PN:
Joe’s Comment – What a great week!
The weather was very acceptable.
The projects, although progressing at a glacial pace, are proceeding toward completion. Each and every one. That definitely begs a Tiny Tim reference.
I’ll take the blessing, too:
My fear of being a dollar short and a day late has forced a realization – only a dollar short, and only a day late is an admirable, if unachievable, goal for me!
Nonetheless, it is to carry on that I must. Not in the “Carry On” tradition (British humor), but more like Don Quixote. Although to describe myself as a member of the lowest nobility is a stretch. A simple Mud Pecker is more apt….. I’ve spent more than a few whiles (thank you, Donald) jousting at windmills.
Perhaps the music and lyric of Gordon Lightfoot illuminates:
“Through the woodland, through the valley
Comes a horseman wild and free
Tilting at the windmills passing
Who can the brave young horseman be?
He is wild but he is mellow
He is strong but he is weak
He is cruel but he is gentle
He is wise but he is meek”
There you have it!
A conundrum of contradictions and opposites.
When the weather is fair, it is tenable, defensible. Even justifiable.
When the weather is sour, not so much.
‘scuse me, while I touch the sky!:
Americana
Tucker Carlson
Mr. Carlson is a high value commodity in the punditry profession.
He is a humanitarian.
His current utterances about the cultural and political reality in the good ol’ U.S. of A. is definitely NOT approved by the Biden Administration.
A speech from September 10th, given in Utica, Michigan:
Megyn Kelly
Ms. Kelly interviews The Donald.
An interesting exchange.
Mr. Trump is his usual self.
The follow-up with Victor Davis Hanson and Megyn Kelly is worth the time:
The Culture
Intellectual Frog Legs
Joe Dan Gorman has been remiss in regularly producing issues of Intellectual Frog Legs.
This irritates Joe, because he really enjoys the product!
We understand Mr. Gorman has undergone some personal trials.
This issue is better than ever, and we’re glad he’s back in production:
Finance
All Wars (Are Banker’s Wars)
Ivor Cummins is Joe and my statistician of note.
He is an engineer, and uses his excellent ability to think critically, to analyze data about current hot topics, and report to us, the Mud Peckers and Dirt People of the World.
The fact that this documentary caught his attention and gained his analysis speaks volumes.
Once again, Joe and I lose our certainty virginity. Another topic we hadn’t considered to consider. We are now contemplating our reaction if the stated theorem is true, is factual. If so, WTF can a person do about it?
The older we get, the more disgust and anger we foment:
Health
Dr. Robert Cywes
This video was embedded in Sunday Rant – 4522.
You can see our comments about it at the time.
It is an important video.
We won’t reiterate our comments, but we will point out that the modern vegetarian and vegan diet is comprised mostly of vegetation that humans created. That’s right, by GMO. Genetically modified organisms can be created when human intervention, such as selective breeding and hybrid isolation are used, by people, to alter the plant. Gene splicing is a technology that has only recently been used by man (and woman…. sheesh!) to stack the deck, to mark the cards, to weight (weigh?) the dice. You know, to create what we think we want.
We must say again that the old expression “you are what you eat” is unfortunately focusing on outcome.
The more correct, more accurate expression is “you eat what you are“.
It is the subtle difference between surviving and flourishing!
Once again, with enthusiasm, here’s Dr. Cywes with some truth bombing.
As our Scottish ken would say, “ye canna deny the facts!”:
Here is the documentary Dr. Cywes suggests all y’all and all us all watch.
It is titled “The Botany of Desire“.
No thanks necessary.
If you fear changing your Weltanschauung, if you fear cognitive dissonance, if you fear logical disconnect, this is the video for you. Confront your ignorance all ye who would wimp, who would conform, who would comply!:
After watching both of these excellent videos, you should be pondering why plants allowed us to exist, to evolve, to survive.
Back to the Talking Heads for musical reference…..
“You may ask yourself: how did I get here?”:
Joe’s Garage
Honda CB750
Joe and I have owned quite a few motorcycles over the years.
The very first was a Sears imported Italian two stroke scooter called “Allstate” – really a Vespa 125, manufactured by Piaggio of Italy. Sears sold a variety of scooters (see them here). We drove all over Calgary AB at the sweet young age of 14 years, without a helmet (not “mandatory” in those days), and had many adventures, none of them fatal. We still have some scarring, tho’.
Our second was a Honda Dream 305cc, a real motorcycle. This was a big step up from the Allstate. Lord love a duck, we adored that bike! We couldn’t afford much more (we were in lust with the British twins, but our pockets were too empty). That romance came later…..
We made do. When the helmet laws were introduced (for safety!!!), we used a football helmet until we could afford to buy the “real thing”. Joe says we came to Libertarian philosophy then: we fulminated loud and long about the gummints intrusion into personal choice. Meat for another meal….
Joe remembers learning much of the basic theory of vehicles by making mistakes while servicing and repairing these two machines.
Time went by. We didn’t die. Sure, we fell off a number of times, off a number of different bikes. Friends owned a variety of machines, too. Sometimes we swapped to try a different bike. The ’60s were a golden time to get motorcycling into your veins.
By the late ’70s we had owned various Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, BSA, Triumph, and Norton motorcycles. Our favorite handling bike ever was a Bonneville 650cc. For sheer visceral grunt, we had two Norton Commandos, both 750cc. You had to hang on tight when giving them “full beans”. Then we bought a Suzuki Katana 1100cc and experienced truly scary levels of speed. Of course, we had to fall off this one, too. All in a day’s riding…..
During our riding years from 1963 (at 14 years – legal age to drive a scooter in Alberta) until 2020 when we sold our last bikes, we have witnessed and participated in what was the coming of age of popular motorcycling.
One of the greatest of all time, not for maximum performance or handling, but for all round comfort, ease of operation, dependable and reliable service, simple maintenance, and value for your money was the Honda CB750, a transverse 4 cylinder machine that literally changed the motorcycling industry. The following video explains:
A note in closing. Joe and I were never Harley Davidson fans. Hell, our 305 Honda handled better, and was quicker around the city than any of those “hogs” we not so affectionately refer to as farting horses or Hardly Abletwos. Although the HD brand has a storied history in flat track racing, we’ve always considered them big fat ugly stinky leaky noisy heavy cumbersome (have you ever seen someone trying to park an HD?) high maintenance dickmobiles. Who in their right mind would build a large displacement V twin (at 45° no less, no more)? With no inherent primary or secondary balance. Heating issues with the trailing cylinder. One nasty bitch to kick start! Thank Jesus (and Kettering) for the electric start.
We don’t think we’re prejudiced, just logical. We don’t like any of the farting horse copy cats, either. If pigs could fly…..
The Arethusa
1927 was a good year.
That’s when this ship was built, and christened Ina.
1985 was a good year too.
That’s when bought Ina, and renamed her Arethusa.
In 1999, Arethusa was outfitted with its current engine, an Industrie 2VD5 diesel engine. An engine built by the Dutch company De Industrie from 1932 to 1951.
We couldn’t find much info about De Industrie with Google or Duck Duck Go: slim pickin’s. A bit about the VD series diesels here.
Joe says this sweet tug, originally used to haul garbage scows, is a beauty from an era that built boats which have become classic designs. We enjoy and celebrate the fact that this beautiful old boat is alive and well almost 100 years after her launch. Just watching the start-up procedure and hearing her pop to life makes Joe grin like a dimwit.
A piece of Dutch maritime heritage: