Good morning!!!!

[freedomlives]

Sounds like you need a "Slovexit" movement.

There is at least one Slovexit movement. Unfortunately it isn't exactly a "let's leave the EU and institute a policy of unilateral free trade" type movement, but rather "let's leave the EU and be self-sufficient again like we were under Communist rule". Which they weren't actually, but let's leave this detail off and head back to the good ole days of the CSSR, when everyone had a job, and you couldn't always be sure there would be toilet paper on the store shelf. :-D

The past decade or more has been one long, drunken orgy fueled by subsidies from the EU that have greatly enriched a small portion of the population here. Others have not benefited as much, so they grumble and ultimately the blame will get placed on free trade or free markets instead of the tax-and-redistribute system as well as the entire Euro/banking system. I just started reading last night Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles (Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles | Mises Institute) . A reminder that the fractional reserve system is in itself unjust and immoral-- not that I haven't known that since highschool when I started skimming the surface, but a useful reminder nonetheless.

I do need to put my fingers to the keyboard and write a blog on how leaving the EU and engaging in real free trade would be not only what is just, but also benefit us overall...

 

[ronjhall]

Snow has made it here before lunch. Maybe some seat time soon.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 44F @ 8:15AM. Rain tapering off through the day. Rain and wind. High 47F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

We picked up 0.6" between 6PM and midnight last night, and another inch already this morning. First real Pacific storm of the year, with southeast winds in the mid 30MPH range rattling the porch cover and throwing the rain at the south facing sliding glass doors. Hasn't slowed the hummers down at all, who continue to slurp their way through their quart a day, through hitting those tiny holes on the swinging feeders is interesting to watch.:laughing:

Between the heavy rain and the bobbling satellite dish, the Internet connection has become intermittent. I keep threatening to install guy wires on the antenna pole, but somehow never get a round tuit, but there's not much to be done to stop the rain, not what I'd even want to.

Sorry about those high prices in Kanukistan, L4N. As far as I can tell, the CRC stuff is just a solvent, and contains none of the deoxidizers and preservatives found in DeOxIt. It was recommended to me by a friend that has an electronics repair business, and would do a good job on your McIntosh, Kyle. But not on Don's Macintosh, or mine, either.:laughing: If you can find another, more reasonably priced, source of DeOxIt, it would be worth it. Dielectric grease will keep tight fitting connections clean by sealing out the water. So if you spend the time to polish and tighten up the connection to begin with, it will work until it gets hot and runs out. That's why I don't like it for automotive type applications.

Reassembled the other carb and got it installed on the old motorcycle yesterday, then gritted my teeth and started the electrical install. The vendor told me I had mixed up the two grommets and holes in the headlight shell, and had the wiring harness going into the speedometer hole/grommet, and vice versa. Got that straightened up and all is well now. Need to work out the routing for the rest of the harness as well as a few of the wires, none of which are marked, and as I found out yesterday, have colors that are either illegible or are out and out wrong. Fortunately the continuity tester doesn't lie, so I'm making notes about what's actually there in case I ever have to go back in to fix something. Once again, the books I have all seem to assume that I made good notes and took pictures of the wiring as I disassembled it, but since the man that did that isn't around to ask questions to and didn't pass along any documentation, I'm left to suss things out for myself. :confused2::laughing: Work like this is best taken in small doses, so yesterday I'd work at it a bit, get stumped, then go back inside to warm up and do something else for a while. Usually after mulling it over for a bit, I'd try something else and it would work, and then it would be off to the next wire. Slow going for sure, but there's no hurry. More of the same for today, but I think I'll start things off by taking a swing at the income taxes. I'm sure that will be a smooth and rewarding experience, too!:laughing::laughing::laughing:

Hang in there, Gang! Friday's comin'!

 

[RedNeckGeek]

There is at least one Slovexit movement. Unfortunately it isn't exactly a "let's leave the EU and institute a policy of unilateral free trade" type movement, but rather "let's leave the EU and be self-sufficient again like we were under Communist rule". Which they weren't actually, but let's leave this detail off and head back to the good ole days of the CSSR, when everyone had a job, and you couldn't always be sure there would be toilet paper on the store shelf. :-D

We have a similar movement here with the State of Jefferson folks. They want a chunk of Northern California to be a new state that will be composed of mostly rural land. I'm not sure how they're going to pay for widely distributed infrastructure like the roads and utilities with such a small tax base. They must think they can make up for the drastic cut in income by stopping most of the social services programs that are supported by funding from the existing state government, but that's going to happen regardless when they're no longer part of that state. Wouldn't be long before our shelves were bare of such necessities as toilet paper. But maybe we're all supposed to go back to the land and do what the pilgrims did. What did the pilgrims use for TP, anyway?

