending the psoas in postures such as lunges, when what's actually required is enhancing, rebalancing, or, oftentimes, kicking back as well as releasing it.

To comprehend why, it's useful to first emphasis a little bit on the anatomy.

The psoas significant connects from the 12th thoracic vertebra and also all of the back vertebrae as well as intervertebral disks to the thigh. The iliacus muscle mass attaches to the inner lip of the iliac crest and also little area of the sacrum across the SI joint. Along the road, the psoas and iliacus fibers begin to mingle and they share a ligamentous connection to the lower trochanter of the thigh. The muscular links are just a partial picture.

By its position deep in the pelvic basin, the psoas does a pump-like action that relocates blood and also lymphatic fluid throughout the cells. Marlysa explains that via the fascial connection in between the psoas and visceral organs such as the kidneys and also intestinal tracts, rigidity in the psoas will certainly likewise influence those organs.

" When the psoas is limited, the fascia that surrounds the organs will also be tight. It's a little an indirect link, but body organ movement or mobility can nevertheless become limited as well as the function of lymphatic circulation and stomach body organs impeded," she explains.

Another important partnership is that in between the psoas and also diaphragm. By a fascial connection in between both, along with distance to the ligaments that prolong down from the diaphragm to the back, the breathing and also the psoas muscular tissue share a close functional connection. If one becomes limited or inefficient, the various other is most likely to be impacted, so a persistantly limited psoas can restrict the mobility of the diaphragm and also restrict breath capacity.

The Psoas Connection to Fight-or-Flight

Marlysa directs out that the diaphragm-psoas web link additionally has excellent ramifications in state of mind control. When we are stressed out or enter into fight-or-flight mode, the psoas normally contracts. It can additionally be the source of trigger factors or a location to hold habitual tension. This is where an understanding of the link between the psoas as well as the autonomic nervous system-and how the psoas can play a part in our feeling of equanimity as well as well-being-in enters into sharper focus.

" Think of it," Marlysa muses. "In a state of extended sympathetic overdrive or boosted sympathetic activation-such as when we walk in a perpetual state of low-level fight-or-flight or are handling injury in our lives-we're going to have more tone in the muscle mass that are made use of for fight, flight, or freeze. We'll essentially stressful the big muscles like the psoas and the quadriceps that are utilized to run or to fight.

A yoga exercise present that lengthens the psoas will do little to relieve this circumstance. What Marlysa encourages rather to soothe the hyper promoted nerve system is to generate the para-sympathetic (rest and digest) reaction.

" When I consider unwinding a muscle versus stretching it, the suggestion is that whenever you shorten a muscle mass, you bring the origin and the insertion closer with each other while creating a kicked back state. You're not asking the muscle mass to do anything. So for instance, when I'm resting my psoas is in a shortened position. I'm having to hold myself up so the psoas is working.

Facilitating a relaxed psoas helps with a parasympathetic state throughout the body since the body is able to move into leisure mode. Via an indirect link to the vagus nerve, Marlysa mentions that releasing the psoas can also aid take a person out the dorsal vagal feedback that leads us to immobility or dissociation right into this optimal parasympathetic state. This creates what Marlysa terms a bottom-up ventral-vagal response to the social interaction system.

Marlysa's best position for psoas release and also producing that unwinded state is Constructive Relax Position. Not practically a yoga posture, Useful Relax was first introduced by Mabel Todd in 1937 in her groundbreaking publication, The Assuming Body. It's a placement of complete remainder in which the spine is eliminated of the weight of the arms and legs, and also the major joints are free to release right into gravity and also come under rest. The objective is to distribute the weight of the body to make sure that no job is called for in order to keep equilibrium.

" I joke with the students at Maryland College that everyone gets constructive remainder due to the fact that it's the position that every person needs," laughs Marlysa. "As well as not to overstate it, yet the majority of people do truly well if they do useful rest. When you incorporate five minutes of a completely relaxed physical state with longer exhalations as well as more kicked back breathing, then add in some meditation, it really promotes the parasympathetic state. It's a pose that individuals will certainly do, specifically when they understand how much it helps. A great deal of my customers discuss how they use it for tension, anxiety, as well as pain in the back in particular.

" An injury survivor can't always make use of the mind to accessibility relaxation, calm, peace as well as safety. We can attain it through the body. What's actually just stunning and also magical regarding yoga is that we have strategies that can go from the mind (which is called top-down influence) or we can do techniques that are based on the body (which is called bottom-up)," Marlysa states.

Constructive Rest Position

Lie on your back, location and also location your reduced legs hip width apart on a chair, possibly with a yoga band around your thighs to enable them to fully unwind. Alternatively, you can likewise put your feet hip-width apart and also enable your knees to rest on each other.

Find a comfy relaxing setting for your arms, either draping them across your body or on the flooring with hands up.

Do not make any initiative to "take care of" your setting or modify the curves of your spine. If your neck is extremely flexed or your chin is greater than your nose, put a folded up covering under your head to relieve the imbalance.

Allow gravity to work its magic for 5-20 minutes.

Try utilizing an eye pad, relaxed songs, or covering over your body to improve your experience.

When you are prepared to come out of the setting, bring your knees to your upper body and slowly roll away, obtaining your bearings before pressing on your own back up.

[findsunbiz]

Honduras, officially Republic of Honduras, Spanish República de Honduras, country of Central America situated between Guatemala and El Salvador to the west and Nicaragua to the south and east. The Caribbean Sea washes its northern coast, the Pacific Ocean its narrow coast to the south. Its area includes the offshore Caribbean department of the Bay Islands. The capital is Tegucigalpa (with Comayagüela), but—unlike most other Central American countries—another city, San Pedro Sula, is equally important industrially and commercially, although it has only half the population of the capital.

Honduras is a poor country, and the majority of Hondurans work under extremely difficult conditions. The government has, however, adopted more active economic policies since the mid-20th century. In 1954 striking banana workers led the trade union movement to one of its most resounding triumphs, which resulted in the promulgation (in 1955) of a labour code that is considered one of the most complete instruments of its kind in Latin America. The code has generally resulted in a higher standard of living for the worker and better operating conditions for business; labour laws are not always strictly applied, however, and some workplaces are substandard.

The country’s natural resources include agricultural lands along the northern coast and interior river valleys, extensive pine forests, and small deposits of silver, lead, zinc, and low-grade iron ore. The economy is geographically divided between the highlands, where subsistence farming, stock raising, and mining have long dominated, and the lowlands, where plantation agriculture based largely on bananas is the chief occupation. In 1998, however, Hurricane Mitch devastated large portions of Honduran agriculture and transportation infrastructure, requiring major reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts.

Early in the 21st century agriculture contributed little more than one-tenth of the gross domestic product (GDP) but still employed the biggest slice (about two-fifths) of the labour force. Two U.S. corporations—Chiquita (formerly United Fruit Company and United Brands) and Dole (formerly Standard Fruit and Steamship Company and Castle & Cooke)—hold a disproportionate amount of the country’s agricultural land and produce a substantial part of the national income by growing the majority of the country’s banana crop. Important export crops other than bananas include coffee beans, tobacco, and sugarcane. Corn is the chief staple crop. Honduran farmers also plant genetically modified corn (illegal in the rest of Central America), which has helped combat food shortages and rising corn prices. Cattle raising is the main livestock activity, and beef has become an important export.

About two-fifths of the country’s land is covered by forests, making forest products a potentially large source of national income. The extensive pine forests were attacked by blight in the 1960s, and mahogany—the major timber export—began declining in importance. The practice of shifting agriculture, employing widespread burning of forests and the cutting of wood for fuel, has caused a depletion of forest resources. Present commercial practices of forest exploitation are inefficient. A substantial portion of timber harvested for commercial purposes does not reach the sawmill, and less than half of the timber that arrives at the mill is processed into lumber. To help alleviate the wasteful forestry practices, the government put all forest trees under state ownership in 1974, but forests continue to be depleted at a rapid rate.

Fishing is a small but developing industry, carried on mainly off the Caribbean coast. Shrimp and lobster are the most important parts of the catch, the largest portion of which is shipped to the United States.

Manufacturing, which accounted for about one-fifth of the GDP in the early 21st century, is dominated by small-scale firms that operate with intermediate levels of technology and possess limited processing capabilities. Dozens of foreign-owned maquiladoras (duty-free manufacturing plants) were opened in the late 20th century, and by 1997 they employed as many as 75,000 workers, mostly women. The major products manufactured and processed are food products, beverages, textiles, clothing, chemicals, lumber, and paper products. The production of capital and heavy intermediate goods is minimal. Industrial plants are located largely in the urban areas of San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa.

Mineral resources are limited but include silver, gold, lead, zinc, antimony, iron, mercury, and copper. From the 19th to the mid-20th century, the economy was largely dependent upon the production of silver and gold, particularly from El Mochito mine, which was the largest in Central America. Mining accounts for a tiny percent of the GDP, with zinc the leading mineral export.

Finally, I will leave a link which includes all companies and enterprises in Honduras, for those who want to research and discover more about this country. Thanks for reading.

All businesses address in Honduras: https://findsun.net/HN

[centipedall]

City Slickers 2

The weirdest thing has been happening in the shipping yard over the past week. Unscheduled crates started appearing on boats. The captains were adamant that they were supposed to carry the crates, but couldn’t remember anything about them. And when the crates were opened, they found taxidermied fetal organisms. Overnight, the fetal things disappeared, with web-like trails leading out of the crate. And so the City Slickers were on the prowl.

Abby had grown used to the burn scars that dotted her face and arms. In all honesty, they were kind of cool. When her and Johnny had killed that thing in the sewers, it was awesome. And then when her and Aaron had gone up against the big bee-thing, they had proven useful. Apparently the five-foot five woman was “intimidating” now. She was using that intimidating factor to get into the shipping yard right now.

“Listen, guy. My boss is, uh, how do you say… important. And he really wants me to get into that shipping yard. So, how about you move aside.” She swept her arm out to the side, making sure to show the two-inch in diameter burn scars on the underside of her arm.

“Ma’am, I can’t let you in.” The man in the front booth sounded exasperated. His features were long, made longer by a tiring day. Poor guy had probably been pushing away the news all day. She knew he’d had to deal with Abby and Jerry for an hour now.

Abby was having trouble connecting with the guy. She had trouble connecting with a lot of people. Time to tag out.

Jerry jumped in. “Hey bud. It’s been a long day, right? Just… just go home, man. It’s covered.”

“Somehow, I don’t believe-” Gunshots rang out into the night.

“Well, that’s our cue!” Abby cheerfully got out a pair of bolt cutters and chopped through the chain-link fence. This was going to be hard to explain to the bosses. Collateral damage was docked from their paychecks. Abby and Jerry slipped through, barely registering the other man’s protests.

Jerry looked around, his steely brown eyes scanning the surrounding area. “The gunshots were that way. I suggest going there first.” He pointed to the southwest, marked by two large cranes that looked to be within twenty feet of one another. Abby quickly agreed, and the two started navigating the maze of rusty shipping crates.

At about midnight, the two were around the corner from the cranes. The dim lighting destroyed the shadows’ proportions, creating ungainly silhouettes. Abby stopped for a moment, moving her arms and legs while standing in place, exactly like a child would. Her shadow reacted accordingly, creating all kinds of new shapes. Another shadow appeared behind her. Abby didn’t take much notice of it until she realized Jerry was around the corner.

When she turned around, the lights drowned out the creature’s features. As it lamely shuffled forward, she saw it. The thing was humanoid, in the same way that an embryo is. It had two large eyeholes covered with a thin film. As it took another step forward, fluid within the holes sloshed. Its mouthless head appeared to be grafted to the body with some kind of green glue. The abdomen of the thing appeared to be a normal human’s, although in places the skin was replaced with film. Its left arm had no fingers, while its right was twice as long as the left. As it walked, Abby could see that its right leg was ruined. All the flesh on the leg appeared to have been moved down to the foot, creating an ungainly and bumpy surface to walk on.

Abby stumbled back, hands reaching for her knife. The fetus thing took two steps in quick succession. Abby kept backpedaling, only to stumble into a crate. It lifted its long arm, and prepared to strike at her. Then the arm suddenly stopped. The thing tried to pull it back, but it wouldn’t work. As Abby shifted, she saw that the taxidermied fetus was stuck on a series of thin strings. When she moved out of the way, she saw more strings surrounding the creature. It turned towards her, getting wrapped in more of the web-like filament. It took one more step, then tripped on a pole sticking up from the ground. The strings held, and kept the now immobilized sloshing specter off the ground.

Abby managed to pull her knife out of her pocket, and thanked her luck. She called for Jerry and walked closer to the fetus. Abby had just started examining it when the strings, all at once, moved six feet away from her. A split-second later, a massive Spider landed on the thing.

The arachnoid horror quickly severed the webs around the creature before sinking its fangs into the fetus’s eyeholes. A slurping sound erupted from the Spider for a moment, and the creature’s corpse was dropped on the ground.

“Ugh. S’lalan is getting sloppy. That one was still wiggling.” The voice- a stringy, reverberating sound- appeared to have come from the Spider. It turned around, twelve legs clacking on the cement.

The creature was taller than Abby by about two inches. It had a tan exoskeleton, intermixed with patches of black skin. The Spider’s head was about the size of an association football, and was the same shape as well. What appeared to be hundreds of eyes, like molten orbs of gold with pupils, grew out of the Spider’s “skull.” At points, they merged with each other, letting tiny black pupils zoom around. The largest spot on the head not covered in eyes was the mouth. It constantly vomited out silk, which one of three pairs of mandibles quickly wove into a web. Another mandible pair had lines of web strung between them, while the third pair was relaxed. The opisthosoma of the Spider was like a larger version of the head. It was covered in spinnerets, all constantly producing masses of silk. Next to each spinneret was a small pair of legs that wove the silk into a line of web. A third leg threw the web line out into the surrounding area.

“Well then. How are you doing, Abby?” it said, placing a considerable emphasis on the “Abby.”

With a good look at its face, Abby saw that it wasn’t talking- at least, not how she did it. The third pair of mandibles was plucking at the silk hung between the second pair of mandibles, making noises that kind of coincided with human voices.

“Funny guy. I used to be surprised when giant spiders knew my name, but it’s gotten old. If I have this right, you’re just a poor spider-thing that needed somewhere to hide. Except, oh no! Your food supply has woken up! Well, bud, we got this under control. If you would kindly leave…?” Finally, a sapient! It felt so great to use sarcasm and have a paranormal terror from beyond the stars understand it!

“It is not just my food. Jerry should be learning that soon.” Screams sounded out. “You should not go help him. It is not a good idea.”

Another arachnoid shape lumbered in. While the first Spider looked graceful, almost elegant on its eight thin legs, the second one was a bulky, nightmarish figure. It was the same height as Abby, but had a lot more mass. The thing had at least seventeen long, thick legs jutting out from its body. It’s eyeless head, mounted on a foot-long neck, had a massive mouth that encompassed about three-quarters of its head. The mouth was filled with hundreds of long, needle-sharp teeth and slightly less glowing green eyes. Abby could see a green liquid sloshing around within the hole. The Spider was covered in flabby brown skin, with millions of small stiff hairs poking out of it. The creature, for all of its bulk, moved around in erratic motions. The legs all moved independently, causing movement to be inefficient and ungainly. It looked at the other Spider- the Weaving Spider- with an emotion that almost signaled desire.

Jerry was stuck to one of the legs, hung high in the air. His body had several of the hairs stuck in it, and there was a noticeable reddening of the skin around the penetration points. He screamed again, scratching at the hairs.

“Hi Jerry. You are looking uncomfortable there. Um, bud? Do you mind dropping him?” The Weaver’s voice had the same words a question should, although it was the same stringy monotone.

The other Spider, the Hunter, flicked the leg Jerry was attached to. He was thrown off, head over heels. Abby ran to where Jerry landed and pulled him up.

“You’re a stupid bug. You probably didn’t know this, but anything that attacks an operative is instantly marked for extermination. And if you hadn’t noticed, we’ve been killing weird shit all over this town for three years now. So believe me when I say that if you don’t leave this shipping yard right now, you and your… uh… brother(?) are going to be squashed like the bugs you are.” Abby felt pretty damn powerful as she talked down to the five-ten monstrosity and its mouthy accomplice.

“All we need to do is make a little call to- oh fuck me.” Abby waved her phone at the Weaver for all of half a second before it zipped out of her hands. It clattered on the floor before a long leg stomped it into pieces.

“It’s a good thing my food got ‘out of control.’ My… brother was getting bored with the boxed meals. I think he wanted something a little warmer. A little faster.” The mandibles pulled the webbing between them up, creating a semicircular shape not dissimilar to a smile. “Twenty seconds. Get going.”

The Hunting Spider bent its neck towards them. It now projected the same emotion of desire towards Abby. She sprinted away. Behind her, Jerry screamed. Scuttling noises erupted behind her. The screaming didn’t stop, even as the Hunting Spider ran past him.

