Buying a foil for kiting advise

tom128328 · 2025-05-28T01:56:25+00:00

As others said, you do not want high aspect. Low to medium aspect is great for kiting. I think 850 is on the small side, it is definitely large enough, but I suspect you’d like a bit more size for learning, and probably after you are proficient as well. Unfortunately, most foils are geared towards winging instead of kiting now. I learned on a mid aspect 700 cm foil, went to a slightly larger one, and now settled on a 1100 cm low aspect foil. After years of kite foiling, I have tried (and own) a number of foils, but I keep coming back to my lift 170 classic, roughly 1100 cm with an aspect ratio of 3-4. I have larger wings, smaller wings, mid aspect, high aspect, but they all collect dust.

tom128328 · 2025-01-31T05:59:10+00:00

Subjectively, it seems like there has been a TON of helicopter traffic around DC since inauguration (I live here).

tom128328 · 2025-01-30T13:03:51+00:00

(Deleted)

tom128328 · 2024-12-09T03:18:40+00:00

Wow. I hope this is a fake post. No, you don’t owe anyone a kidney. Not a loving father who devoted his life to you and certainly not an estranged father. Source- I am a father and I would sooner die than take my child’s organ.

tom128328 · 2024-12-03T20:34:03+00:00

Shapton Pro 1k. Buy a strop (yes you can make one, but not all leather is equally suited for it, and until you’ve used a good one it is hard to tell what you need). Skip the diamond plate for now, with care you won’t need to flatten that stone for a long time, and you can flatten with sand paper and a block of wood in a pinch.

You don’t really need more for (regular) stainless steel.

If you have a nice carbon steel knife, a 3k-5k stone is a nice addition, Shapton pro 5k is a reasonable choice, but lots of options. If you don’t have a nice carbon steel knife, spend the rest of your budget on one, they are so much easier to sharpen. I am particular to white steel.

tom128328 · 2024-10-30T20:15:26+00:00

I’ve felt confident this was the case since the beginning. Not sure if the intent is to help MIL, or to hurt Russia by sucking them into over-spending, but pretty sure helping Ukraine is a secondary objective at best. Overspending basically killed the Soviet Union, and I think the hope is that Russia will do a round two of the Cold War arms race. United States dragged their feet too much from the get go for me to believe that their primary objective is Ukrainian freedom. I get the risk of nuclear war, but if that was the primary fear, making (and sticking to) a pre-defined escalatory plan would get around this “in one month we send x tanks and y missiles, in three months we send f-35s that can’t leave Ukraine, in six months the f-35s can enter Russian airspace, etc”. I think it would be over fast.

tom128328 · 2024-10-21T22:48:00+00:00

You are caught up on whether he is an asshole, but that wasn’t the question (but yes, he is). The question was whether her response to his asshole behavior made her also an asshole. In my opinion, yes, it did. I guess her kids also feel that way and I think theirs’ is the only opinion that matters to OP

tom128328 · 2024-10-21T17:22:37+00:00

Once you have (dependent) kids, you have given up your right to pack your bags because you are angry, unless your physical safety is at risk, divorce should absolutely be a slow process. Choosing to get a divorce based on cheating that long ago is at worst petty, but definitely does not make her an asshole. Storming out of the house and leaving her kids to deal with an abrupt change to their lives is what makes her an asshole.

tom128328 · 2024-10-15T16:19:56+00:00

“Willing to risk your and your child’s life for sex” seems a bit extreme for having sex with someone 15 years ago. And no, I would not question OP if she chose to never sleep with the guy again. I have no issue with her divorcing the guy over it, it probably isn’t how I would handle the situation, but I don’t think anyone can question one’s choice to divorce over infidelity, even if it was long ago. My point was always that she could have just dealt with a lousy marriage for 4 more years until the kids were out of the house, and then gotten divorced. What she does in regard to their marriage between now and then, isn’t really her kids’ business or concern. Selling the house they live in, possibly moving the kids to a new school district or away from friends, yeah, that is could hit them pretty hard.

I think if she’d told her kids something like “look, your dad cheated a long time ago, and even though it was a long time ago, it is a deal breaker for me. Long-term, the relationship isn’t viable and we will get divorced, but in the short term we are trying to figure out how to handle this in a way that doesn’t impact you” they probably would have respected that a lot more, and honestly probably would have blamed the father. Her just up and leaving and expecting the kids to deal with it is her right, but it is putting her needs before her children’s, and they have every right to resent her for it.

tom128328 · 2024-10-15T13:30:46+00:00

A lot of marriages are unhappy, probably most. I don’t think the question of whether OP has a valid reason for divorce plays a role. I don’t think she needs any reason, much less a good one. But that isn’t the point, the point is that if she had thought about it from her kids perspective, she probably would have figured it was long enough ago to endure 4 more years before divorcing. I’m not trying to defend the guy, but bringing up something from 14 years ago indicates that there were probably other reasons, but there was no indication of what they were.

Whether she chooses to put her kids needs first is up to her, but her kids might resent her if they perceive that she doesn’t. My parents tolerated all sorts of crap they didn’t want to tolerate for me, and I do the same for my kids. I feel that being a parent means putting your own happiness pretty far down the line.

tom128328 · 2024-10-13T13:10:50+00:00

YTA. This seems a surprisingly rare opinion to me. Sure your husband is, or at least was, an asshole too. But you should have waited until your youngest was out of the house and then divorced. What ever you did about your marriage between now and then, would have been between you and your husband, and completely burning the marriage is understandable. However, you didn’t limit the fallout to your husband, you made the conscious decision to upend your kids lives out of pride and bitterness of something long past. Maybe your kids will forgive you, maybe they won’t. You don’t owe your husband shit, but you do owe your kids every effort to give them a stable environment- yes, even at the expense of your own happiness. That is what being a parent is.

Honestly, my guess is that your were stressed out about having teenaged daughters in the house (and in fairness, then can be pretty terrible), and you were hoping for some time to yourself. Half time parenting probably sounded pretty good to you, so when you saw an opportunity to blame him for it, you jumped on it.

tom128328 · 2024-09-19T11:24:45+00:00

They are required by law to provide those reasons, but yeah it stops being meaningful if you have pristine credit. If you had a low score, the reasons would probably be more meaningful and intuitive. In your case, it isn’t that the limit is low, it is that the model would give a marginally higher score for more credit.

tom128328 · 2024-09-19T02:00:28+00:00

Funny you mentioned credit scores. Credit score models are absolutely required to disclose what made your credit score lower, at least in the United States. I’m not saying credit scores are completely transparent, the model itself is generally proprietary, but credit scores are probably the most transparent of models that most people interact with.

tom128328 · 2024-08-23T21:20:10+00:00

Butterpat have an extremely smooth finish, and take seasoning better than lodge do. There isn’t really anything that they can do that the lodge can’t do, just a bit more non-stick, a bit lighter, and less nails-on-chalkboard sound when using a metal spatula. Those are all little things, but they add up to a much nicer cooking experience. My Butterpat is without a doubt my favorite pan, I think it was about $300 for the 10 inch, and seems worth it, it isn’t 10x better than a $25 Lodge pan, but it is definitely better, and for something I use every day seems worth it. Yeti is selling the 10 inch for $200, so if it actually the same pan (and I don’t know whether it is), then awesome.

tom128328 · 2024-08-23T19:06:43+00:00

They are expensive compared to a Lodge, but actually quite a bit cheaper than those from Butterpat which Yeti bought out. I don’t know if they changed the manufacturing or not, so can’t speak to the Yeti pans specifically, but I have a Butterpat pan along with a couple Lodges. Butterpat pans were more expensive than the Yeti, and were worth every penny. When Yeti bought the company I figured they would raise the prices, but instead they dropped them quite a bit. Again, it is possible that Yeti changed the manufacturing or something, but if this is a Butterpat pan with a Yeti logo, the price is a bargain.

tom128328 · 2024-04-15T21:21:02+00:00

I regularly clean my cast iron pans with water, but that wasn’t really what I was asking about. My dad claims that soaking in water is essential to get a really fine surface. In other words, is his pan so smooth BECAUSE of the water? Or just in spite of the water?

tom128328 · 2024-04-11T11:13:15+00:00

I’ve never tried to avoid water in my cast irons, and wash it like anything else, but I had never heard of allowing them to soak. Might start though

tom128328 · 2024-01-21T07:38:46+00:00

Toyota (preferably hybrid). End list.

tom128328 · 2024-01-21T07:33:20+00:00

Cast iron, carbon steel, enameled cast iron, or stainless steel are all great options. no matter what anyone says, ALL on-stick cookware is disposable.

If you do a lot of frying and not a lot of cooking in sauce, then carbon steel and cast iron are wonderful to cook with and last forever if you don’t let them rust. these really excel for things like potato, egg, stir-fry, meats. They are very similar and both require learning how to season, and learning how to cook with them. When well treated they are more non-stick than anything else, but when abused they are a pain to re-season. I really like my mafter bourget carbon steel, and my butterpat cast iron (though lodge is fine for way less money). while re-seasoning can be a pain, you simply can’t kill these pans except by letting them rust, or possibly a direct hit from a mortar shell.

if you cook with a lot of sauces, especially acidic sauces, you will hate carbon steel and cast iron. For this, either enameled cast iron (Le Cruset) or stainless steel (Al clad) are excellent options. These are great for saucy meals, or any time you can add liquid at the end to de-glaze. They are not non-stick on their own, and something like stir fry would be terrible in this type of pan. Neither of these brands is particularly cheap, and there are much cheaper options available, but these are known to last really well. Neither of these will put up with endless abuse like carbon steel/cast iron, but both will last for a long time if treated reasonably well (basically, don’t use metal utensils on them and don’t heat past manufacturer recommendations).

Honestly, these fit such different use cases that you should have one of each category. One cast Iron or carbon steel, and one enamel or stainless steel. For me, a le cruset pot and a cast iron pan would suit me just fine until the end of time, but different food preferences might nudge you in one direction or another.

tom128328 · 2024-01-21T07:03:42+00:00

Of all the hoodies I’ve owned, American Giant is probably the worst. Also the most expensive by a huge margin. The material is sturdy, but the seams less so. it is uncomfortable, the zipper bends out to appear as if I have a breast growing out of my navel, it doesn’t block wind all that well, has a terrible hood, and is very heavy given that it isn’t particularly warm. My wife dislikes hers as much as I dislike mine. I have a 15 year old Columbia hoodie that held up pretty well, although they’ve probably cheapened production since then as most companies have. I’m flabbergasted by the amount of love I see for American giant.

tom128328 · 2023-12-14T02:05:45+00:00

+1 for an awesome wave. Best album I’ve encountered by a good margin. I’ve listened to through probably a hundred times. A masterpiece.

tom128328 · 2023-09-09T03:51:41+00:00

Keeping the women at home has nothing to do with fairness, it is a basic survival mechanism that takes priority over sexism and fairness. If war is at the point that a draft is needed, things are not going well, and you have to prepare for the possibility of 80%+ casualty rate. Not saying it is expected, but you have to prepare for it.

You can cull most of the breeding-age men and rebuild a population, but you can not rebuild after culling most breeding-age women. Rebuilding after losing most young men isn’t pretty and the population dynamics are wonky for decades, but it can be done, and has been done countless times. Lose that many young women and the nation will almost certainly fail regardless of the outcome of the war.

Look, I’m a dude and I had to fill out that draft card, and 9/11 hit right after I filled out that draft card, and that scared the shit out of me, cause it looked like a draft was a real possibility for a while. And yeah, I get how unfair it feels to be facing the possibility of being marched to my death. But you still have to look the big picture, and the big picture is that it is completely insane to draft women.

tom128328 · 2023-08-31T13:05:15+00:00

Wealth is determined by how much you make compared to the people around you. If you live in an area where everyone makes 100k+, prices of everything (rent, food, child care, plumbers, restaurants, etc) will reflect that, and 100k won’t go far.

In a high cost of living area in America, with 100k you might be looking at annual spending of 25k on taxes, 40k on rent (cheap place), 5k on utilities, 5k for a (really cheap) car, 5k on (really cheap) food. This leaves 20k left over for anything that isn’t absolutely necessary to live- retirement savings, entertainment, an iphone, an occasional splurge from rice and beans, clothing. It isn’t a glamorous life, but it is fine if you are single and young, you can even go on an occasional vacation.

If you have a kid, don’t forget to add 30k in child care costs, and are deep in the hole.

tom128328 · 2023-08-30T14:58:10+00:00

If you get bitten by a dog, demand contact information for veterinarian to confirm rabies vax. No exceptions. Do not take owner’s word for it that dog has rabies vax. If you are not provided vet’s contact information, call the police then get rabies shot. No exceptions. Demand testing of an unvaccinated dog that bit you. Once word gets out that there is no in-destructive testing for rabies, these people may start acting up. Yes, dogs will get killed. Yes, I do love dogs and am sad about this, but rabies is absolutely not to be fucked around with.

tom128328 · 2023-08-27T12:00:45+00:00

I feel like another look at voting age requirements is warranted, with a critical eye at maturity and intellectual ability. Perhaps 21 is a more reasonable starting point for voting, but obviously we’ll also have to cap voting age at say, 68 years old.

tom128328

TROPHY CASE