PN:
Time is a Thief
Joe and I have difficulty keeping up with our daily agenda of tasks. I quiz Joe constantly on how he could possibly estimate so poorly the labor needed.
Joe never says anything.
But he finally showed me his watch –
How can anyone argue with quartz accuracy? Q. E. D.
Samuel Pepys and Joe
Winter is coming. Cabin fever will rage. The Okanagan days will be grey and cold. We won’t see the sky, sometimes for weeks. Winter madness! Time for some melancholy music! Who better to sing of a poor man’s dreams than Tom Russell. We have a bit of Blue Wing swimming in our blood:
“Musique and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business is.” – Samuel Pepys
Alberta Bound (and Gagged) or Epicedium for the “Tar Sands”
The words of H.L. Mencken (“democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard”) is the current script in Alberta. The release of a 2015 “budget” at the close of October is not untoward – the new government must put it’s stamp of approval on the fiscal activity of the province. You know, show everyone who the new boss is, and how able. However, the “budget” itself is a lunacy in the sense it is numb to the economic realities in Alberta, in Canada, and in the world at present. Adding over 6 billion dollars of debt, increasing the size of government, and currying to the union powerhouses is not wise. A review of the budget here. Watch Joe Ceci rationalize how Alberta now strives to be “average Canadian”. Lorne Gunter has a quick review here.
Joe and I are not deaf to the consistent perennial NDP mewling, nor are we unsympathetic. However, offering succor to relieve the financial, social, and cultural pressures the below average Albertan (or Canadian, oppressed minority, special interest group, whatever – fill in the blank) has by starting down a path trod so deep by so many for equally “noble” objectives is reckless, immoral, and shameful. It lacks the hardest work of all – thinking. Joe and I think it is not the governments problem to “solve” these issues. Surely by the name of Christ there is ample data to prove that government is for the large part out of touch, unqualified, and incompetent in most of what it does. Why do the Alberta NDP feel they can do better what so many others (dare I say superiors) have failed to do?
As sure as the sun coming up, the apologists will blame the corruption and malfeasance that preceded the current scoundrels for the “extreme measures” being implemented to “balance the field”. Whatever form the tripe and guts splashed on the conscience of the public might take, these people are toying with the well-being of your children and children’s children. Something to think about when you finally hold a match to the fat ass of the blood sucking tick you’ve encouraged to burrow into your grade A Alberta flank.
A quote from Michael Shermer is appropriate – “Human history is highly non linear and unpredictable.” To paraphrase Gayle H., the chaos is strong in these ones.
For the record, “epicedium” is a funeral song, a dirge.
Social Reflexion o’ the Week
The following episode of John Stossel’s weekly show is titled “The Battle of the Sexes”. Joe and I have noticed since a very very young age that boys are different than girls, that men are different than women, and that a number of confused people don’t know what the differences are. It ain’t solely the reproductive equipment – that is simply a physical manifestation of the difference(s). There are major and subtle measurable divergences that define us, each and every one, as one gender or the other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7yNVK645ro
Thinking of this sort is very unwelcome in PC circles. The concept of “critical theory” is one of the tools used to tear down / destroy Western culture. Unlike the productive scientific method (which questions with an objectivity regarding outcome), critical theory focuses on driving a wedge between people by focusing on negative interpretations – any outcome not supported is suppressed, vilified, condemned. The concept of “free speech” is perverted. Following is a brief history, naming names. Narrated by William Lind, the title says complete but it isn’t. Couldn’t find the full video:
An additional article by William Lind is titled “The Origins of Political Correctness” can be read here at the Accuracy in Academia website.
Bill Whittle has another summary of why there is political correctness, what it is meant to do, how it will, and where, by whom. The only variable is when, although some argue it is over and done because the education system has been infiltrated and subverted beyond repair. Joe and I say it ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings a new song. The when has become the paramount aspect. Can the West deflect, defer, defeat, and expose this nefarious Marxist crap-trap? Stay tuned fellow citizen:
Joe’s Garage
There are only a few things which pester Joe’s mind more than a mechanical problem that doesn’t have an obvious source / cause. For instance, if a wheel falls off the vehicle you are driving, the cause will be quite noticeable if you can get the vehicle stopped in order to look at where the missing bits used to be. This weekend Joe disassembled a Ford E4OD automatic transmission that was chattering in 4th gear lock-up. The prognosis from Joe was the torque converter clutch had disintegrated, and the pan, valve body, cooling lines, clutch actuators would all be chock full of debris from the dying torque converter. That would be straightforward.
What is revealed is not the case. The pump is clean, blemish free, with pristine gears. All of the clutch packs are damn near new. The planetary sets are hardly worn. The pan is clean with only a dust of material on the magnet. For posterity –
Of course, Joe will be digging in until the source of malfunction is known. The torque converter will be replaced – it cannot be cut open to see due to it’s value as a core. The solenoid pack will be tested. All will be cleaned. All worn parts will be replaced. All upgrades will be implemented.
What an amazing machine an automatic transmission is.
Mystery Juice o’ the Week
Best Duh o’ the Week
It ain’t rocket science, is it? For some of the “entitled” crowd –
POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS, STUPID
PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHERS, SMART THINKING
GUNS, GUNNERS, GUNNERY
From Vickers, a series of slow motion videos of various types of munitions penetrating common objects.
SUNDAY SERMON
This week is a review of the tenants of “conservatism”. Originally created to underline the Tea Party conservative philosophy, it rings as true now as when released in 2010. Our host, Bill Whittle, explains and summarizes why it is the only logical approach to the governance of the masses of humanity. There are 6 segments, the first of which is titled “Small Government and Free Enterprise”:
Second installment is a discussion of the issues that arise when a political “class” grows too self indulgent. Here is “The Problem with Elitism”:
Third segment addresses the source of all well-being for humanity. The wealth of the assembled citizenry of earth is NOT a zero sum game. If it were, there would have been no advancement in all of history. The production of more than we need (a simple definition of wealth) is continuous and limitless provided certain provisions are evident and certain conditions exist. Creativity, complexity, and free trade are the holy trinity of freedom. Listen to Mr. Whittle describe the miracle of “Wealth Creation”:
Number four is for Joe and I the most important of all ideas the human mind has been capable of imagining, comprehending, and describing. This presentation by Mr. Whittle defines the parameters of “political law” which is written, and contrasts that concept with the other law, the “natural law”, which is revealed. Humanity no matter how intent upon doing so, cannot abridge, contain, diminish, or eliminate the existence or fundamental reality of “Natural Law”: The natural law is inherent. As such, it is unalienable:
Part 5 seems a no brainer to Joe and I. We remember fondly the solemnity of receiving our first rifle, a .22 caliber repeater, well before puberty. Hunting trips with dad didn’t produce any game on our table. He was insistent that we knew how to care for and use a rifle. He never explained why to us, but must have to mother because she managed to keep her objections outside of our hearing. Mr. Whittle explains as carefully as possible why gun rights are necessary, and should not be restricted:
Segment 6 has a topic that is more and more pertinent in the Western culture countries around the world. Although several years old, this presentation about immigration is as important and meaningful today as it was when released
Part 7 is an interpretation by Mr. Whittle of the concept “American Exceptionalism”:
WEATHER (OR NOT)
As my non existent Scottish friend would say, hoot mon, the summer’s gone!
All week was raining, blowing, cooling, gusting, pouring, clouding. Strange hour or two of sun in the late afternoon – the sun coming out to say goodnight as it were.
Joe (Sweaterman) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez is constant – from Investor’s Business Daily –
