Month: April 2023

PN:

Joe’s Comment – It has been a very busy week.
The weather has finally let me do my thing without me being conscious of the weather doing its thing.
Projects new, projects old, projects uncompleted.  Projects yet to be projects!
Saturday Gary M. and I traveled to Langley to pick up his Model A Ford Fordor.
Today I replaced the front brakes on my Taurus.
All week I’ve been busy doing things outdoors.
Consequently, not much time for Internet dilly-dally.
Taking a clue from the above memes, here’s a deceptively titled collection of songs from the 70s that are definitely NOT one hit wonders.  Plus a great picture of Stevie Nicks.  I was in my 20s in the 70s as the meme suggests.  But being in my 70s in the ’20s ain’t bad either.  Take a listen to this collection of soft rock.  Not my favorites, but almost all fondly remembered.  The non-cosmic background noise of my youth:

Another collection.  The music of the ’70s was unique.  I didn’t notice just how fantastic the music was while living through the time.  More of not the same, or not.  Repetition ain’t avoidable sometimes:

Hell, rinse and repeat.  Gotta love that Ub2b, despite the assholes who run the joint:

And again.  With real feeling!:

There must be a lot of incentive to build collections and post them.
I betcha there is filthy lucre in it for someone(s).
Listening to music while working is a real pleasure for me.
My personal playlists have much more musical span – opera, classical, some vocal jazz, blues, rock, and oldies from the ’30s to ’60s, ’70s, and some more recent concoctions that caught my ear and interest.

Back to this weeks Sunday Rant theme.
There is so much wrong with America.  Canada is not a paragon of virtue, but in terms of sheer lunacy, gross indecency, and hysterical overreaction, our good friends south of the border are verily riding the tiger.
Hence, only a few mentions of a few American personalities that came to my attention that weren’t gobsmackingly bizarre.
Otherwise, when cruising the digital world this week I only viewed, mouth agape, simply astounded, and did not record.
Or comment…..
We’re all better for it, believe me.  And remember –

Americana

Tucker Carlson
Joe and I have been a Tucker fan for over 20 years.
Way back when he was co-host on a show called “Crossfire” on CNN.
Yes, that’s right, we used to watch CNN.
The time frame was around 2001 – 2005.
After CNN he hosted a show, “Tucker”, on MSNBC until 2008.
He moved to Fox News in 2009.
There is an upheaval happening in the Main Stream Media, in the cable news market, in the traditional arena that feeds the plebeians their daily pablum.
Mr. Carlson was the leading pundit on all of cable news up until the 21st of April, a week ago Friday.  By a large margin, whether “left”, “right”, or “center”, his audience, especially the “core demographic” of young persons the advertisers wish to romance, outnumbered, on average, all of the other pundits combined.
The Fox News brass gave Tucker his walking papers on that weekend – to his surprise, for he had signed off on Friday night telling his watchers he’d be back on Monday.
The facts of the changes at Fox, specifically the detail of Mr. Carlson’s dismissal, are unknown.
That hasn’t stopped the speculation and polemic diarrhea: all the pundits and many folks who know Tucker Carlson have an opinion they are eager to share.
Joe and I are interested because we have watched the shift of real actual unbiased “News®” (if there ever was such a beast) from main stream to alternate media.
Our personal news gathering isn’t MSM – we haven’t watched cable TV, broadcast TV, or government issued propaganda for many years.

Bill Maher
In this brief video, Elon Musk sits down with host Bill Maher.
Joe and I are not fans of Mr. Maher.
But we think he might be taking small doses of Red Pill.
Joe and I find ourselves agreeing with his commentary, not shouting at the monitor.
We are fans of Elon Musk.
We did enjoy the conversation.
Mr. Musk is a fascinating interview:

Harry Belafonte
Even the most odious progressive might have a redeeming quality.
Or two…..
R.I.P. Mr. Belafonte.
Joe and I hope Heaven is up to your standards:

 

Joe’s Garage

NASA Wheels
Some cultures never dreamed to invent the wheel.
Other cultures never stopped inventing the wheel.
An interesting documentary of designing wheels for non-terrestrial use:

Metal Shaping (by Hand)
What ho!
Is it really possible to shape metal without English Wheels, specialized tooling, miracle machines?
Some folks can, and do.
One such folk is Karl Fisher of the Ub2b channel “Make it Kustom”.
In this video he uses only rudimentary hand tools to make compound shapes in metal.
Joe is envious:

Continue reading Sunday Rant – 1823

PN:

Joe’s Comment – There is no understanding when or how the ideas of childhood give way to the realities of truth.  I.e., truth = facts.  Yet somehow, someday, you realize that your foundation beliefs have changed, without much argument or memory of debate.
The past week found me still in an incipient spin – sluggish and reluctant to pick up my cross and face my burden.  All of my own making, of course.
I’ve gone full Yossarian, which means I’m going to live forever or die trying.
Now, somehow I must stop pouting and get on with doing the deeds ahead, whether I enjoy them or not.  Forever seems ominous if you aren’t having fun.
It is a sub-set of what Mr. Winston Churchill called “great things” –
I have a duty to myself that I will honor.
The things I have pledged to complete somehow don’t mean as much as they did when I took them on.  Is this smart, or the beginning of wise?
Truth is, I’m changing.  What once worked, was satisfying and satisfactory, no longer appeals or inspires.
Time for a change, a new direction, a new motivation.
Something more cerebral, less physical?
The body is timing out.
If only my knees would get with the program……
This spotty barometric pressure bobbling weather makes me walk like a man on stilts.  Going upstairs is fair to middlin’, but downstairs is one leg at a time.
Getting up from kneeling down is a bit tricky, too.
Yet, when the barometer soars the pain dissipates, and all is well.
I’m obsessing about the weather a lot lately.
Time for some research.  I’ve got to find the perfect climate wherever on earth it is, that suits me.  I’m looking for 80°+ F daily, rain only at night, sunny every day.
Anyone know where oh! where that may be?

Canadiana

Quick Dick McDick
Saskchewan’s and Canada’s agricultural and small town ambassador to The World™ once again shows the big city folk what they are missing.
Vintage snowmobile drag races on a cold but sunny Saskatchewan afternoon looks like a good time.  QDMcD is racing his 1976 John Deere 440 Cyclone.
From our vantage point in Vernon BC where the trees, bushes, and flowers are all greening and budding, it looks likes a good chilly community time, not so clean (2 stroke smoke), but fun:

 

History

World War I
Joe and I have, since childhood, felt a great sadness and unease about the catastrophe called “The Great War”.
This was the war that bridged ox hauled canon with motorized field artillery.  The war that introduced the machine gun with spectacularly bloody results.
Joe and I loved the aircraft – Sopwith Camel, Spad, Folker Triplane, biplanes mostly of space frames and doped canvas.
The war was a charnel house.
The tail-end of the Victorian Age supplied the strategies and tactics of War – the commanders and officers were schooled in horses and charges and swords and hand-to-hand combat.
Trench warfare killed men in multiple ways.
Killed them in hitherto unbelievable numbers, in so many ways.
Health problems, both physical and mental, the machinations of war such as heavy artillery, bombs, land mines, chemical means, the dread machine gun, and even bizarre anomalous events such as drowning and mud slides.
War is a failure of Humanity.
The machines of war are brilliant creations of human intelligence.
There is an irony somewhere nearby…..
The following is a comparison photo, the upper is an August 1914 original of the Cameron Highlands Battalion – 1000+ men strong and their officers.  The lower is “photoshopped” from the above, to illustrate what remained of the battalion by Christmas the same year – 27 men, 1 officer.
To what avail?
For what purpose?
The atrocity of WWI was there for all to see (thank you Ms. E. Thrasher).
Yet few saw it, or perhaps the few who did see it were powerless to change public opinion, political will, or false patriotism, for a mere 21 years later, Europe was back at it again, soon to be joined 3 years later by Japan attacking Pearl Harbor.
World War II was more costly in human capital, human lives, human decency than any debacle recorded in the history of humanity.
Joe and I hope in vain that the slaughter of young men in the name of some noble cause or meritorious principle will someday cease.
We hope against reason, for still it continues.
The Russian – Ukrainian War of 2022 – ? is another in a tragically long line of bloodbaths pursued for nebulous goals.
Whatever for?
There are three great conflicts in life.
The conflict of man vs man is the most destructive and heart-wrenching.
It is enough of a challenge for Humanity to survive in an apparent infinite cold unreasoning universe without mindlessly slaughtering our fellow Man.
Perhaps man vs himself, another of the conflicts, the spectre of mental imbalance or unwellness is the root of all Evil?
Joe and I ponder what the future would look like without the malevolent spectre of War looming.
We think the Big Three Questions are way more important:
Who Are We?
Where Did We Come From?
Where Are We Going?
We don’t know if answering these questions is possible.
This is the third conflict – man vs nature, Nature being the Universe – past, present, future.
The pursuit of these answers is surely enough challenge for the entire Human species – no need to slaughter each other because the real questions are difficult…
Or go mad because resolution evades reason.

