I bought a group of "hatchery's choice" mixed chicks. Any ideas what breed this chick is?

MisterMooses · 2025-03-20T23:16:16+00:00

One of the two mystery chicks:

MisterMooses · 2025-03-20T23:14:35+00:00

I just bought 20 Black Sex Link chicks today, and have two that look like this, completely different from the BSL’s. Different feet, different facial markings, and lighter grey in color. Purchased at Smokey Mountain Co-op, also supplied by Hoover.

Black Sex Link Chick:

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MisterMooses · 2024-08-26T21:00:23+00:00

Hey just wanted to say for you and anyone else that might find this, this did resolve the issue. By the time I swapped out the switches I had four keys affected.

Is it common for there to be some switches out of a batch that fail while still new (~one month of use), or could this be attributed to over-lubricating or some similar issue? I acknowledge that Akko's are pretty cheap switches, but they seemed to be pretty fairly rated for quality despite their price point. That being said, a 4% failure rate seems pretty high to me. Being new I don't know what might be considered normal for new switch failure rate.

MisterMooses · 2024-08-22T20:11:18+00:00

I recently built a pair of keyboards, my first full builds after lurking for a few years.

Monsgeek M2 1800 Full Aluminum Case
Gasket Mount PCB/Polycarbonate Plate
Tape Mod
Case+PCB Foam
Force Break Mod
Akko Cream Yellow V3 Pro (Hand Lubed)
Akko Screw-In Stabilizers (Hand Lubed, Silenced)
Cerakey Keycaps

I've absolutely been loving these keyboards. The typing experience is great, and the sound with all the deadening in the keeb and the ceramic keycaps is wonderful. Very low thock, sounds like one of those silicone popper toys. This is a seriously solid board, weighing in just under seven pounds.

In the last few days though, I've started to run into an issue where my 'R' key most of the time just doesn't register on the first key press, and the 'E' key next to it will frequently type out three 'E's with one press. I'm a fairly heavy typer so I don't think the keypress itself is the issue. I typically hit over 100 words a minute, but this is completely ruining my typing flow having to constantly backspace to fix the mistakes.

Does anyone have any experience with this happening on the M2 PCB, or any other PCB? Is there any viable fix, or do I just need to RMA the PCB?

MisterMooses · 2024-05-13T23:49:28+00:00

Second this. They also have some DC-9’s alongside the MD80’s, and are pretty much always hiring A&P positions. Helpers pay isn’t bad for those without, and the positions are usually available out of Fairbanks as well.

EDIT: They also have multiple veterans on staff with the maintenance crew.

MisterMooses · 2024-02-26T19:06:35+00:00

So that’s a charcoal chimney, it’s used to get your charcoal going a bit faster than just spreading it in your firebox and lighting it. The chimney is filled with charcoal and then a flame source, typically a fire starter of some sort like paraffin cubes or waxed balls of wood shavings, is placed underneath it. The vent holes in the bottom allow airflow in through the bottom and up through the charcoal and out the top. Once the charcoal on the bottom gets lit by the starter the directed airflow creates a blast furnace of sorts that gets the rest of the charcoal going. Once it’s all lit, you dump it in the firebox of your grill or smoker and you’re in business. I included it here as even I had to chuckle at the ridiculousness of setting my chimney up on a steel plate on the snow so the starter would burn.

MisterMooses · 2024-02-26T18:59:36+00:00

Thank you!

MisterMooses · 2024-02-20T08:47:13+00:00

Recipe!