The labyrinthine mess of shipping crates directed her this way and that. Before Abby knew it, she had hit a dead end. She could hear the Hunting Spider skittering on the walls just around the corner. Abby feebly hit the wall, and felt something. There were ladder rungs on the crates.

She quickly pulled herself up the three crates, before looking back down. She felt a surge of nausea. Looks like her fear of heights were coming back. “Thought the therapy got rid of that.” She muttered.

Wind coursed through her short hair. Abby thought she could feel the crates shifting beneath her. The metal shook again, much more noticeably this time. A telltale skitter was not close behind her.

“Oh shit.” Abby started running again. She leaped off the edge of the crate, barely grasping on to the next. She could’ve sworn it moved a little bit to help her get ahold. The Hunter was not far behind her. As Abby climbed up, she noticed that the area where this all started was not too far away. The crane’s arm was only a little bit further. Following it down, she also noticed Jerry was climbing up the crane’s ladder.

They connected eyes for the briefest instant, and Abby instantly knew the plan. Just a variation on Plan 4X52. Easy. Abby stopped and turned around as the Hunting Spider, in all its leggy glory, clambered up onto the crate. Green liquid dripped from its mouth, burning through the metal below it.

Abby had fought these kind of things before. The thing was big and tough, but it had no motor control. All she needed to do was evade. All she needed to do was wait for Jerry. All she needed to do was not be killed.

As Abby settled into an evasion stance, a thought crossed her mind. “Hey, dickweed. I hope you don’t go Bishounen on me any time soon.”

It’s mouth yawned open in response. The eyes blinked twice in unison.

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re trying to tell me.” Abby muttered. She beckoned towards the creature twice in an overly dramatic fashion, laughing a little at the immaturity of it.

“If you’re gonna die, go out with style.”

The monster scuttled towards her, caustic venom flying from its mouth. It slammed three legs down, but Abby had already rolled under it. The strike had punctured a hole through the crate’s metal, and the creature struggled to take the legs out. As Abby finished the roll on the other side of the monster, it had pulled one leg out of its hole. It used the momentum from doing so to pull the other leg out, then whipped its head around towards her. Venom flew through the air, and Abby ducked under it. The Spider then swiped low at her with a leg, followed by a stomp. Abby hopped the leg before twisting to the side.

Instead of pulling the leg out, the Hunter initiated two jabs, a swipe to the right, and a stomp. Abby again tried rolling under, but she collided with one of the legs still on the ground. Immediately, the hairs stuck to her. Abby screamed in pain, and madly scratched at them. In the second that she took to deal with the pain, she was stomped on square in the stomach.

Abby was launched into the interior of the empty crate. She picked herself up and looked above. The crate began to shudder as the Spider began frantically stomping. A flurry of legs kept punching holes through the ceiling. Although they didn’t reach far enough down to hurt Abby, they allowed the venom to get in.

She was too preoccupied with making sure the acidic substance didn’t land on her to notice that one of the legs had touched her. It stuck to Abby’s forearm and quickly lifted her up. Abby’s shoulder was pulled through the hole when Plan 4X52 went into action. The sound of grinding metal shrieked through the air, and the crate went flying. As it turns out, the massive metal claw on the crane had moved too fast for the Hunter to notice. The crate toppled end-over onto the cement, landing on top of the Spider.

Abby woke up screaming. Jerry had called the Slickers’ HQ and gotten some special EMTs on the scene the moment the crate fell. Her arm was trapped beneath the metal box. Unfortunately, it had to be severed at the shoulder. Jerry was treated for major rashes. The hairs appeared to be made of a substance similar to fiberglass. The Hunting Spider itself was clearly dead. Apparently, some extradimensional entities still need something that resembles a nervous system.

The taxidermied creatures stopped appearing after that, and the Weaving Spider was not seen again. Really, it was almost a footnote in the Slickers’ history, but for one thing. A note was found in the wreckage of the crate Abby and the Spider fought on. It read:

Thanks for getting that thing off my back. I think it was about ready to start hunting me. Hah- those guys, am I right? Anyways, I’m sorry about the arm and the rashes. It could have been done differently, but whatever. Too much work.

-Me

P.S.- When you get to the Party, tell the Lion I’m not gonna be there.

It seemed to be written in and made of some sort of silk.

[inspectorecalebn]

Saw Length and Choose Your Hand Plane by Function

26" Hand Saws Are One Size Fits All 

The Disston Company made millions of saws and of the handsaws they made a sizable percentage of them were 26" saws.  That is because this is the optimal saw length for the human body.  Regardless of your height or arm length, this size just works.  The old adage that your optimal saw stroke can be measured from your fist to your armpit is most often inaccurate because the entire saw is not used in the typical saw stroke.  We need a bit of extra at the toe to prevent from pulling the saw out of the kerf.  Likewise at the heel there are several inches of teeth there that don't get used because of the overlap of the saw handle.  Of the many types of hand saws out there of various lengths, the 26" is the one that provides the most efficient cutting because it puts the most teeth to work over the distance of the typical human arm movement.  

Another point to consider is that when one steps down to a shorter hand saw, the pitch of the teeth often changes as well to a finer tooth and cleaner cut for more precise work.  This is where the typical panel saw or "toolbox saw" comes into play.  These are highly effective saws with shorter plates of 18-24" long but also commonly 8-12 ppi pitch.  This makes for inefficient sawing for breaking down rough boards or any lumber thicker than about 7/8".  So be careful choosing a saw shorter than 26" as you will mostly likely be working less efficiently, no matter how tall or short you may be.

Using Hand Planes Based on Function

Stanley provided helpful numbers to identify their different planes.  Then colloquial names were thrown in like "smoothing plane", "jack plane", or "fore plane" to help us identify what we might use those numbered planes for.  The fact is the colloquial names go way back before Stanley hand planes because in the end, the woodworker chooses which plane to use based on the task at hand and what is most important to that task.  Smoothing for instance is that last step before finish where the appearance of the surface is the most important element.  Here a shorter plane can navigate any hills and valleys to clean up tear out and flatness isn't important.  But the length of the plane sole can also be dictated by the length of the board to be planed.  So automatically jumping to a #4 smoothing plane for an 6" long box part doesn't make sense when a #2 would do a more efficient job.  Likewise, when flatness is imperative using a 36" jointer plane on an 18" long board is like taking a Bazooka to a knife fight.  It will certainly get the job done but its overkill.

So the lesson here is not to get caught up in the naming conventions.  I MUST use a Fore plane for heavy thickness work on rough sawn stock or I must NOT use a Smoothing plane to joint a board.  Choose the plane for the job based on the size of the task at hand.  Of course this means that you will end up with more hand planes in your tool cabinet to allow you to adapt to different conditions more readily.  But you all know you wanted an excuse to get some more hand planes anyway, don't deny it.

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[mrroivas]

Log date 969:

Ah hah! Success! No less glorious for that it was expected and inevitable!

Ahem. I have just reached a breakthrough which will certainly end with all humans trembling in obedience to me! HA HA HA!

And my Diamond, naturally.

It's so incredibly simple, its a wonder I didn't think of it ages sooner. Most likely a side effect of forcing my intellect into inefficient enough shapes to operate at a level these worthless excuses for gems I have as my underlings can understand.

Anyway, I was able to impose my will upon the carbonic creatures by waiting for them to all go into their stasis period. While the necessity for such a thing serves further proof of their seeming uselessness, it was handy for the purpose of setting up my cameras and observation equipment without opposition.

Much time after was spent with me studying these humans closely throughout their routine. Nothing was particularly notable or relevant until one period had them gather into a tight circle with one human at the center. Based on how much they looked around and engaged in futile attempts to be quiet in their lumbering movements, they wished to be stealthy.

Heh. Clods.

After they gathered, the human in the center began to jabber, pointing and gesticulating at the various others surrounding him. This went on until he must have noticed the nearest camera, for he froze quite suddenly and then pointed directly at it. One of the humans jumped up and then the camera quickly became inoperative.

No matter. Its loss is nothing compared to what I gained! Confirming further with other cameras, it became clear: These humans swear their allegiance and follow the orders of one single leader! Just like gems do for our glorious Diamonds!

Perhaps they have even somehow become dimly aware of the superior nature of our organization methods, and seek to crudely emulate them. I will use this against them! Their desire for orders and leadership shall soon be filled by me! I, a Peridot, will became their Diamond! In their obedience to me, they shall by proxy obey my Diamond, thus achieving the objective I was sent here for flawlessly!

Recognition and commendations shall be mine! AHH HAH HAH! STUPID HUMANS THOUGHT THEY HAD ME BEAT! AH HAH HAH!

…

What is this? Yes, I am fine. Go away. Your presence is not needed here.

Ahem! End log.