What's On Your Wishlist?

A Cray Jag to replace my Dell Inspiron. Not very portable (and the electric bill is horrendous) but the graphics are awesome!

My Dell Inspiron is working o.k, but it is very sensitive to touch of fingers.

Well, as long as you mentioned Jag, I would love to have a new Jag also. Thanks for the offer. A black F type would do. The R coupe would be outstanding. Thanks again. Bob.

I might be wrong, but China has overtaken the Jag. The name escapes me, but it translates as something like ' Milky Way 2'. Bit hard to say, none of the players are going to say too much - especially when 'defence' departments are involved..

Like Phys and a few others have mentioned, I'm not too fussed what I get for Crimbo. Dunno if it happens on America, but a daft jumper is almost a cert on X-mas day for blokes of a certain age. We bail for a swift pint at lunchtime and compare knitware. Strange but true.

I'd like a good Turkey recipe. Only recently did I hear of brining <whatever> before cooking. It supposedly keeps the meat moist. First experiment was on some pork chops. They came out delicious, but too salty for my taste. I'd either got the mix wrong or left them too long. Can't risk that on the traditional Christmas Turkey. If I had my way it would be goose or duck.

I've no idea why/how brining works, and can only but guess it's some sort of osmosis thing. Couple of weeks to experiment, so any suggestions are welcome. The obvious answer is to get a quality bird and ask whoever has reared it. I want to know how brining works - I'll more than happily just grab a sarnie, but risk a very near death experience if a perfect turkey is not delivered to table (the turkey is the only bit I do).

Australians suggesting stuff with beer cans will be ignored, unless backed up by science.

Apart from the science of keeping a turkey moist, I want one thing...

...a quadcopter with cam !

ask whoever has reared it.

I thought only lonely farmers did that

For Thanksgiving, I bought an oil less turkey fryer. What the heck is that?

It looks like a conventional deep fryer, but there is a designed hole in the bottom of the pot. There is a double wall round "oven" that cooks the food with infrared heat. The propane heats the space between the outer and inner walls. The inner wall cooks the turkey. We injected Moho marinade into the meaty sections of the bird, and a home made mix of seasonings rubbed on the outside. We cooked it till the thermometer read 170, and it was very moist, and loaded with flavor through and through. Any juices that run out are collected in a catch tray under the cooker. The bonus for this, is crisp flavorful skin all around the turkey. Another bonus is the $40 in peanut oil we do not have to buy.

This was only one of two turkeys we had. The other was a conventional oven roasted bird with stuffing. Search the net for fried turkeys, and oil less fried turkeys. Try it out on a chicken to test. Good luck, and good eating.

I'll never look at Bernard Matthews quite the same way ever again .

'oil-less fryer' sounds a bit like waterless kettle, but I get the idea. I'd never though of injecting a marinade. You've got me salivating, so some hapless chicken will be experimented upon. Cheers for the tips .

I cleaned out my workshop/shed last week, after a year of throwing things in there helter skelter. I couldn't (literally) get in the door.

So now, just before Christmas, I've got a completely new set of specialty sockets and ratchets, two shop vacs, two chain saws, three drills, a grinder, a Sawzall, a router, a drill press and tools, tools, tools that I haven't seen for 5 years.

Oh, and 5, yes 5 sets of golf clubs, a cast aluminum oil pan and Mallory HEI (both NIB) for SB Chevy, and after 10 years in various stages of disassembly and rebuilding a 1972 Chevy Corvette that is coming out of the upholstery shop all new and shiny next week.

I'm getting the wife new cookie sheets and baking pans. Oh, and the Vette is really hers, so she's getting that, too.

Me, I'm getting a new Driod phone.

I have a long list of tools and equipment but I'm just telling everyone to give me gift cards to various places I like to shop. That way I get the RIGHT tools!

Wife is still insisting that I get rid of one tool for every new one! So I just find a new hiding place to "get rid of one" in!

Know what you are saying - over the weekend, since the weather was getting really bad, I tried to install the thoughtful LED lighted bicycle fenders my wife got me for my birthday in September, and, well, as I thought, they don't fit a bike I own, and I have 10. (they are clearly intended for road bikes with typical road tires - I ride nothing smaller than 35mm, and never on true road geometry bikes with steep short seat stays) I would never have bought them myself, but since it was a gift, I tried them.

Tom, Next time you see some cheap piece of crap tool available, get it, and smuggle it home, even if it is broken. Then make a big deal about getting rid of that old POS, and rightfully get a RIGHT tool. Good luck.