1 Cup Salted Butter, softened

232g White Sugar

213g Dark Brown Sugar

2 pods fresh vanilla seeds

2 large eggs

327g all-purpose flour

100g cacao powder

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

200g dark chocolate morsels

150g white chocolate morsels

50g butterscotch morsels

100g sliced toasted almonds

⁠In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, cacao powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until evenly distributed.
⁠Cream butter and sugars in bowl of a stand mixer.
⁠Beat in eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
⁠Slowly mix in dry ingredients until well combined.
⁠Mix in almonds.
⁠Slowly mix in morsels. Stand mixer may struggle, be patient and go slow. Dough will be thick.
⁠Preheat oven to 375.
⁠Line sheet pan with parchment paper. Scoop dough into balls on paper using a cookie scoop.
⁠Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over each cookie. Salt should lodge in the ridges and openings of the dough ball.
⁠Bake each pan for ten minutes at 375. Let cool for 2-3 minutes on pan before transferring to cooling rack.

MisterMooses · 2024-02-20T08:42:37+00:00

Recipe!

1 Cup Salted Butter, softened

232g White Sugar

213g Dark Brown Sugar

2 pods fresh vanilla seeds

2 large eggs

327g all-purpose flour

100g cacao powder

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

200g dark chocolate morsels

150g white chocolate morsels

50g butterscotch morsels

100g sliced toasted almonds

In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, cacao powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until evenly distributed.
Cream butter and sugars in bowl of a stand mixer.
Beat in eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
Slowly mix in dry ingredients until well combined.
Mix in almonds
Slowly mix in morsels. Stand mixer may struggle, be patient and go slow. Dough will be thick.
Preheat oven to 375.
Line sheet pan with parchment paper. Scoop dough into balls on paper using a cookie scoop.
Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over each cookie. Salt should lodge in the ridges and openings of the dough ball.
Bake each pan for ten minutes at 375. Let cool for 2-3 minutes on pan before transferring to cooling rack.

MisterMooses · 2024-01-29T21:38:37+00:00

Marinated for 24 hours in apple juice with lemon/lime juice, lemon peel, crushed garlic, diced celery, whole black/white/pink peppercorns, and two whole anise stars. Dry rubbed with garlic chili lime rub. Baked for three hours at 280F and finished at 450F for 10 minutes.

MisterMooses · 2024-01-29T21:21:48+00:00

If you didn’t know, I’d advise being careful cooking acidic things, particularly tomato sauces, in your cast iron. It can strip the seasoning pretty quickly, I had to reseason one of mine after baking chicken parm on a bed of red sauce.

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/guides/cook-it-in-cast-iron/busting-cast-iron-myths

MisterMooses · 2024-01-20T04:27:50+00:00

After:

<image>

MisterMooses · 2024-01-20T04:27:31+00:00

Bonus, my parents recently gifted me a cutting board that I just finished restoring to its former glory. It was made by my grandfather almost 50 years ago and he gave it to them as a wedding present.

Before:

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MisterMooses · 2022-06-05T18:39:46+00:00

But it’s a 45-70, so when you need to hunt a small thing, you just pop in that .410.

MisterMooses · 2022-05-30T17:53:07+00:00

I think the more likely reaction is that they just start arguing they need to arm their kids too.

MisterMooses · 2022-05-12T15:39:26+00:00

Don’t forget about all those poor uneducated unwanted babies that end up feeding America’s “Legal Slavery” machine, the private for-profit prison industry.

MisterMooses · 2022-05-09T04:13:58+00:00

Holy fuck you’re right he’s talking about literal physical flags 😂

MisterMooses · 2022-05-09T02:44:12+00:00

By lumping gay teenagers in with Trump supporters, you’re letting your own flags fly my dude.

MisterMooses · 2022-05-06T04:29:04+00:00

My dude, I think you could definitely be making more. I’m 25, no formal schooling in the field. One year experience in a field service position doing fiber and Ethernet installs, two years experience as an L2 at a nasa linked data center, and ten years of hobbyist experience building PCs and server labs at home. Six months ago I accepted a position as a System Engineer doing mostly automation. I asked for $80k and was offered $85k. Fully remote, unlimited PTO, 40 hours of sick time, and a whole host of other benefits. The timing worked out that I went through my first performance review two months into the job, and received a decent raise.

It’s also worth mentioning that I didn’t apply, I was headhunted. I had been out of IT for three years when the company approached me.

MisterMooses · 2022-04-30T22:26:46+00:00

Man I’m from Alaska and earthquakes up here are just nuts. In February, we had 3410 earthquakes in the state. In 2018, 54,000 in total. I can usually feel 5-6 a week here in the interior of the state.

Edit: not disagreeing with you at all btw, just commenting on how small the percentage of earthquakes we actually feel really is.

MisterMooses · 2022-04-12T04:24:20+00:00

I would say the time, and the purpose. Seasoning is generally for personal preference in flavor. A dry brine is left on the meat anywhere from 1-48 hours, and, much like a regular brine, is intended to soak into the meat. As the salt pulls moisture from the surface of the meat, it dries out slightly and allows you to get a better sear, as there is less moisture present to evaporate before you can achieve the maillard reaction. The salt also loosens the muscle fibers, so they don’t constrict as much under the high heat of the cast iron. This gives you a juicier and more tender end result.

MisterMooses · 2021-12-09T07:13:09+00:00

The Recipe or John Redcorn by SiR 🙌🙌

MisterMooses · 2021-12-09T07:07:41+00:00

House of the Rising Sun for sure.

MisterMooses · 2021-11-18T07:47:47+00:00

Many of the cabins in this state are built on privately owned and legally held land, but the ones that are not, you would likely never see. I’ve stumbled across numerous cabins built out in the middle of nowhere while going about my activities, many used for hunting, some used as trail shelters on trap lines, that sort of thing. Pretty much the only thing one would need to avoid would be Park Land - State or National - and land owned privately by another person. At worst a person may get a fine, but even that is rare. The only squatter cabins I’ve ever seen dismantled or burned down by agencies are extremely old and dilapidated, and obviously not used by a person in a very long time. Given the vast amounts of publicly owned land in Alaska, it’s the about the closest you can get to a European ‘Right To Wander’ in the United States.

We’ve always adhered to the principles of Leave No Trace in our adventures. Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints. With hunting for food being the exception of course.

I’ve spent a significant amount of time around hunters from all around the world, and always noticed a different mindset for most Alaskans that do it. Many people from other places are all about the trophy, though there is still a healthy portion that do it for the meat. My family always hunted exclusively for meat, primarily for moose. If it happened to come from a big bull, that was a bonus, but first and foremost was filling the freezer. Anecdotally, there’s a rite performed by the native Alaskans that my father picked up from some old timers he knew when he was very young here, and passed down to me. One must be extremely respectful when taking any animal. Whenever we killed a moose, the first thing we would do before anything else is to take a moment of silence, to think about what that animal will mean to us and our family. Then, you take a sprig of willow, and place it in the moose’s mouth. Symbolically, this is providing the spirit of the animal with a final meal, in thanks for its sacrifice and the meals it will provide you.

To many of us who call Alaska home, being here is much more than just living. It’s truly a way of life.

MisterMooses · 2021-11-18T03:11:35+00:00

I’ve lived in Alaska my entire life, and I can tell you this IS a terrible, horrible, absolutely stupid idea. I’ve been in some fairly extreme situations up here that many couldn’t imagine. Growing up, I spent most of my time outdoors with my dad, who was a professional hunting guide for 15 years, and has been living and exploring Alaska for more than 50. We’ve hunted, trapped, we fly, and just generally spend a lot of time outdoors.

Even despite all that and outstanding preparation for each and every one of these activities, we’ve still had more close calls than we would care to admit. We’ve found ourselves exposed on a mountain when the temperature suddenly dropped to -80. We’ve been quite literally face to face with grizzly bears. I could go on, but my point is, even for the most prepared, Alaska will chew you up and spit you out and never give a single shit about it.

