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Former REI guy, so I'm biased, but I think it's the best selection to check out and a really knowledgeable staff. We had 3 or 4 of us who had completed through-hikes of the AT working there, at the same time. Was hard to beat that level of experience. Also like Walkabout in Carytown.

I'd recommend trying out things and working on specs for what you'll carry rather than identifying a specific pack or other gear from a specific company. Once you narrow in on your specs, the right gear will become a little easier to identify. Going into the store would be a great opportunity to talk to people with experience and soak up what you can.

Good resources include the Awol's AT Guide (which I think is also available in a southbound edition), the Appalachian Trail Data Book, and The Complete Walker IV, which is kind of the granddaddy of hiking guides.

Yeah but you don't have to spend much at all to just put your toe in the water. Study for and pass the entry level technician exam (which is super easy, it's a memorization effort) and get an inexpensive 5 watt handheld that can reach your nearest repeater and you are on your way for well under $50. It's fun.

I've wanted a HAM technicians license for years now as a secondary to my main hobby (FPV drone racing and freestyle) but I'm terrible at studying and terrible at tests. I would like some info as well. Book studying doesn't do it for me. YouTube videos have been the most helpful so far. I just don't know if I'll find the time to learn enough to pass the exam.




Edit: OP, I bought this handheld transceiver a year or two ago and for the price its really good. The brand came recommended from a friend that is a HAM.

BaoFeng UV-5R Dual Band Two Way Radio (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H4VT7A/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_7XRYzbNXHTYE9

Book club: it looks like no one caught the last post, we've selected two books for next time. The first was recommended by allsortsashenanigans and is Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal, a short literary work from a Czech writer that encompasses themes of censorship, the encroachment of automation, the preservation of art and knowledge. This was so short that we thought throwing in another one wasn't too bad an idea.

Liloving offered up In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper as our second book. This is a collection of short stories inspired by Edward Hopper's paintings, and it has some "for real" writers like Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King.

So READ 'EM!

All sound great, though Gone-Away World gets my vote. I would also throw out this one, sounds really interesting (from the Stanford incoming freshman reading list description at least): Homegoing: A Novel by Yaa Gyasi

No problem. A few of my friends have this tube by the same manufacturer as the other. It's $20 but has significantly thicker material (felt like the same stuff as a whitewater raft), cupholders, and a net across the bottom you can sit on rather than fall through. Have fun!

https://amzn.to/2OAXMGG Here is the link to the one that I use and its awesome. :)

Have a fancy antenna in MD. Works great and everyone remarks on the clarity. I have the major networks (CBS, NBC, FOX) and a few other garbage channels that I never watch.

I'm cool with O'Tooles! I liked that place. The other China Mieville book we were talking about is Embassytown about human colonists living on a world with aliens that can only speak to genetically engineered pairs of twins, and who never discovered how to lie. Lots of cool ideas about biotechnology and what language can mean.

If you don't want to subscribe to Hulu and want the same, a $25 digital antenna will give you access as well. Gets a bit spotty when it's really storming outside, otherwise works pretty well.

Zinius on Amazon. Best mattress I’ve ever had and it cost $275 for a Queen.

Zinus Memory Foam 12 Inch Green Tea Mattress, Queen https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q7EPSHI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_pBy1CbVSDTB6Z

I got these https://www.amazon.com/Intex-River-Lounge-Inflatable-Diameter/dp/B000PEOMC8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1527094550&sr=8-5&keywords=inner+tube and they work great, you can even put drinks in the bottom without worrying about them going into the river

ASUS 24" 144hz Gaming Monitor Very nice monitor for PC gaming. 144Hz refresh rate, 3d support, HDMI Display port and DVI inputs. I bought 3 of these to run in eyfinity surround, but found the performance hit wasn't worth the surround. Keeping 2 and selling this one. It's basically brand new, used for less than a few days. Still have original box and everything that came with it. $200

We do Huguenot Bridge to Pony Pasture regularly. Takes anywhere from 2.5 - 4 hours or so depending on water level. Just have to get out at Z-Dam. Also, we've been using this tube and its great, esp for $20

https://www.amazon.com/Intex-River-Lounge-Inflatable-Diameter/dp/B000PEOMC8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496754921&sr=8-2&keywords=tube

This one.

