If one of my cow-orkers had that disgusting keyboard in his/her office, I'd sneak in early and ensure that it died in a bizarre gardening accident.
Seriously, call the CDC - we've found the source of all evil and disease. Viral hemorrhagic fever researchers fear only two things: Chuck Norris, and Tam's keyboard.
Hey, the dust helps keep the keys something or other.
Mine has no letters on some of the keys anymore, and most of the edges of the keys have engine schmutz on them. Eventually it will be a "garage only" keyboard, but for the moment it just looks like it is.
Nice knife. I like the benchmades.
me, the only place I'll accept the "I've been doing it this way for X years" whine is where it comes to my pocketknife. I like the old traditional stuff.
I'm delighted to find another keyboard that looks as... lived in... as mine.
How much do you use those serrations on the blade? I've been avoiding them because they strike me as a fad. But I need a new knife and there's a lot of steel out
The serrations are great for cutting rope. So are sharp knives. The serrations are harder to sharpen properly (From both sides- you need a set of convex and concave slipstones of varying shapes and sizes)but they do a great job on things like rope and seat belts and etc.
of course I vcarry a whetstone with me and keep my knife sharp so it's never an issue for me.
Was going to get in a "dirty keyboard comment in 3, 2, 1.." comment in but I'm obviously well behind the curve.
I don't like the half serration styles myself. During the brief space it took for Amazon to ship a new Kershaw Leek I was carrying my CRKT M16 - the small one with a tanto half serration blade. I did not like it.
But you'll have to try one for yourself. Hey look. New knife!
I've lost yet another knife. Most recently I was carrying a CRKT Pazoda, but it has gone off to the land of Missing Single Socks. So, no memeishness until I figure out what I'm going to lose next.
I'm usually not one to judge people's cleanliness or lack thereof as I'm fairly slobbish, but that's a bit, um disgusting. The Enter key for instance, ugh, the caked on dust mixed with skin flakes and Tam secretions makes me a bit nauseous.
Joseph, you should see mine. It's full of cat fur. And crumbs. And $DEITY knows what, after all these years.
Plus, it's an old (well...maybe not that old...I used to have an old XT keyboard but it finally died on me) IBM KB-8923 full-size clickety keyboard. So old, in fact, that it's white, not black.
I really don't care much for these new lightweight keyboards. But I suffer with them when I have to.
Oh, nauseated? Here's one just like mine. Except mine doesn't have live insects living in it...and I'll bet Tam's doesn't either :)
I can't justify a very expensive pocket knife. Too likely to get lost. I got an Outdoor Edge folder as a Christmas present from the Colorado Division of Wildlife (as a hunter ed instructor volunteer). Best knife I've ever owned.
Holds an edge well. I got a caping version of it the other day. They seem to run about $25 at the local chain sporting goods stores.
I have a Kershaw Bump I carry every day now. It replaced a Benchmade Osborne with the round thumb hole, which I dearly loved but lost last spring.
Then, this fall, I found out where I'd left it: In the top right-hand drawer of my school desk, where I apparently stuck it one day so it wouldn't get me into trouble.
Since I have the Kershaw, the Benchmade is going back to the factory to be sharpened and inspected, because they offer the service and why not?
I actually have another Kershaw--a Spec Bump--somewhere, but I haven't managed to find that one yet. Also my old Camillus Cuda Maxx is in pieces in a couple of Ziplock bags. It needs to have some parts polished and go back together soon, but who has time?
And apparently a lot of people here are unfamiliar with the way photography can make stuff magically appear on items being photographed, like, for example, non-existent rust marks on guns. Many a "gun porn" thread on ARFCOM has degenerated into pissing matches about care of guns, due to tricks of lighting and highlighting. (Somehow I doubt that's really rust on the space bar in Tam's pic. And Tam shares the house with cats.)
When I gave my brother one of my cast off computers I picked out a keyboard and was immediately embarrassed at the condition it was in...so I spent the better part of three hours popping the keys off and soaking them in Simple Green, brushing miscellaneous fluffenstuff out of the contacts, and getting it pretty. Three years later and I find myself looking at it when I visit and wondering why I bothered.
As for keyboards, NJO wins this heat. I'd put up my Opinel on my Remington Model 1 but there's no point.
About a month ago, I was in this little office supply store in the town where I go to Lodge - the kind of mom-and-pop that looks like what Fred Sanford's place would have looked like if he ran an office supply store instead of a junkyard. I love it - ferpiddysake, it sold slide rules (doesn't anymore because I bought them all and sold them to my even geekier friends).
Anyway, in the front of the shop is an L.C. Smith typewriter. Who knew that in addition to top-tier shotguns, they made typewriters? I suppose if Remington could, why couldn't Elsie?
The secretary of my Lodge is a past President of the L.C. Smith Collector's club. Knowing this I instantly snapped a picture with my Tracfone and showed him.
Too late. He'd seen it, and asked the proprietor how much it cost. His answer? "Trust me, you can't afford it."
This to a man wearing a Brooks Brothers suit.
I guess shotguns weren't the only "top-tier" thing Elsie made.
Hey! Guys! This is TAM's keyboard you're talking about. I remind you of what Lincoln said when the effete Washington elite complained about Grant's drinking. "Find out what kind of keyboard she uses and send one to all the OTHER bloggers out there.
Take your keyboard, dump it in the dishwasher, vigorously shake as much water as possible out and then wait 3-5 days before plugging it back in. If you wait until you turn the heat on for the winter dump it next to a vent.
That knife kinda looks like the handle has an eyeball, and a sharkmouf wif teef, and a long thin nose sticking out with a funny tattoo on it. Badass enough.
I carry a large Cold Steel Voyager, tanto point with serrations. Best knife evar. They have changed the grip design on the new ones so I'm hopeing my old one lives thru its life time guarantee. BTW, the Warthog V-Sharp system will sharpen the blade (serrations included) in under 2 minutes.
I carry a Boy Scout "Whittler", made by (I think) Camillus back in 1967 or so. The tip of the biggest blade I broke off years ago while using it for a prybar, but I carry it because it is one of the very few things I still have from my youth, it is of excellent steel, and it was also my Dad's until he died.
Oh, Og? I am so old that I can remember that the only serrated ones there were were "Ginsus" sold at 0300 on Ted Turner's Superstation, or bread knives.
WV: diall. The way my a-pits in particular and I in general smell at the moment, I don't think diall will help very much. Hey, it keeps the humans away!
Sent my Benchmade/Bali-Song Mini AFCK with half serrated blade back to the factory for sharpening (actually, handed it to one of the techs at the Benchmade booth at SHOT). Got it in '96, IIRC. New, it was scary sharp. EVERYONE who touched the blade ended up bleeding. It would seem that the factory can no longer duplicate that, as it came back with a normal type of sharpness. What is annoying is that they reassembled it back to the original right-handed clip position, discarding my custom length button head screws needed to mount it for left-handed carry.
All my carry knives are modified for improved access for left thumb opening. Basically copying as close as possible the right-handed thumb cut-out.
My heavy use knife is a CRKT Point Guard, carried for right hand access. Got it for cutting away bumper covers of crashed cars, so they could be driven. Slightly shorter now, as the tip broke off when I tried to straighten it when bent. Don't remember bending it. Half serrated.
Got a cheapy little Barracuda half-serrated liner lock that lives in one pocket. For opening food containers, or other light-duty use.
Leatherman Micra lives in the other pocket. Very sharp blade. Needs two hands to deploy. Only straight blade I currently carry.
Have one of those Swiss+Tech Utili-Key tools on my key ring. It is a half-serrated blade. Can't remember it being used. Back up back up blade, I guess.
I have decided I will not be acquiring any more half-serrated blades for future use. Maybe if I find one with the serrations at the tip end. I have decided they are not very useful. They just get in the way of most uses for a knife. The true value of serrations is to keep a sharp cutting edge after running the blade against a surface that would dull/damage a normal edge. That is a very narrow job description for a general use knife. Essentially, that is a steak knife job. Which these can't even do, with that saw edge at the handle end of the blade. In conclusion, I would say the real purpose of them is to look intimidating, which is why you weren't allowed to fly with them back before 9/11.
Tam, I hate to criticize, but a serrated blade? Really?
I guess I've spent too much time around my old man. To him, serrated blades were a sign of laziness - it signified a person who was unable or unwilling to keep their blade sharp enough to do the job without needing to saw through something like you're carrying a hack-saw in your pocket.
