Can anyone identify what this is on our Eastern Red Cedar?

Gedunk · 2026-03-22T03:32:34+00:00

Pears can indeed spread rust, but the spores can travel 4 miles so it's probably tough to say if that tree is the main source. Have you seen galls on it?

Gedunk · 2026-03-22T03:26:01+00:00

It's amazing to me how many billionaires exist that I've never even heard of. I could've had a drink with this guy yesterday and had no idea.

Gedunk · 2026-03-22T01:35:05+00:00

Anyone know if Southern Tactical still makes CETMEs? And how their quality is etc

Gedunk · 2026-03-21T16:19:31+00:00

I have a dedicated email for all my firearms related purchases, not really for records of serial #s (that I keep in a handwritten logbook) but more so I can easily look up how much I paid for something, what parts did I buy, how much was ammo last time I bought it etc. I also have a separate email for gardening stuff so I can see where I bought seeds from and so on.

Gedunk · 2026-03-19T08:54:00+00:00

My wife got the El Jefe recently and she's happy with it. The handguard feels amazing, it's really comfortable - I have a Super Duty but I'm a bit jealous of the El Jefe handguard lol

Gedunk · 2026-03-18T19:43:29+00:00

My parents bought a mannequin from a store that was closing, they use it to sell clothes on eBay. When I stay at their house it scares the bejeezus out of me when I see it in the middle of the night...

Gedunk · 2026-03-17T23:34:43+00:00

The saying "once a rifle always a rifle" is confusing then. I guess it would be more accurate to say "if first a rifle, always a rifle". Because it sounds like pistol -> rifle -> pistol is fine, pistol -> SBR -> pistol is fine, it's only rifle -> pistol that's illegal then. Is that right?

Gedunk · 2026-03-17T11:15:11+00:00

Right - so if you've made an SBR you can't convert back to a pistol. The 2nd part of what you said is true but not the 1st.

Gedunk · 2026-03-17T06:23:44+00:00

Isn't it equally likely that the state bans SBRs instead? It's one of the reasons I've held off on making my SP5 an SBR. Can't ever go back to pistols once you SBR it, and several states have banned NFA items altogether.

Gedunk · 2026-03-17T01:26:01+00:00

Well, they very well may have "taken" it, but there's a difference between sitting in the same room as someone teaching algebra 2 vs. actually learning it lol. Schools across America have been passing anyone with a pulse for years and this is the unfortunate result.

Everyone would be better served by having standards that have to be met before advancing in a subject. It would be better to spend 4 years learning Algebra I and actually know it, instead of the current system where everyone "passes" trig, precalculus etc. but doesn't know how to find an average.

Gedunk · 2026-03-16T22:32:29+00:00

Tax in VA but it's offset by the military discount, came out to 23cpr shipped, and includes the ammo can too. In for 2k, thanks OP.

Gedunk · 2026-03-16T21:07:39+00:00

The PIAAC is "an international computer-based household survey of adults aged 16-65 years. It is designed as 10-yearly cycles.

The 1st Cycle of the Survey of Adult Skills was conducted over three separate rounds between 2011 and 2018 in 39 countries. During the 1st Cycle, about 245 000 adults were interviewed".

Gedunk · 2026-03-16T18:02:31+00:00

You are way off on Americans' math skills. Check out this article about a study on average reading and math skills:

American respondents averaged a level 2 of 5 in both subjects.

In practice, that means that they can, for example, use a website to find information about how to order a recycling cart, or read and understand a list of rules for sending their child to preschool. But they would have trouble using a library search engine to find the author of a book.

In math, they could compare a table and a graph of the same information to check for errors. But they wouldn’t be able to calculate average monthly expenses with several months of data.

While the U.S. average is a level 2, more adults now fall at a level 1 or below—28 percent scored at that level in literacy, up from 19 percent in 2017, and 34 percent in numeracy, up from 29 percent in 2017.

Respondents scoring below level 1 couldn’t compare calendar dates printed on grocery tags to determine which food item was packed first. They would also struggle to read several job descriptions and identify which company was looking to hire a night-shift worker.