 

[sodamo]

66°F and .89 inches rain. Wonder when I’ll get to mow.

Did make a run to town for gas and diesel so at least I’m ready.

Continued prayers for all

Be safe
Have a great day

 

[jbrumberg]

RNG -- It happens here in MA too, but w/o the "political energy". Periodically in western MA there is a "Baja VT" movement from the "enlightened ones" living down in MA's CT River Valley area. I do not think that they have thought through the potential consequences of ceding from MA either; lot's of magical thinking going on.

Freedomlives- I enjoy your political perspectives.

 

[freedomlives]

Well, there are always dirt / gravel roads as an option. The very existence of the subsidized government road networks has certainly retarded the development of flying cars and other unimagined alternative modes of transport. If anyone is looking for a bit of bedtime reading, I would suggest Frederic Bastiat's collection of essays, still relevant more than 150 years later, "That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen".

Like most people living in rural areas, we are net "winners" on the tax vs. benefits equation. There is 5km of nice, paved road financed by the national government that I doubt our property taxes in the village would cover maintaining, given that the road in the village is the village's responsibility, and it has quite a few potholes. Yet it is an unjust situation, that those people living in cities, some in a sea of bland, socialist designed apartment buildings have to subsidize those who live in, at least from my perspective, a much nicer environment. Were there not the government subsidy on roads here, the 5km long road would likely deteriorate, and we would build a gravel road to the nearest village, 1km away, and from there connect onward to civilization. At least in our case-- a village of little more than a 100 people-- a gravel road would both serve our needs and be affordable, especially given that I am sure there are people on this forum who maintain driveways much longer than that in rural parts of the US.

Indeed these secessionists may not be thinking things through all the way, but secession would indeed lead to a much leaner, more efficient usage of resources in those places. Taxes might end up being even higher, but possibly a majority of people there would find it "worth it" to not have to deal with whatever they find so unpleasant now from the California government (I imagine restrictions on AR-15s, but I suppose there is other stuff too). Unless they are seceding from the Union though, they can't cut off trade with the rest of the US, as our comrades here would want to do in certain areas.

I don't know what the folks proposing Jefferson State want, though I've heard of the different movements out there, but the toilet paper issue was a result here of state planning. And I guess a really pathetic failure when it happened in the 80's and there was a shortage-- socialism as a so called economic system cannot work very well, due to the lack of possibility of economic calculation when producer goods have no prices, but ordering production so that the basic necessities are always in surplus, while wasteful, should be possible.

 

[lostcreekranch]

56° and cloudy this morning, dropping through the day to 30° tonight. Wind is supposed to be rather substantial today as well, 35-40mph.

Woke last night to the sound of thunder. Actually, about 3am. Oh well, I was going to get up at 4:30 anyway.

Wife found a chicken coup she likes at Tractor Supply. It's $449 at one of the local stores. Curiously, though, she can order it online for $399 and have it delivered to the store. She's going to drop in there today and ask what's up with that. After much discussion last night, we decided on getting four Buff Orpingtons to start our chicken flock.

Still undecided on the pasture's future occupants. We go back and forth over cows vs goats. Goats had been the talk for awhile, but it seems to be swinging back to cows now. No hurry on that, though, as we still have to completely redo the fence line out there. That likely won't happen until next year.

PJ, since this is a Tractor Forum, you might google “chicken tractor”. Lots of good DYI ideas for coups that can be easily moved around.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Between the heavy rain and the bobbling satellite dish, the Internet connection has become intermittent. I keep threatening to install guy wires on the antenna pole, but somehow never get a round tuit, but there's not much to be done to stop the rain, not what I'd even want to.

!

Here ....... you can borrow mine.

 

[toppop52]

Drew, here is a very quick synopsis, but note it’s written from a Hyundai perspective.
What is the difference between Hyundai and Kia?