PN:
Joe’s Comment – So many problems, so little time. How do I spend my hours?
You got it. Pondering the meaningless. Researching the obscure. Pontificating endlessly about absolutely insignificant minutia. Day and night.
And feeling damn spunky about it!
A New Year
Out with the old.
A new beginning, a new chance, an awakening.
A coming back to life:
And a new set of hopes.
A large set – 
to the 
power.
Very high hopes:
Bring on 2019.
Take your best shot.
Joe and I are ready.
Prager U
As New Year’s resolutions go, historian Andrew Roberts has a fresh perspective.
If he could have any retro wish, he wishes there was no World War I.
His perception is: without WWI there would have been no WWII, no Russian revolution, no cold war, no millions upon millions dead.
An interesting “what if” thought experiment:
Almost Capitalism
The blog “SlowFacts” has an interesting article that caught our eye(s) titled “Almost-Socialism Is Deadly, While Almost-Capitalism Feeds the World“.
I (and Joe) have been searching for the words for years to explain the “why” while simultaneously and precisely detailing the “what”.
We have settled on the expression “theoretical Libertarians” as a general description of our political weltanschauung (the “what”), while imprecisely identifying the shortcomings which require the modifier “theoretical” (the “why”).
Mr. Rob Morse nailed it with one sentence: “Your ideal system is a failure if it has to be staffed with angels“.
Q.E.D. – Joe and I smiled biggly.
We have been dancing around this fact with our own limited brand of prose for years, but never getting so clear yet so exact with so few words.
Not satisfied, Mr. Morse does a quantum level improvement in clarity with the very next sentence in the article: “In fact, the best economic system not only withstands corruption but minimizes the harm caused by corruption.”
And therein lies the diamond in the dross, the lodestone of reality, the foundational fact.
As Jordan B. Peterson states about Post Modernism, it is true there are an infinite number of interpretations of the world, but there are only a limited number of feasible, objective, successful paths.
Human behavior is heterogeneous.
We humans come in all flavors, sizes, ages, and degrees of lunatic.
Ergo, the actions and behavior of each human will not be predictable: instead of a single action or behavior there will be a scatter-shot of actions and behaviors across a broad spectrum of possibilities.
Now listen to the analysis by Stefan Molyneaux of a published criticism of IQ by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and what it all means:
This is an excellent analysis. Stefan’s smugness and laughter notwithstanding….
Some of the comments below the video are thought provoking and on target.
Joe and I are in accord with his comments about the influence of the European culture, the type of civilization developed by the West, and the relation of IQ (and it’s companion, G Factor) to this amazingly stable, productive, wealthy and wealth generating society.
When you dilute a society by adding people from a different (possibly antithetical) culture, at what ratio is the original society irreparably changed?
Joe suspects the gamut of observations will be from 1 to infinity.
Time will tell if the West will prevail.
In the mean time, Joe and I will watch, ask questions, try to think clearly, and hang on tight.
Government Shutdown
As of New Year’s Day 2019, the American government is still shut down.
But, against all odds, (as Gomer Pile says)
the World© DID NOT END!
Joe did some research. The American government shutdown history here.
Joe did some more research, and found a statement by Eatgrueldog from January 2018 that resonates –
“Gov’t. shutdown in 3, 2, 1….
Yes, please fucking do
And BTW, you should stay that way
We would all be a lot better off
You bunch of assholes could meet at a motel 6 a couple of times a year instead of DC to actually do the things that are needed by the people you claim to serve
You are nothing but a lot of self serving power mongers stuffing your pockets at the expense of the real America
Go ahead and shut it down
Or better yet
Maybe we will tear it down
Go fuck your arrogant selves”
Joe observed that sounds about right.
Help us Jesu; humor mutes the pain / anger / frustration –
The Libertarian conundrum is Libertarianism will always be an admirable theory that can never be reality because….. human nature.
You might ponder what the heck (WTF for people on the edge) that has to do with Canada.
Don’t Joe and Dave live in Canada?
The reply is depends. Yes, we live in Vernon BC.
Wait a minute, Spanky….
Is this REALLY Canada?
We ain’t no longer too sure about that there….
The shenanigans of the U.S. political body is mirrored (weakly and weekly) in our own parliament.
Don’t believe it?
Lots and lots of examples on YoubeTube of our Prime Minister and body politic acting as complete asses while citizens experience increasing duress. Watch below.
The palace is infested with poor policy and SJW buffoonery:
Racism and Affirmative Action
There is no excuse.
Joe says you can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
Rude, but direct.
If you are going to have a performance biased system, performance might have a slight influence in outcome, da?
And if it is so, wouldn’t the input also require bias toward performance?
An interesting expose of reverse discrimination against potential students applying at Harvard has precipitated a law suit.
An Asian student hopeful must score higher than a white, black, or Hispanic to gain entrance.
Harvard has gerrymandered the entrance qualification criteria.
Joe says that is genuine certified processed bull shit, and so do I.
If you can’t make the grade you don’t make the grade. See if you agree:
Any person who is admitted in this environment must ask him or her self whether they are worthy.
Nice work, lefty progressive asswipes. Your continuous efforts to engineer equal outcome invariably results in unexpected negative consequences which you refuse to be responsible or accountable to resolve.
Like we stated elsewhere in this rant, merit is paramount.
All other considerations are decoys.
The question Joe and I have is WTF is the supreme court doing making political dreams a reality?
In today’s topsy-turvy world, Joe and I are definitely racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic….. Hell. We’re any “ist” or “ic” you find abhorrent!
Joe says wait a minute.
Are we? Really?
As an example, when we selected a doctor, we did some due diligence to ensure who we chose was well regarded in the profession. The doctor we chose was the choice of our previous doctor.
We didn’t know anything about him other than reputation and credentials.
Race / color / creed / religion / sex were NOT determining factors.
Competence and performance were the top criteria.
Same with our choice for other services and goods / material providers.
Our ex, Monica, makes the best damn Chinese food we’ve ever eaten.
Joe and I never once worried that she wasn’t Chinese, or demanded that she stop appropriating a culture not her own.
What we DID do was gobble as much honey chili chicken and spring rolls as we could.
Joe says we should now talk about Pygmies, Native Indigenous People, “folks of color”, women, queers, the terminally left-handed, and any self identified minority group which demands special treatment.
Outside of those so mentally challenged or infirm or aged they cannot take care of themselves, the law and required behavior must be based on the smallest minority, the individual.
The purest diamond in the Western jewel box.
Pat Condell
Insightful, well presented, ascorbic as usual.
Mr. Condell is showing his age, but his spirit and humor are as undaunted as ever:
Joe’s Garage
Tesla
What’s right and what’s wrong with the Tesla battery car:
Thor Heavy Trucks
A young engineer named Dakota Semler and his business partner Giodano Sordoni have founded a company that produces class 8 (heavy transport) trucks.
Totally awesome!
Joe says if they have solved the energy storage equation (light capacious quick to charge CHEAP energy reservoir) this will be a paradigm shift for short haul heavy transport requirements.
For long haul / remote haul maybe not so much.
Joe says the cab bodywork is truly beautiful to behold:
Radial Engines
Ian Jimmerson has built a wooden model of a nine cylinder poppet valve radial engine.
Joe thinks this is better than sliced bread. I wasn’t sure until Joe quizzed me and asked, well, how exactly do you cam a nine cylinder 4 stroke engine with 4 intake and 4 exhaust cam lobes?
I was at a loss until I watched these videos.
Mr. Jimmerson, you are amazing!:
Ford Trucks
Joe and I have owned or operated Ford, Chev, GMC, Dodge, and International Harvester light duty trucks. Joe has wrenched all of them.
We are adamant Ford fans.
Why?
Here’s a short GIF that explains some of it –
The Ford in this picture looks to be an early ’70’s F150. That chunk of trunk must outweigh the truck itself.
Joe reckons the truck was running. The impact and rebound popped the transmission into gear (Joe assumes an automatic), and maybe put some pressure on the throttle lever (these old guys had rods not cable throttles).
Notice the truck started moving? We speculate any other brand of ½ ton truck in those years would NOT have survived, let alone moved.
We have overloaded Ford trucks to the degree that we would have been sent to jail if we got stopped.
Tried it with the others.
No contest.
SUNDAY SERMON
SUNDAY SERMON
As promised, this week the sermon is about the research David Feldman has performed on himself to determine parameters of cholesterol function in relation to diet. Lots of graphs!
Joe and I have an interest.
The subject of diet and medical health has been uninteresting to us in our life to date.
What changed us is starting a “meat only” carnivore diet (high fat and protein, low carb, low sugar) and observing a 45 pound weight loss since July 23rd, 2018. Velly intellesting!
Worth watching:
WEATHER (OR NOT)
The weather in Vernon BC last week was unseasonably mild.
No new snow at our house.
Melting slowly during the day.
Even had sunshine on more than one afternoon and morning!
Yes sir, this is good news.
Only 85 days to April 1st.
Joe can hold his breath that long….. maybe.
Joe (turning blue) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez works in mild weather too –