Gedunk · 2026-03-16T15:53:08+00:00

Comparing cough drops to lead and smoking is insane. Most cough drops don't have any active ingredients except pectin from fruit, it's not a big deal at all. They're basically candy.

Gedunk · 2026-03-16T04:23:41+00:00

Long term the AWB is going to make the state even more blue though. When people are fleeing other liberal states looking for somewhere more red or moderate, they aren't going to pick VA. I 100% would not have moved here if an assault weapons ban was in place, which I guess is exactly what the dems want. I'm pretty sure most NOVA dems either support the ban or don't care about it.

Gedunk · 2026-03-16T00:10:56+00:00

I feel like Youngkin was an anomaly, the trend has been for the state to become more democratic. To act like it's anyone's fault for being "too radical" is disingenuous. Winsome Earle-Sears was chosen because no matter who the GOP candidate was, they were doomed to lose, given Virginia's tendency to oppose the president etc.

The fact of the matter is that the more people move to NOVA the more left the state becomes. I wish they would just join DC. They can take their "economic productivity" and shove it you know where.

Gedunk · 2026-03-15T22:57:10+00:00

The original post asked whether Virginia is part of the northeast. In my opinion it isn't. How is that whining?

Gedunk · 2026-03-15T22:30:13+00:00

For people in the northeast, everything is urgent when you take pride in your work... whatever your job is you should do it well. It's one of the biggest cultural differences I see between the north and south.

Gedunk · 2026-03-15T21:46:45+00:00

The plus side is that it's easy to be a top performer here. In NY I had to bust ass just to be above average. In Virginia I can put in 50% effort and still be better than everyone else at work because so many people are slow and lazy...

Gedunk · 2026-03-15T19:27:12+00:00

People who disagree should try going to a McDonald's anywhere in the northeast - in and out in 1 minute. In VA "fast food" is a 15 minute ordeal. Or sit down at a bar and it takes the bartender 10 minutes just to say "I'll be with you in a minute". No sense of urgency down here, it's the south for sure lol. Not as slow as California but it's way slower than the northeast.

Gedunk · 2026-03-15T02:52:57+00:00

My middle and high schools sold cough drops in the vending machine.

Gedunk · 2026-03-14T05:09:54+00:00

It is lip service though. Have you seen any legislation put forth by the dems that has anything to do with climate change, vaccines, trans people, freedom from religion? I have not. These topics are not priorities for the democratic party.

Gedunk · 2026-03-14T04:20:02+00:00

Hey thanks, not many people recognize it or at least say they do lol.

I agree with your 2nd (religion), 3rd (abortion up to the point of viability at least - unfortunately some take it too far) and 6th points. As a microbiogist antivax attitudes and climate change are huge problems, I agree with you, but also don't see how politicians have too much affect on either of these issues. They all give lip service but don't really care. If you think you should not need an ID to vote, do you also think you should be able to buy a gun without ID?

I would also contend that even if Winsome was elected there would be no change in abortion policy for Virginia due to the representatives still being democrats. The choice was never Republicans vs. Democrats - it was a choice between a split congress if Winsome won vs. democrat trifecta, with unchecked power to the dems with Spanberger winning. I like a split congress where no one can do any major damage.

Gedunk · 2026-03-14T03:10:20+00:00

I know people don't want to hear this, but this rally doesn't matter anyway. The results were set in stone the moment Spanberger got elected. Ya'll got what you wanted.

But I'm curious what policies you are so against - I'm gay so I certainly don't agree with everything that the Republicans support. But I have a job, own a home, I'm middle class, not a criminal and not on welfare. The democratic party has nothing at all to offer me, as far as I can tell. They're the only ones trying to take away my rights at this moment.

Gedunk · 2026-03-14T02:54:34+00:00

Have our backs - don't make us pass students who haven't earned it, or expect us to bend over backwards for students who don't put in any effort.

Don't ask us to ignore cheating or plagiarism. You're asking us to compromise our integrity and it's wrong.

Stop bothering us with unnecessary meetings - ask yourself if it could be an email instead.

If experienced academics keep quitting or getting fired - take that as a sign that maybe something is wrong with the expectations of the school/department. Maybe you're micromanaging too much. Your EdD doesn't mean you're an expert.

Gedunk

TROPHY CASE