Because of him I can shave with my pocket knives and have never felt the need for a serrated blade. I can cut through a seat belt with one swipe like it is made out of butter.
I guess to each his own, but I'm a firm believer in a sharp knife not ever needing serrations.
While I don't like fully-serrated blades, I'm pretty agnostic about partial serrations.
While I agree that a proper sharp straight edge will cut anything that needs cutting, I'll freely admit that I don't sharpen my knives as often as I should.
When engaged in a task like cutting open and then breaking down several pallets worth of boxes in the back room of a gun shop, a knife edge can go south pretty fast in mid-task, and I've found those serrations handy a time or two under such circumstances.
, because choosy chicks choose Benchmade!
Uhh Tam...seriously...put that thing out of its misery...
ReplyDeleteExcept for a couple posts from my G3 iBook and Eee, every single post on this blog has been done on that seven year-old Logitech...
ReplyDeleteIf one of my cow-orkers had that disgusting keyboard in his/her office, I'd sneak in early and ensure that it died in a bizarre gardening accident.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, call the CDC - we've found the source of all evil and disease. Viral hemorrhagic fever researchers fear only two things: Chuck Norris, and Tam's keyboard.
It's just dust, dude; the flash just makes it contrast sharply against the black plastic. No need to freak.
ReplyDeleteHey, the dust helps keep the keys something or other.
ReplyDeleteMine has no letters on some of the keys anymore, and most of the edges of the keys have engine schmutz on them. Eventually it will be a "garage only" keyboard, but for the moment it just looks like it is.
Nice knife. I like the benchmades.
me, the only place I'll accept the "I've been doing it this way for X years" whine is where it comes to my pocketknife. I like the old traditional stuff.
I'm delighted to find another keyboard that looks as... lived in... as mine.
ReplyDeleteHow much do you use those serrations on the blade? I've been avoiding them because they strike me as a fad. But I need a new knife and there's a lot of steel out
(Ugh, too quick on the Return key.)
ReplyDelete...steel out there with half serrated edges.
Heh. I destroy keyboards too quickly for them to get dirty...
ReplyDeleteThe serrations are great for cutting rope. So are sharp knives. The serrations are harder to sharpen properly (From both sides- you need a set of convex and concave slipstones of varying shapes and sizes)but they do a great job on things like rope and seat belts and etc.
ReplyDeleteof course I vcarry a whetstone with me and keep my knife sharp so it's never an issue for me.
I need a pic of a CRKT on a dirty PC keyboard so we can have a BenchmadeMac/CRKTPC war...
ReplyDeleteNorth,
ReplyDeleteThat's a PC keyboard.
(Also, I have CRKTs, too; no need for any wars. Can't we all just get a long gun?)
It is?? It has those frightening cult-like Mac glyphs!
ReplyDelete"Can't we all just get a long gun?"
ReplyDeleteI see what you did there.
*is envious*
Logitech keyboards are usually bidigital; they can swing either way.
ReplyDeleteMy power supply is turned on.
ReplyDeleteGads !! That looks just like my keyboard. You been in my house ?
ReplyDeleteWas going to get in a "dirty keyboard comment in 3, 2, 1.." comment in but I'm obviously well behind the curve.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the half serration styles myself. During the brief space it took for Amazon to ship a new Kershaw Leek I was carrying my CRKT M16 - the small one with a tanto half serration blade. I did not like it.
But you'll have to try one for yourself. Hey look. New knife!
Oh my...so THAT'S where all the SNARK comes-from!! Now I get it, it just oozes out! Don't change a thing.
ReplyDeleteI've lost yet another knife. Most recently I was carrying a CRKT Pazoda, but it has gone off to the land of Missing Single Socks. So, no memeishness until I figure out what I'm going to lose next.
ReplyDeleteI'm usually not one to judge people's cleanliness or lack thereof as I'm fairly slobbish, but that's a bit, um disgusting. The Enter key for instance, ugh, the caked on dust mixed with skin flakes and Tam secretions makes me a bit nauseous.
ReplyDeleteTalk about patient zero...
Joseph, you should see mine. It's full of cat fur. And crumbs. And $DEITY knows what, after all these years.
