Adam D

My father just purchased a Ruger Superblackhawk .44mag (7.5" barrel).  He grabbed a cheap holster just for now.  With Christmas coming up, I'm looking for some leather holster recommendations.  Most of my guns are currently also using cheap holsters (for now), so I don't have any experience with nicer stuff.

His current plan is to carry it on his hip, though I think he is going to find that to be a nuisance when hunting, so I'm looking for something that can be carried on a belt, but open to other suggestions as well.  Brands, styles, various levels of cost - I'll take whatever you've got.

Does anyone here own, or has anyone here fired a Remington RP9? Just saw a good deal on one at a local store, plus a $100 rebate from Remington. Wondering if any of you have any experience with this pistol, as it is pretty new so I don't know anyone personally who has one.

My push mower will not run properly this year. 2 years old, Murray with a Briggs and Stratton engine - http://www.walmart.com/ip/Murray-22-Gas-Powered-La...

Earlier this year, it was hard to start and had significantly less power than before - quitting frequently in grass that should have been no problem. Now it is hard to start, and will only run a few minutes, missing and making a popping sound. I've replaced the spark plug, removed and cleaned the carburetor, poked and prodded around it high and low, it is beyond my diagnostic abilities.

Any ideas? I'm expecting a dialogue here, so ask for any additional details that may help figure this out.

I frequently perform bridge inspection work, and we monitor the weather to avoid getting caught out in thunder storms. But a question has come up that none of us have been able to definitively answer. Imagine we're working on a large steel truss, climbing the steel to inspect it, and a storm pops up quickly. If the bridge is struck by lightning, what happens to those of us standing on the steel? Would it be like birds on a power line, or would the electricity find a path through us and hurt/kill us?

For anyone who's done any concrete design/detailing, I've got a question about how you handle a particular situation. I have a simple span box-girder bridge with a composite concrete deck. Traditional deck design (not empirical), 4 layers of reinforcement in the slab. The span length requires that I splice the longitudinal deck bars. Which development/splice provision is appropriate here? Since it is a simple span, the bars aren't tension bars, they're in the compression zone for the member but aren't there for strength, they're really just temperature/shrinkage bars.

First a little background. I've hunted and shot guns my entire life (pistols, shotguns, rifles, black powder), but I've never owned a handgun. The office where I work is moving to a location that is on the edge of a bad neighborhood, and I've had to perform field work in some places that were a bit sketchy as well. Plus it would be nice to own one to shoot, you don't always want to pull out the rifle when going to the range.

The advice I'm looking for here is mostly related to trying to get the most bang for my buck. I don't want to pay more than I have to, but at the same time I want a weapon that operates reliably. I'm aware that some brands have poor reputations, but you guys often tend to be on the front edge of knowing what has changed in terms of firearm quality.

I'm probably looking at 9mm, but if you guys are seeing any trends in terms of ammunition availability that info would be great, and any additional caliber-related advice is welcome. I will add details/respond in comments if necessary.

My wife is looking to purchase a laptop. Its main function will be playing online - Netflix, Facebook/Facebook app games, and general web surfing. She may also use it to play Maplestory.

I'm looking for recommendations as to where we should purchase a laptop (Bestbuy, etc.). Also, any recommendations for brands, features? NOT looking for recommendations for tablets or Apple products.

For those of you who hunt whitetail deer using a .30-30, what grain bullet do you prefer? What kind of performance did you see? And for those who've tried different bullets, what characteristics lead you to choose the one you currently use? Factory loads preferably, since I do not have the resources to get into reloading right now. I've always used the lighter 130 gr. bullets, but may do some experimenting in the upcoming year and I'm curious what your experiences have been.

I have a brand new Murray push mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine, only 5 or 6 hours of use so far. The past day or so it has become harder to start, and runs unevenly the first 5 minutes or so. Once it settles down and I try to use it, sometimes it will begin to run unevenly again and I get a popping sound on the side of the engine near the primer bulb. It doesn't always do this, sometimes it runs normally, and sometimes when this happens I can shut it off and let it sit a while and try again, and it operates as it should.

Any ideas?

Many of us are familiar with the 30/40 workout used by some elite athletes - a continuous run on the track, alternating between 30 seconds and 40 seconds for each 200m, for as many laps as possible.

Does anyone know of a way (or can anyone come up with a rational way) to modify this for non-elite athletes to use, basing the 2 target times on a known race-pace, such as the athlete's current mile or 5k? I have a few ideas but would appreciate input from other experienced runners and coaches.

I'm participating in a Secret Santa gift exchange and would like to solicit some ideas from strangers on the internet (you!).

We have a (flexible) $10 limit. The girl who I drew is 21, an accounting student, works as a Resident Adviser in her dorm, is creative and fun, and very quirky. She's the kind of girl who uses the word "nifty" and means it.

We created "wishlists", but provided guidelines rather than specific items - so I'm trying to come up with something fun, nifty, and/or usable.

... moon landing hoax, any question referencing religion or a lack thereof, landing on the sun...

Novel idea: what if, for the remainder of the year 2012, everyone who hangs around in this section just completely ignores the trolling questions. Even the ones which seem legitimate, if they include the references above. Just nobody answer at all. Any takers?

At the gym where I lift, lately there have been these two teenage boys (they look about 13/14 years old) who have been coming in to lift. They clearly don't know anything, they bounce around from one lift to another with no plan, which I don't really care about. The other day they were messing around cleaning fixed weight bars, and every time the one takes the bar off of the ground, he rounds his back about as far as humanly possible and jerks it upward (cringe). They've done several other things with poor form, but nothing stands out as dangerous quite like this.

Now if these were adults, I wouldn't even give it a second though. Adults have every resource in the world available to them in order to learn what they need to know, and if an adult does something stupid and hurts himself, well he's an adult, he should know better. But these are stupid kids, unsupervised, who clearly know nothing. Do you leave them alone? Politely point out the danger in what they're doing wrong? Point it out to someone who works at the gym?

I occasionally hit the pool to swim laps on my off days from other exercise. I can swim, I learned a long time ago, but never did it frequently enough or under any kind of guidance to get good at it. As a result, I can't swim continuously for long, and even short swimming workouts wipe me out even though I am otherwise very fit.

A big part of my problem is breathing. Can you give me some pointers in regards to breathing and rhythm for swimming freestyle? I'd like to improve, but to do that I need to know what I should be working on so I can begin focusing on it when I swim.

When running with sunglasses on, how does one avoid the glasses getting fogged up or sweat covered?

I would like to add beans (dried, purchased by the pounds) to my pantry and incorporate them more into meals.

The problem: my wife doesn't like beans. Her main exposure to them has been baked beans, and pinto beans cooked to be served with corn bread. She does like black beans used in soups or chili, and green beans, but I'd like to be able to use other kinds of beans as well.

I'm looking for some culinary uses for beans which will make them less "beany" for someone who typically isn't into them.

I'm in the market for a new TV. I'm looking to get a 32" LCD (720p), but know very little about the difference between the different brands available.

Can anyone shed some light on the quality levels of these different brands? Does anyone have any experience concerning the durability of the different brands, as the reviews I've read are mixed for practically every brand I've looked at. I'm most strongly considering a Philips, a Visio, and a Sansui (because of the price and availability).

I'm looking to remove the flower beds which are along the back of my house. They were poorly done by the previous owner, and we'd rather just have the flowers in the front where they'll be seen.

Currently, the beds are a mixture of mulch and soil with plastic beneath them, set down slightly below the level of the yard (an inch or so). We'd like to remove these and have the area look like the rest of the yard.

What is the proper way to do this? Just rip it out, and purchase turf to replace it? Or is there a better (or cheaper) way to deal with it?

For anybody who's participated in one of the Rock'n'Roll series of events, what is the approximate time range for each corral in the wave start? I don't need anything too specific, I'm just wondering about how far back in the pack I'll be starting.