PN:
Joe’s Comment – Today is a good day!
My pants went on without a snag. Some folks consider a good day to be one you don’t need pants. I beg to differ.
Small changes to diet seem to be providing benefit. If it is panacea or real I don’t know. But the changes are there…..
Mobility issues are responding affirmatively to increased physical activity. I can only assume motility too, if there are issues, is also improved.
I feel great!
Which will be needed this week. I’ve removed the upstairs bathroom fixtures. This house was built in the very late’60s (the tub was dated ’69) or very early ’70s. Cloth covered wiring. Lead, copper, and brass plumbing. Lots of wood. Not so much plastic. And a few “on the fly” ad lib Rube Goldberg solutions –
The picture shows the furnace vent to heat the room. It was hidden inside the vanity. To the average bloke it appears to be a paint thinner can on its side cut and bent to accept ducting and a register. Here’s the same from the other side –
There were other ad hoc adoptions that scintillated my curse reflex, but this one made me laugh and shake my head simultaneously. More physical activity is good!
ABS plastic is an advance. It will last longer and is easy to install. If I had to buy copper to replace what is now leaking, broken, and riddled with pinholes, the budget would be strained mightily.
This damn house will be the sinking of my shabby, diminutive financial reserves.
Time for an inspirational tune from the Derina Harvey Band, about raising a sunken boat named the Mary Ellen Carter:
The following lyric pretty well sums it up –
“And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again“
I shall now refer forevermore to this house, this home, as The Mary Ellen Carter.
Canadiana
The Jordan Peterson Debacle
“Canada“, it seems, cannot abide a world famous person (who happens to be Canadian) criticizing the political elite in Canada, or higher education in Canada, or cultural “norms” in Canada.
In this case, “Canada” is defined as the governing body of Mr. Peterson’s craft (or “union” or professional accreditation body).
Mr. Peterson is a world famous personality. He was born in Canada, and holds a Canadian passport. On the Joe Rogan program (the biggest podcast in the “free” world – which means the entire globe), Mr. Peterson spoke his mind. He was in the United States of America, where a lovely amendment to The Constitution, the First Amendment, guarantees free speech. Period.
All well and good.
However….. the guarantee of free speech doesn’t extend to Canada.
Apparently, some people didn’t agree with Mr. Peterson, and tattled to various Canadian “authorities”. Again, apparently, what Mr. Peterson said in the United States of America is the business of Canada.
That expression “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” must only apply to Vegas.
In Canada, free speech is curtailed at the pleasure of the government. It is blatantly and obviously spelled out in the weak-kneed document described as “The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”. Here is the preamble –
OK, let’s just see….. we have doG first, then law.
Joe and I are good with that, although both “foundations” are pretty shaky in the Year of our Lord 2023. Gotta start somewhere. We are satisfied that the will of the mob is NOT the prime motivator. More on that later.
Let’s jump to part 2, “Fundamental Freedoms“. Sounds ducky! All the parts and pieces that you might need to be “Free”. Notice it does NOT say freedom of mobility.
Now that you feel all righteous and mighty, let’s go back to part 1, “Rights and Freedoms“. It starts out proud and strong and honorably, but has a mortal flaw – a conjunction. In this case, the conjunction is a phrase – “subject only to”.
Way, way, way back in 1982 Joe and I were a mere sprout of a man, boasting 33 years of age, no medical issues, and a full time job. We weren’t and aren’t some sort of genius or guru or visionary or “chosen One”. We were and are a mud pecker, a Common Man, of the genus “dirt people”. You know, “the salt of the earth”. Even then, when we read the Charter, we knew there was no “free speech” in Canada. If your freedoms are “subject only to”, then you have no freedom.
Weak beer compared to the American First Amendment. The American version doesn’t waffle. Doesn’t limit. Doesn’t deflect. It goes something like this –
In the U.S. of A., the Congress makes the laws. So, the above says, you, Congress, cannot make any laws that prohibit these freedoms. Elsewhere in their founding documents, it states that there are fundamental freedoms bestowed by “The Creator”. A term that, in this case, doesn’t mean your mommy and daddy.
Pretty straight forward.
Hard to misinterpret or fuck up, although the linguistic gymnastics the Progressive Left uses leave Joe and I in disbelief and often angry. Can’t they read? Then we remember that 80% of folks cannot critically think.
JBP is standup. In this video interview with his daughter Mikhaila he says he will fight this woke bullshit all the way to the Supreme Court.
Joe and I are jaded.
We will support him, and heartily endorse JBP’s fight.
However, our knowledge of the “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” foreshadows the outcome.
Watch, listen, and cheer the man loudly!:
Joe says this is that old phantom known as “Common Good”, whatever the hell that means when defined by the prevailing political winds.
In other words, it is political treachery, and reminds us of an old British poem –
We are comparing the Canadian legal system and hence all subject to it with crookedness. Specifically, the instrument being used to put JBP “in his proper place” is the College of Psychologists of Ontario, the licensing body.
The poem originated from politics (where else? says Joe, sarcastically), and refers to animosity between Scotland and England many centuries ago. A reference –
Our twisted little Libertarian heart can do naught but beat to the drum of the Individual. We are obliged to quote the Libertarian’s Libertarian, Ayn Rand –
We will ask Ms. Rand to sum up what is happening to Dr. Peterson –
International Goings-On
Tucker Carlson
Mr. Carlson addresses a crowd in Hungary. He delivered a speech in Budapest apologizing on behalf of the United States over U.S. ambassador David Pressman’s critique of the country’s latest anti-LGBTQ+ crackdown.
This closely following his interview of Donald Trump the night of the GOP candidate debate.
Mr. Carlson is a force to be reckoned with, because he is neither Democrat or Republican.
If Joe and I were inclined to categorize Mr. Carlson (we are not) we would describe him as a Humanitarian first, and a Libertarian second.
Even when addressing a Hungarian audience, he manages to connect even though he speaks only English:
Philosophy
Freedom
What is freedom?
Joe and I will settle for Ayn Rand’s definition –
What is liberty?
We quote the words of Friedrich August von Hayek –
What then, is Democracy?
Joe and I balk at the thought of mob rule. We also abhor the idea that the opinion of idiots OR sages becomes law. A working definition of “Democracy” that encompasses the political machinations of The West evades us.
What we think folks mean is everyone has a voice, a “dog in the hunt”, and is allowed to participate in selecting OUR DEAR LEADERS. After that, it gets a bit confusing.
We always thought that government had at most four functions. Milton Friedman stated that freedom has natural limits. One of the functions of government is to minimize coercion and optimize individual choice. A noble, if somewhat ethereal goal.
In the following video, Mr. Friedman delineates the boundaries that should be the objective of any government in a so-called “free” society:
The guarantee of Freedom is a challenge in a “diverse” society. How is it possible to assure the least coercion while maximizing individual opportunity to pursue personal goals when the spectrum of objectives invariably produces conflict and opposition? One example is government funded abortion. Another is welfare. Another is “Affirmative Action” (morphed across the culture).
Some folks have a solution. They simply distract attention with a “shiny object”, then remove the possibility of an individual’s freedom to choose. As Milton Freidman cautioned, the “free market” should be the first avenue of choice, unhindered and unhobbled, not a political dictate.
The following video is food for thought. It does beg the question of benign or malignant intent. Whose world, whose country, whose life is it?
Call us crazy, but Joe and I prefer to believe we chart our own course:
Health
Oxalate Update
The following video is a conversation between Dr. Bart Kay and Sally K. Norton, the author of “Toxic Superfoods”.
The conversation is from April 2023, posted on Dr. Kay’s Ub2b channel “Professor Bart Kay – Main Channel“.
Every time Joe and I listen to Ms. Norton we learn more about the dangerous mystery of Oxalates, especially how the human body manages an oxalate load.
The comments for this video have given us lots to contemplate, too.
The march toward a proper human diet continues!:
Joe’s Garage
Hydrostatic Pressure – Pascal’s Law
When Joe and I first learned this subject, the units of measure were Imperial.
The standard atmospheric pressure was 14.7 pounds per square inch.
In the following video (refresher) the units used are metric.
Other than the conversion we frantically tried to compute, it was a great refresher of the phenomenon:
Government Screwing “We The People”
This is short and bitter.
How in the fuck???
Bullshit to Climate Control.
When will the bureaucrats and politicians and elites be satisfied?
Perhaps when the feudal system returns…..
Here’s our August natural gas bill.
Note that the “Carbon Tax” is more costly than the gas we used.
Enough is a fucking nuff. Time to start shunning the powers that be –