No, I can not put you up if you get busted.

Always easier to get tools if you can make a project for her that you need the new tool for. Learned that from my father who learned it from his father who learned it from his father-in-law. The Return On Investment is calculated this way: (Cost of new tool)/(cost of project * labor to make project). Units are Gonzos. The higher the gonzos the better you did.

Good Luck, Old Salt

You're a droid and I'm annoyed.

Last year, I sold my house and moved into an apartment. The apartment is plenty big enough for my wife and I, but Santa, I desperately need a home for all the tools that I have accumulated over the 50 years as a tool maker and engineer. Right now I have a big tool chest living in the bedroom closet, Two more living in the back of my car, and there are sill more that I left in the factory where I retired from because I still work there part time there.

How about you rent a storage unit?? Or buy an acre of land out in the country...there is country still left in MA isn't there?

I feel your pain. I retired in March, and I have way, way too many tools. I worked as a mechanic since I was 18. When I moved to Fla. in 74, I purchased some used hand tools. I still have some of them, as well as 40 years of buying what was "needed". I now have so many tool chests, that I needed to rent a storage unit. Now I have most of my "first line" tools a mile away from the house. The culls are at the house, where I do my projects. I need a new plan.

My tools are like my children, Now that I am retired I don't need them, or should I say, they don't need me any more. But I can't just let them go. They are a big part of my life.

I want a lander that can land on all of its legs on a comet

The lander is easy, its getting it there that's difficult.

Atlas Scientific RGB probe. I already have their ORP, pH, and temperature probe hooked up to an Arduino Due to dose pool chemicals. That was a fun project!

Any Ryobi tool I don't have - a short list.

Any Arduino board/sensor that I don't have - another short list.

A big honking 0-24/30 VDC power supply =>5A. I'm tired of cobbling a PS together out of spare parts just to test something.

Variac =>3A.

Beer.

More beer. You can't have enough!

A 64/128/256 GB USB stick.

Just a few ideas off the top of my head!

Any Arduino board/sensor that I don't have - another short list.

Wait for the TRE.

I want 200,000 of a few common high and low watt induction lights, and one signed by Tesla on a copy of the lobbyists and people standing in the way's Obituarys...

Also an opinion from Rudolf on his experiences with... OMG I forgot to add that above. Old age.

This comment is formed by random info I've come across - I hope someone explains to me my degree of idiocy (as usual! LOL)

Have plenty of tools and would like more but I can wait for them. How long I don't know. Now have over 100 hammers so I certainly don't need any more of them.

Have several cars and p/u truck so I don't need any more.

Have my sail boats which I love almost more than anything else. Could always use more electronics for them. That would be nice but not absolutely necessary.

Would like less gray hair but that's impossible without "only your hair dresser will know."

What I would like is people in this country, all of the world also, to treat their fellow man/fellow women better and how they would like to be treated. No more killing over road rash, robbers killing their victims and many other senseless losses of life. No more riots over what will seem stupid in the future. I lived through enough riots during my younger years that I know that rioters usually destroy their own properties and usually gain nothing by rioting. Wife once had to leave work in a state police armored personnel carrier. I guess this is a lot to ask for but it has to start some time.

I want to be treated and treat my fellow man as civilized individual people who can live their lives and die of old age. I want to leave this world a little better than it was when I came here. I don't want to hate others because they want to hate me. I want a better world to live in for all humans.

Will you join me in setting the same goals or even better ones? Makes a great for all. Santa would also like to receive it on many gift lists.

Happy Holidays to all!

Good Luck, Old Salt

A better world would be nice, but what I really want is a Kenwood TS-990S.

What I want is to be rid of this stinking sinus head cold.

Other than that I'm pretty well fixed. A corker for my home made wine would be handy.

BTW I just tried making a batch of home brew stout from a kit (Wilkinsons) inspired by the thread on beer making... V nice. Some ingredients for a fancier homebrew would be good.

A couple of bandsaw blades that remain permanently sharp would be cool.
Oooh oooh and a laser range finder for measuring distance of arrow shots.

Del

Hi Dell, I can recommend solution to your first problem:-

1. For sinus I do "Jal Neti" that is I sit on chair near sink and I pass warm salt water through one side of nose to other keeping my face tilted. I do this in early morning. You have to learn this technique at any Yoga classes or on the net web site:jalnetipot.com. It has helped me a lot.

