Hey! I saw you post and wanted to say "hi". <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> How are you?

Hey FF. I'm wonderful.

Got a mite boring talking only to 2long. He's cool, but he's not FF...

NC sucked me in with Halo.

I hope you and your family are well.

Hey, I resemble that remark!

-ol' 2long

2long,

If I stole a cold one out of your sixer, could I then call you 1short???

BWAAAA HAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAA.

(But you probably need a web page hit counter to track how many times you heard that one.)

We can talk about trebuchets if HALO isn't good for you.

Or how about diabolos? The current fad at the ranch.

Or Myst V? I'm stuck. And I don't want to cheat...er, yet.

psst: have to be careful with the C word around here.

H likes world of warcraft and Battlefield two.

I like to watch the pretty graphics go by until I get bored and find something else to do.

NC,

What is it about trebuchets and boys? DS and I have built two now. One lobs 10 lb rocks into the lake. Good thing it can't be rotated 'cause he wants to aim it at the neighbor’s tool shed.

I am Empire Earth all the way. But not regularly. Once a month, I'll sit down and play for like 4 hours.

If I need a "quickie" it'll be some easy fighting game (WITHOUT combos) like Marvel Nemesis. (Because I like superheros so much).

But jeez - some of these games are a COMMITMENT. I just can't do it.

You guys (and girls) lost me a long time ago. But I still like you.

SS

noodle,

Besides Halo, DS is way into on-line Age of Empires and Rise of Rome. He's actually learning some history. Can't let on just yet though.

NC,

Yeah, I burnt out on most of them ages ago. I play Halo with DS cause it's fun for him.

The rest are too much like work now.

(And W says they do not count in the 15 hrs/week.)

WOW!!!!

Mine can't touch a 10 lb projectile. (Well, the one at HOME can't.) But I had a design constraint of "must fit in trunk of Toyoda."

And it isn't boys. Grandma was AGHAST that I would build a weapon with 3DS as a project. Then she SAW it. A trebuchet is elegant. A gun is fun to shoot, but kind of tiresome to watch. Same with bow and arrow. But a treb' is just elegant. And medieval, which boys seem to have a penchant for.

If one built a ballista, I don't think the effect would be the same.

It's like a model rocket. There is just an elegance to the process that is catching.

I have all these neat CNC machines and stuff and work. Then there is this one cut-off saw that must have been built in the early 50s. It is essentially an automatic hack-saw. Used for cut-off work like a horizontal bandsaw. And this thing doesn't have a band-saw blade (looped and continuous). It has a hacksaw blade. It looks like a bow saw, but is all trapped up mechanically. And the depth of cut and sawing motion (orbital, WITHOUT raking the teeth flat on the back stroke) is pulled off with linkages and cams. It is just elegant to watch it run. Most people think it is one of the neatest tools in the shop. (Seldom breaks, BTW).

Or prints - I know the need for CAD, and appreciate it, but a hand-drawn blue ... you can look at that for a while.

I really think that's it. If it is a "mechanical ballet" it flies with the kids. (And those wit' kids inside.)

I tried playing sims..but my people kept killing themselves and forgetting to take out the trash.

"Or prints - I know the need for CAD, and appreciate it, but a hand-drawn blue ... you can look at that for a while."

You are right. I used to sit at a drafting table and draught. Now I fly a cubicle.

My neighbor has a high pressure water jet cutter where he works. Cuts through an inch of steel like butter. We build some cool stuff with it.

Had the scout troop build small catapults, ballistas and trebuchets last summer. They had a blast shooting H2O balloons at each other.

And a few in the general direction of the nuns across the street at the school. (But then they came over and had fun with them too.)

Well, I've had all the fun I can stand today. Time to go home.

Try that with zoo tycoon, Noodle. My DD accidentally let her lion loose. You could hear the guests screaming. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" />

Appy, my family is doing very well thanks. My H has finally pulled his head out of his [censored]. Kids are superb. DD got A's and B's in her first year of jr. high. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Oh and I saw the video of NCW's trebuchet. Looked like loads of fun. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Nuns and h2o balloons

~always~ a winning combo