ReplyDeletePlus, it's an old (well...maybe not that old...I used to have an old XT keyboard but it finally died on me) IBM KB-8923 full-size clickety keyboard. So old, in fact, that it's white, not black.
I really don't care much for these new lightweight keyboards. But I suffer with them when I have to.
Oh, nauseated? Here's one just like mine. Except mine doesn't have live insects living in it...and I'll bet Tam's doesn't either :)
I can't justify a very expensive pocket knife. Too likely to get lost. I got an Outdoor Edge folder as a Christmas present from the Colorado Division of Wildlife (as a hunter ed instructor volunteer). Best knife I've ever owned.
ReplyDeleteHolds an edge well. I got a caping version of it the other day. They seem to run about $25 at the local chain sporting goods stores.
Drang, you don't have more than one pocket knife?
ReplyDeleteHeck, I have three of them with me here at work, and I work as a professional computer geek.
Kershaw Leek, Wenger Swiss Army knife, and Kershaw model 5200.
I have no idea how many are in my desk drawer at home, but I have some in a bag in the closet as well...
You can never have too many pocket knives...
I have a Kershaw Bump I carry every day now. It replaced a Benchmade Osborne with the round thumb hole, which I dearly loved but lost last spring.
ReplyDeleteThen, this fall, I found out where I'd left it: In the top right-hand drawer of my school desk, where I apparently stuck it one day so it wouldn't get me into trouble.
Since I have the Kershaw, the Benchmade is going back to the factory to be sharpened and inspected, because they offer the service and why not?
I actually have another Kershaw--a Spec Bump--somewhere, but I haven't managed to find that one yet. Also my old Camillus Cuda Maxx is in pieces in a couple of Ziplock bags. It needs to have some parts polished and go back together soon, but who has time?
And apparently a lot of people here are unfamiliar with the way photography can make stuff magically appear on items being photographed, like, for example, non-existent rust marks on guns. Many a "gun porn" thread on ARFCOM has degenerated into pissing matches about care of guns, due to tricks of lighting and highlighting. (Somehow I doubt that's really rust on the space bar in Tam's pic. And Tam shares the house with cats.)
ReplyDeleteLooks like you left some ketchup on the spacebar.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you need to start a "photo your keyboard/organic chem experiment" meme?
Jebus ... it's dirtier than mine ... scary.
When I gave my brother one of my cast off computers I picked out a keyboard and was immediately embarrassed at the condition it was in...so I spent the better part of three hours popping the keys off and soaking them in Simple Green, brushing miscellaneous fluffenstuff out of the contacts, and getting it pretty. Three years later and I find myself looking at it when I visit and wondering why I bothered.
ReplyDeleteYours is in a LOT better shape than my Benchmade... But my keyboard is newer (only because I spilled coffee in the last one)...
ReplyDeleteGreat, I was only going to say that keyboard and knife looked like they'd seen some hard use...but everyone else ran away with it.:-)
ReplyDeleteThe keyboard my knife was on was older. AND it fought the Nazis. Gonna say something about it? HUH?!
ReplyDeleteAnd in other news, Greenwood PD has a brace of G18s?
ReplyDeleteOpinel No. 8 in pocket, Mora in "go-bag."
ReplyDeleteAs for keyboards, NJO wins this heat. I'd put up my Opinel on my Remington Model 1 but there's no point.
About a month ago, I was in this little office supply store in the town where I go to Lodge - the kind of mom-and-pop that looks like what Fred Sanford's place would have looked like if he ran an office supply store instead of a junkyard. I love it - ferpiddysake, it sold slide rules (doesn't anymore because I bought them all and sold them to my even geekier friends).
Anyway, in the front of the shop is an L.C. Smith typewriter. Who knew that in addition to top-tier shotguns, they made typewriters? I suppose if Remington could, why couldn't Elsie?
The secretary of my Lodge is a past President of the L.C. Smith Collector's club. Knowing this I instantly snapped a picture with my Tracfone and showed him.
Too late. He'd seen it, and asked the proprietor how much it cost. His answer? "Trust me, you can't afford it."
This to a man wearing a Brooks Brothers suit.