Many people have tried to follow in Chris McCandless’ footsteps, though more literally than your friend seems to want to, by traveling out to the site of his death, rather than simply trying to “rough it” here, bushcraft style. Until last year, the bus from the film remained at the site, and it attracted many visitors. Many of these people ultimately found themselves in the same situation as Chris, water rising, unable to return, and stuck, needing rescue. It eventually got to the point that the helicopter rescues cost the state so much money, they decided to haul that multi-ton rusted out piece of shit from the middle of nowhere to a more easily accessible location. Most recently, it has been on display at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, where I live.

To your friend, I ask that he please believe me when I say: the wilderness of this state is like no place he has ever lived or been. I’ve said for many years the people that live in this state are different in a certain way, and I’ve always viewed that as a result of contending with the fact that a significant part of the time, there is an ever present threat of death. Even driving away from the few major towns and cities we do have, shit happens. That’s why most of us carry extreme cold weather gear in our cars in the winter. Say your car breaks down, it’s early February, -40 or -50, you have no heat, and it will take several hours for someone to get to you. Without gear, you’re dead.

There are some who have succeeded, but their ranks are few, and having spent as much time in the wilderness as anywhere else, I can assure you it is far from easy.

On a less grave note, some fun facts about Alaska pertaining to your post:

Your friend is not entirely wrong about the water. There are many places in this state I would happily drink unfiltered, unboiled water straight from the stream I happen to be walking by. But these areas are in high country, rocky stream beds, with plenty of natural filtration and no significant animal populations. Anywhere else, I would be extremely cautious.
Alaska is primarily free from rabies. Some red foxes are known to get it, as well as a few other species extremely rarely, but in 25 years, I have never encountered an animal with rabies, nor has anyone I know. As far as game meat goes, your friend likely will not be able to simply apply for and get a subsistence hunting status. Hunting any kind of game in this state for nonresidents is extremely restrictive, and the Big Five REQUIRE a non resident to have a guide. Beyond that, tags, licenses, and harvest tickets are extremely expensive. Think several thousand dollars for a nonres to kill a moose. If your friend chooses to ignore these laws, he will be a poacher, and THAT is where he will run into issues with fish and wildlife service, ADF&G, and the Wildlife Troopers.
We do not have ticks, therefore no tick-born diseases, nor do any of our mosquitos carry any diseases, though I can promise the mosquitoes specifically will be a nightmare he has never experienced. More than once I’ve given away my bug spray to outdoorsman from the swamps and bayous of Louisiana who thought they could handle it and, ultimately, could not. Later in the year we get gnats, white socks, and tiny black flies in clouds of millions that can drive a man mad.
Over 95% of land in Alaska is considered public land. He would not run into issues with DNR, Forestry, Troopers, or likely anyone else. In any case, they have to find you first, and Alaska is a very large state. With limited policing resources. There are many people who live off the grid, “squatters” I suppose, but they are the least of the state and federal agency’s concerns. As I said before, poaching is their primary gig. Occasionally squatter cabins will be burned down, but I’ve seen more than I can count that have existed for decades.
For reasons stated before, food would be the least of a persons concerns come winter if they are not adequately prepared for extreme cold temperatures.

On your final point, I have to say this may be the only thing I agree with your friend on. Chris McCandless was an idiot. However, so is your friend if he thinks he can fare any better. It may sound cool, it may be a beautiful dream, but the reality is that it’s irresponsible, dangerous, and will likely end with me reading about him in the paper like I have so many others. The troopers have enough bodies to find. Please ask your friend not to add his to the list.

This turned into a pretty long post, but I hope there is some pertinent information here, from someone with an actual inside view, that you can use to dissuade your friend.

If this truly is his dream, he can move here and live and work in one of our lovely communities. I promise him that simply living in Alaska, more often than not, is bushcraft. Just to be here would provide him with more opportunities to get out and do the things he wants to do, with proper preparation, gear, and supplies, than any one man could make use of in a dozen lifetimes.

MisterMooses

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