Health

The Big Fat Surprise
Nina Teicholz is one of our heroes.  Or heroines.  Whatever.
Her nutrition ground breaking expose book, “The Big Fat Surprise”, has led to questioning of the very foundations of government and medical nutrition mandates.
The following video serves two purposes for Joe and me.  One, reiterate the basic discoveries Nina wrote about, and two, listen for new developments and progress the “Nutrition Coalition” has made in changing the government and medical community in respect to the “Food Pyramid”.
A good conversation, with Dr. David Perlmutter hosting:

 

Energy

“Fossil” Fuels
Joe put quotation marks around fossil.
He is no longer convinced that these fuels are the product of decaying biomass from uber milleniums ago.
In the following video, John Stossel plays devil’s advocate discussing the “morality”, or the moral case, of using so-called fossil fuel.
Joe is with Dr. Patrick Moore.
The supply of CO2 in the atmosphere was on an “end of life” trajectory, and was only supplemented by the Industrial Age beginning in Britain in the 1800’s.
In this video Alex Epstein does a yeoman’s job of making the case for so-called “fossil fuels”:

Joe’s Garage

Hyper Aircraft Engines
During World War II the competition for engine power between the Axis and Ally forces was ongoing and contentious.
The following video highlights some of the designs that didn’t make the grade.
The challenge was (and still is) a compromise of weight, volume (frontal area), total power output, fuel consumption, and ease of maintenance – all at competitive pricing.
Here are some amazing but flawed losers:

BobCat History
Joe and I have owned two.
Lyle N. bought them both from me.
They are super useful machines.
This video is an interview with the two brothers who invented BobCats.
Louis and Cyril Keller were born on a farm in Minnesota, and had 12 siblings.
Louis was mechanically gifted.  Cyril came on board when Louis was overwhelmed with work at the Keller machine shop.
In November of 1956, Louis and Cyril had the idea of a three wheeled machine with a castoring third wheel that could forward or reverse either front wheel independently.  Seeking financial backing from a friend, within 6 weeks they had a working model.
By September of 1959, the Kellers had made an arrangement with Melroe.
The rest is an American success story:

Holman-Moody
This is a video of a visit with Lee Holman of Holman-Moody fame.
This man is a legend in racing from the ’60s up to today!
The famous GT40 had a limited production back in the day.
Lee Holman had 13 original chassis that were built in the 90s, and are considered original.  The few remaining are being built currently.  At one million US dollars per each.  An amazing man with a storied history of racing in America:

A Sweet Sickness
The venerable Ford flathead V8 engine was the origin of hotrodding in North America.  There is no doubt or argument.
The following video produced by Brian Darwas is a testament to the flathead V8 and an acknowledgement to the hotrod movement.
The documentary is titled “A Sweet Sickness: The Flathead Movie”.
It features 11 men who still drive flathead Ford powered machines.
Some, like Mike Herman (H&H Flatheads), Ryan Cochran (Jalopy Journal), and Jack Carroll (Burbank Choppers) make a living in the customized vehicle industry.
Joe and I thoroughly enjoyed this modern view of ninety years of performance flathead Ford V8 history:

Continue reading Sunday Rant – 1723

PN:

Joe’s Comment – One serious but delectable question everyone faces is Time™.
There is an allocation for every person who survives birth.
Very few know how many days, how many hours, how many years they will be blessed to spend.
Me, I am constantly reading.
There are three basic reasons for reading:
–  vicarious (pleasure, enjoyment)
–  learning (gain knowledge of subjects)
–  technical (detailed information)
In my experience, reading is often a combination of the above.
I am in the process of buying a mostly disassembled 1928 Model A Ford tudor sedan.  It should look like this from the factory –
On the open market, such a vehicle as pictured above would fetch a price in U.S. dollars of $25,000+ give or take.
My budget is more modest, but money isn’t the reason I won’t buy a pristine Model A.  A majority of the pleasure I get is from learning about a new project; researching, analyzing, learning, understanding.  Even, in the end, fixing, repairing, assembling, completing.
It is very rewarding.
If you look at my collection of vehicles, you will understand that if I never actually drive any of them, I have enjoyed owning them all for the above mentioned reasons.  My technical support library is voluminous.
Here is a picture of the Model A I am buying –
Which leads to the point I’m trying to make – I love to research, and spend an inordinate amount of my time doing so.
Happy happy, joy joy!
No sooner than I’d shaken the hand of Jack S.(current owner) to seal the deal (he’s almost 15 years older than me), I was drooling in anticipation of researching everything I want to know about Ford Model A vehicles.
On Saturday I received the first hard copy document, ordered via Amazon and delivered in only two days, titled “How to Restore the Model A Ford”, produced by Clymer Publications (the manual company).
Awfully selfish of me, old boy.
I’m sure my best path in Life© would have me doing amazing service for fellow citizens.
Don’t distract me.
I’ve already learned that Jack’s Model A is equipped with a Warford auxiliary transmission.  You can see it in the following picture about half way along the door opening in the middle of the floor –
The three speed Model A transmission feeds into the Warford transmission.  This gives the vehicle a low range, direct drive, and overdrive out of the Warford, and increases the top speed to dangerous levels: almost 60 mph!
The Model A replaced the Model T, and is the first Ford with a “standard” control layout, i.e., clutch pedal on the left, brake in the middle, and throttle on a pedal on the floor.  The Model A also used an electric starter with a mechanically operated Bendix, pushed by your throttle foot.
While the World™ is descending into Hell®, I am selfishly pursuing a personal interest in old cars and simultaneously indulging in hours and hours of research.
Spring has sprung!
The grass is riz,
I wonder where my next car is…..
One seriously fat happy cat am I.

 

Internationalism

Ukraine Fiasco
Colonel Douglas Macgregor describes the problem the Ukrainians are facing.
Russia can destroy them at will.
Just keep poking The Bear.
Joe and I feel disgust at the American foreign policy that has fulminated this situation.  We mourn for the terrible loss of innocent life, both civilian and military.
This debacle will be the legacy of Joe Biden, the worst president in American history.  Bad news, and worse news ahead we reckon:

Health

COVID Story – mRNA Exosome Loading
Dr. Peter McCullough reports that Chinese researchers have successfully(?) loaded cow’s milk with a shortened mRNA code of 675 base pairs in phospholipid packets called exosomes.  Fed to mice, this concoction causes the mRNA to enter the bloodstream and cause antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein (receptor binding domain).  Read it all here.
The spectre of the mad scientist comes to mind.

Trans-gender Agenda
Investigative journalist Jennifer Bilek has done a deep analysis of trans-gender culture.
In this interview with James Patrick (Big Picture) she explores the history of trans-gender activities in the U.S. of A.
Joe and I know in our heart this entire cluster fuck is political.
What we are not sure of is what will be the cost to the culture if the political goal is achieved?
At what cost to innocent people?
The principals, the families, the parents, the friends, the community.
Life is NOT a benign friendly Force.  Life is brutal, unconscious, and ruthless:

The #1 Threat to Your Health
Dr. Shawn Baker and Dr. Paul Mason make sense out of the actual nutritive demands of a human body versus the government approved official health industry.
Lots of physiological facts and details to support each viewpoint, each declaration.
Two doctors that Joe and I do respect.
We continue to pursue our goal of optimizing our personal nutritional regime.
The words of Yossarian ring in our ears – I’m going to live forever, or die trying:

Science

Dr. Patrick Moore
This interview is a year old.
Joe and I are determined to post every Dr. Moore presentation or discussion or interview in this rant, sooner or later.
This particular conversation has more political analysis than is usually part of a Patrick Moore dialog.
Perhaps it is a reflection on the questions poised by Chris Williamson, the interviewer.  Joe and I cannot hear too many presentations from Dr. Moore:

Joe’s Garage

P-51 Mustang
When Joe and I watch video of the fabulous fighter aircraft of the Second World War, we are overwhelmed with a nostalgia that we don’t really have.
We were born in ’49, 4 years after the end of the war.
Our childhood fantasies orbited around flying, specifically fighter planes.
The ceiling in our bedroom had a mock battle with the few model aircraft we could afford to purchase with our skimpy paper route dollars.
The following video is of a solo P-51 doing a demonstration flight at the 2017 Oshkosh Air Show.  The aircraft is “Quick Silver”, piloted by Scott Yoak, powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 e/w 2 stage supercharging.  Music to our gearhead ears:

 

Continue reading Sunday Rant – 1623