I guess shotguns weren't the only "top-tier" thing Elsie made.
gvi
Hey! Guys! This is TAM's keyboard you're talking about. I remind you of what Lincoln said when the effete Washington elite complained about Grant's drinking. "Find out what kind of keyboard she uses and send one to all the OTHER bloggers out there.
ReplyDeleteM
Take your keyboard, dump it in the dishwasher, vigorously shake as much water as possible out and then wait 3-5 days before plugging it back in. If you wait until you turn the heat on for the winter dump it next to a vent.
ReplyDeleteThat knife kinda looks like the handle has an eyeball, and a sharkmouf wif teef, and a long thin nose sticking out with a funny tattoo on it. Badass enough.
ReplyDeleteI carry a large Cold Steel Voyager, tanto point with serrations. Best knife evar. They have changed the grip design on the new ones so I'm hopeing my old one lives thru its life time guarantee.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the Warthog V-Sharp system will sharpen the blade (serrations included) in under 2 minutes.
gregg
I carry a Boy Scout "Whittler", made by (I think) Camillus back in 1967 or so. The tip of the biggest blade I broke off years ago while using it for a prybar, but I carry it because it is one of the very few things I still have from my youth, it is of excellent steel, and it was also my Dad's until he died.
ReplyDeleteOh, Og? I am so old that I can remember that the only serrated ones there were were "Ginsus" sold at 0300 on Ted Turner's Superstation, or bread knives.
ReplyDeleteWV: diall. The way my a-pits in particular and I in general smell at the moment, I don't think diall will help very much. Hey, it keeps the humans away!
Sent my Benchmade/Bali-Song Mini AFCK with half serrated blade back to the factory for sharpening (actually, handed it to one of the techs at the Benchmade booth at SHOT). Got it in '96, IIRC. New, it was scary sharp. EVERYONE who touched the blade ended up bleeding. It would seem that the factory can no longer duplicate that, as it came back with a normal type of sharpness. What is annoying is that they reassembled it back to the original right-handed clip position, discarding my custom length button head screws needed to mount it for left-handed carry.
ReplyDeleteAll my carry knives are modified for improved access for left thumb opening. Basically copying as close as possible the right-handed thumb cut-out.
My heavy use knife is a CRKT Point Guard, carried for right hand access. Got it for cutting away bumper covers of crashed cars, so they could be driven. Slightly shorter now, as the tip broke off when I tried to straighten it when bent. Don't remember bending it. Half serrated.
Got a cheapy little Barracuda half-serrated liner lock that lives in one pocket. For opening food containers, or other light-duty use.
Leatherman Micra lives in the other pocket. Very sharp blade. Needs two hands to deploy. Only straight blade I currently carry.
Have one of those Swiss+Tech Utili-Key tools on my key ring. It is a half-serrated blade. Can't remember it being used. Back up back up blade, I guess.
I have decided I will not be acquiring any more half-serrated blades for future use. Maybe if I find one with the serrations at the tip end. I have decided they are not very useful. They just get in the way of most uses for a knife. The true value of serrations is to keep a sharp cutting edge after running the blade against a surface that would dull/damage a normal edge. That is a very narrow job description for a general use knife. Essentially, that is a steak knife job. Which these can't even do, with that saw edge at the handle end of the blade.
In conclusion, I would say the real purpose of them is to look intimidating, which is why you weren't allowed to fly with them back before 9/11.
Tam, I hate to criticize, but a serrated blade? Really?
ReplyDeleteI guess I've spent too much time around my old man. To him, serrated blades were a sign of laziness - it signified a person who was unable or unwilling to keep their blade sharp enough to do the job without needing to saw through something like you're carrying a hack-saw in your pocket.
Because of him I can shave with my pocket knives and have never felt the need for a serrated blade. I can cut through a seat belt with one swipe like it is made out of butter.
I guess to each his own, but I'm a firm believer in a sharp knife not ever needing serrations.
Flame suit on.
Goober,
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't like fully-serrated blades, I'm pretty agnostic about partial serrations.
While I agree that a proper sharp straight edge will cut anything that needs cutting, I'll freely admit that I don't sharpen my knives as often as I should.
When engaged in a task like cutting open and then breaking down several pallets worth of boxes in the back room of a gun shop, a knife edge can go south pretty fast in mid-task, and I've found those serrations handy a time or two under such circumstances.