I've had it for over two years now. Still going strong.

Asus VG248QE 24-inch Gaming Monitor - Like new. I only used it for a month or two. Still in original box. $175

NXZT s340 gloss black computer case - $50

iPad Mini (Verizon LTE) - $200

Logitech G710 with Cherry MX Blue switches (I love this keyboard) "almost new" in box - $100

I've also got a i3-4170 computer that I'm thinking about parting out. Nothing fancy, but it's a decent budget gaming rig. 750ti, 2 SSD, 16gb of DDR3, etc.

Haha, sorry my suggestion wasn't more helpful then. By chance have you tried the amplified version of same?

No need to rent, just buy this one, me and a bunch of my friends used these on the James and they work fine.

Could I reccomend a non fiction book I haven't read and would like too?

This is it

I got my mattress off Amazon and it's one of those memory foam deals that comes all compressed. It is super firm, so if you're not into firm, you would hate it. It was under $200, though, so way worth it for me! I have not noticed any of the temperature issues other people have with memory foam.

Zinus Memory Foam 12 Inch Green Tea Mattress, Queen https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q7EPSHI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zLg4AbXMH0X9B

If you're willing to wait a couple days, the River Run 1 on Amazon is a durable tube with two, count em, TWO cup holders.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PEOMC8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OInNxbPS3ZHQZ

Read
https://www.amazon.com/Inquiry-Nature-Causes-Wealth-Nations/dp/0226763749

Essentially allow the laws of supply and demand work. I constantly hear on this community that all people want are bike/ mass transit centric housing. Let the government get out of the way of making that a reality.

Rexing V1

Rexing V1 4K

/u/asterion7 gets his here.

The Minority Report (Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick)

Ah, /u/tippepippe I thought we were going to be reading this!

I vote for returning to Legend. It can't rain every Tuesday, right??

I also will throw out The Girl in The Blue Coat by Monica Hesse for June's book.

Read https://www.amazon.com/Bloodlands-Europe-Between-Hitler-Stalin/dp/0465031471/

The crop-demands of the soviets were absurd. They literally exceeded the most optimistic yields in any nation by several magnitudes.

The USSR famines go beyond simple droughts/natural-disasters/etc. It was deliberate and the consequence of millions starving was simply an acceptable price to pay to urbanize the nation.


There are many incidents in history of short-sighted policies having unintended consequences (e.g. The Four Pests Campaign). But this isn't the case for millions of the victims under the USSR rule.

Install a bypass

One part wires up to your ground, the other to the blue wire / amp, and the last wire to the parking brake wire on your head unit.

It will essentially trick the head unit into thinking that the brake is engaged at all times, so you don't have to mess with or splice your brake wire. Better to ruin your aftermarket radio harness than your brake circuitry. Accidentally grounding the wrong wire will cause you to get issues / burned bulbs, etc.

This is a big issue with SO MANY points to argue, you could write books, and many have.

So I'm just going to keep to a small subset of this big issue that I have personal experience. People who suffer chronic pain, and this pain could be from a palliative state such as terminal bone cancer, or just someone who on a daily basis and don't receive proper pain management... kill themselves, a lot.

Living and working in the family business (funeral home) back before my current career, I saw this a lot. It used to piss my father off to no extent when patients in end stage, horribly painful cancer were not given adequate pain medication, it was almost like they didn't want this guy who was gonna die in 4 days to get addicted to opioids, it make no sense.

So where am I going with this? People underestimate the effect of how constant pain ravages your mind and body, they just don't have a true understanding of it.

So if someone is in palliative care and the most extreme methods of pain management are failing, and they wish assisted suicide, then absolutely yes.

I'd also recommend a great book to truly attempt to understand the personal hell of pain:

The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering

Melanie Thernstrom

http://www.amazon.com/Pain-Chronicles-Mysteries-Prayers-Suffering/dp/0312573073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425919402&sr=8-1&keywords=Melanie+Thernstrom