2. In hale steam from portable steam generator 2/3 times a day. This has also reduced my old sinus problem.

Hi, Yeah, I do the snorting hot salty water thing, it certainly helps.
I had one side chiselled out many years ago.. the surgeon said it was like the inside of an old fashioned glue pot! I've had one of the ones up in my forehead done too
Del

That is called "deviated septum", I was also operated for the same way back in year 1969. It did reduce some of my sinus but not a complete cure. Sinus is due to cavities in nasal and forehead areas. Sorry it can not be fully cured but can be controlled with exercises and prevention.

Now contact a very recommended (highly skilled) Plastic Surgeon and ask him what can be done now. Many advances in rhinoplasty have been made since "many years ago". I know several people who never dreamed that this surgery was capable of doing what it did.

Contact a "sleep center", usually affiliated with a hospital, and ask them about Bi-pap and C-pap machines. They slightly increase the pressure of the air you breath while sleeping. Therefor your sleep is more effective and you are less tired during the day. It also reduces snoring to almost none which helps your refresh and especially helps the heart. Many heart attacks originate because of prior breathing difficulties, especially snoring.

Good Luck, Old Salt

If I were you I'd just sniff some warm brandy.

Don't you have a brandy snifter in the glass cabinet?

Tilted which way? No kidding, you must be flexible enough to actually tilt head, and there are a lot of stiff necked folks on here.

For detailed information and if you are really serious then please visit www.jalnetipot.com. It is very well explained there. It is part of Yoga exercises.

My wish list is PEACE,PEACE,PEACE throughout the world.

My wishes are pretty simple - a cable to connect my iPad to the TV and some new lenses for my camera. Product photography is more challenging than I thought it would be!

And maybe a long vacation to a new place... And a pony would be nice, too.

I was thinking of a new computer and have done some looking. It's quite perplexing in that comparing units is not at all easy. Some have dual-core and some quad-core, but most I can't figure out. For example what is the AMD E-series? What is the Celeron J1800? Should I get a new desktop or an all-in-one? How much memory speed do I need, and how do I determine it on the unit at the store? Will I be satisfied with windows 8? How many USB 3.0 ports do I need? Is the $49 unit on the internet a scam? Oh, please, I need your help!

Since my early 20's there are three things that I have seriously set my goals on owning (no jokes here). I was sure no one would buy them for me so I started saving my pennies. One, but much smaller model, I was about to buy but someone else, a relative of the sellers, put the money out first.

1. An aircraft tug suitable for towing/pushing a B-52, 747 or an A3?0. A Tug model U-30 or a Hugh T800 would suffice. Both have a gross weight of at least 100,000# and have a draw bar pull of at least 70,000#. My goal was to drive it through 42nd St in NYC, downtown Chicago or downtown Los Angeles. No question who would have the right-of-way!

http://www.tugtech.com/Product%20Brochures/U30.pdf

http://www.jetall.com/product.html?id=322

2. A full size steam locomotive. Attempted to buy a fireless switcher but the guy sold it to a relative. Now a Mikado or a model similar would be good.

3. A real antique fire engine. A 20's or 30's Pirsch would do. If not a horse drawn boiler type. Don't have any horses so that might be an obstacle.

No need to wrap any of them. That consumes so much paper and trees.

No hammers please!

Good Luck, Old Salt

Seems to me as I get older, there is less each year I think I need. Really not asking for a thing this year, at home. At work, I have a BIG wish list for them to consider purchasing for the electrical shop.

Something better than a long extension cord to my workshop. I get tired of the space heater welding the plastic ends of two cords together, LOL!

Also I would like to have success on my latest experiments at home with semi-galvanic batteries. (Don't ask, but I did get one to have less than 10 Ohms at its peak temperature)

I would like for my group's fusion experiments to actually be fusion and not something we forgot to account for, and to not shut themselves off while no one is looking.

I would also like it if the mayor here got out of politics, and started leading us into a workable future here.

A time machine to go forward and bring back a computer that won't be obsolete for a while, that's if it wants to go back with me.

A rodeo clown barrel with a clear Plexiglas cover.

A 120v "short circuit tester" with an led and pushbutton that trips the breaker leaving the room dark except for the led.

A crystal radio shaped like a rocket to connect to the bedframe that gets all the government frequency's.

A car that drives itself to and back from bars and waits for a while after you get home listening for domestic disturbances.

Last but not least, whirled peas.

This year, what I really want is a little health improvement for my wife. The rest is not that important.

I just installed a new lower element in the oven. My wife said the old one was on fire.

Silly girl. It was just arcing and melting.

Well now she thinks I'm handy. (She wanted to buy a new oven)

As Red Green says, if you can't be handsome, you better be handy.