PN:
Joe’s Comment – This has been the best weather week of the current year.
Bar none.
This makes me feel whole and energetic and capable.
The weather cuts into the amount of time I spend on the Internet, gleaning information, news, memes, and entertainment.
Also, the whining factor is reduced by an order of magnitude.
It is an immense pleasure to go outside and grin in the heat of the sun.
Many projects on the go.
Many research functions to perform.
I am having a grand time!
Canadiana
Quick Dick McDick
Quick Dick celebrates Mother’s Day in his usual exuberant way:
Canada’s and Saskatchewan’s ambassador to the World has an important message for all folks who “lose their shit”:
History Lessons
The Middle Class
Our historian of note, Victor Davis Hanson, tells a cautionary tale of the value of a “Middle Class” in a culture.
Joe and I say losing the middle class is the end of any “free” society.
The poor are at the mercy of The Culture and, despite what you see at the American southern border, are more or less immobile.
The rich are oblivious and/or disdainful of The Culture and are highly mobile – they can move to avoid unpleasantries of any sort.
The middle class is The Culture. The middle class provide for the poor at the pleasure of the rich.
We in Canada have watched our “Culture” weaken and fail for more than two generations. A strong middle class is the engine that powers an economy:
Equity
Thomas Sowell explains why the pursuit of “equal outcome” is perpetually at odds with the possibility of “equal opportunity”.
This is the theme of “every snowflake is different”. They are all different and unique, but they are also all snowflakes.
Joe says the foundation lies in the hope of a truly fair legal system. Quoting Ayn Rand, “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities“.
Ergo, the only way to promote equal opportunity is a just legal system that establishes, defends, and promotes the rights of the individual. Any more or any less is untenable:
Joe’s Garage
Axe Me What?
The Ub2b channel named “Hydraulic Press Channel” is always interesting.
This man and his wife have 100’s of videos where they test things to destruction using an hydraulic press capable of truly monumental pressures.
Joe and I found it interesting when two axes of high quality are pressed together and some of the metal comes off as an explosion / spark.
Too cool!:
Linear Compressor
AvE is a Canadian channel on Ub2b.
A smart guy, wisecracking while he takes various tools or machines apart.
In this video he disassembles a Japanese made linear compressor:
Toroidal Propellers
This video is about an advancement in propeller design.
There are marine propellers built by Sharrow that are quieter, more efficient, and deliver more power per unit of input energy.
The MIT Lincoln Laboratory has won awards for their innovations in toroidal propeller creation.
Joe and I like boats and boating, but always felt the economy was lacking, compared to traveling on roads. This technical advancement doesn’t equalize the two medias for efficiency, but does make boating more economical.
We like technological advancement that isn’t overly complex.
Look Ma! No computers!: